Developer Tools
Clerk
Drop-in authentication and user management.
What it is
Clerk provides authentication, user management and session handling as drop-in components, aiming to remove weeks of auth work from a project. What arrives is not only a login box but the parts teams postpone and then regret: organisation and role management, invitations, multi-factor enrolment, session revocation and an admin interface for support staff. The trade-off is the usual one for hosted identity — the user directory lives with the vendor, and per-user pricing scales with growth.
Clerk pricing
Clerk publishes 3 plans. Paid tiers start at $25/user/mo billed annually, and a free tier is listed alongside them.
| Plan | Price | What the vendor’s page says |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | Free: 50,000 monthly retained users, unlimited applications, 3 dashboard seats |
| Pro | $25/user/mo billed annually | Pro $25/month ($20 annually): 50,000 MRUs included, $0.02 per extra user/month, MFA, enterprise SSO, no branding |
| Business | $300/mo billed annually | Business $300/month ($250 annually): 10 seats, SOC 2 report, 30-day admin logs |
Prices read from the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-08. Vendors change plans without notice — check the source before you budget. Source
Cheaper alternatives to Clerk — same category, ordered by verified starting price.
Key features
Drop-in components
Sign-in, sign-up and profile UI that ship styled and ready to mount.
Organisations and roles
Multi-tenant membership, invitations and permissions without building them.
Session management
Device list and revocation, so a compromised session can be ended immediately.
Multi-factor authentication
TOTP, SMS and passkey enrolment handled by the service.
Strengths and trade-offs
What works well
- Prebuilt UI components that look decent by default
- Handles sessions, MFA and organisations
- Strong React and Next.js support
Where it falls short
- Pricing per monthly active user adds up
- Deep customisation fights the defaults
- Auth becomes a vendor dependency
Who it is for
Product teams who would rather ship features than build authentication.
Pick it or skip it
Pick Clerk if
- Products under 50,000 monthly retained users — the free plan covers that with unlimited apps
- Next.js and React teams that want prebuilt sign-in, MFA and organisations without writing auth UI
- Startups that can budget $25/month for Pro to remove branding and unlock MFA and enterprise SSO
Skip it if
- You have a large free-tier consumer app: users beyond 50,000 cost $0.02 each per month
- You need B2B org features at scale — that is a $100/month add-on on top of Pro
- You need SOC 2 reports and admin logs on a small budget: Business starts at $300/month
Our verdict
A big time-saver early on. Understand the per-user pricing curve before your user count grows.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Clerk free, and when do you start paying?
- Clerk's free plan covers 50,000 monthly retained users per app with unlimited applications. Pro costs $25/month ($20 billed annually), keeps the same 50,000 included and charges $0.02 per additional user each month; it also removes Clerk branding and adds MFA and enterprise SSO. B2B organisation features are a separate $100/month add-on.
- How much does Clerk cost?
- Clerk publishes 3 plans: Free at $0/mo, Pro at $25/user/mo billed annually, Business at $300/mo billed annually. Every figure is read from the vendor's own pricing page; the pricing section above shows the source sentence for each tier.
- Does Clerk have a free plan?
- Yes. Clerk offers a free tier with limits; paid plans unlock higher usage or team features.
- Who is Clerk best for?
- Product teams who would rather ship features than build authentication.
- What are the main drawbacks of Clerk?
- The trade-offs we noted: Pricing per monthly active user adds up; Deep customisation fights the defaults; Auth becomes a vendor dependency.
- When should you not use Clerk?
- Skip Clerk if: You have a large free-tier consumer app: users beyond 50,000 cost $0.02 each per month; You need B2B org features at scale — that is a $100/month add-on on top of Pro; You need SOC 2 reports and admin logs on a small budget: Business starts at $300/month.
What we checked
- Public APIOffers a documented API you can build against.Yes
- Mobile appHas a native app for iOS or Android, not just a mobile website.No
- Open source / self-hostableSource is open and the tool can be run on your own infrastructure.No
- SSO (SAML)Supports SAML single sign-on on at least one plan.Yes
“Not checked” means exactly that — we have not verified it, and we do not guess.
Evidence and freshness
Status: Vendor pricing page verifiedReviewed: 2026-09-08
- Clerk — Pricing ↗
Checked 2026-09-08 · Supports: Free: 50,000 monthly retained users, unlimited applications, 3 dashboard seats, Pro $25/month ($20 annually): 50,000 MRUs included, $0.02 per extra user/month, MFA, enterprise SSO, no branding, Business $300/month ($250 annually): 10 seats, SOC 2 report, 30-day admin logs, add-ons: B2B Authentication $100/month, Administration $100/month, Billing 0.7% of volume, Enterprise custom, annual only, 99.99% SLA, HIPAA/BAA
Limit: Vendor pricing page was reviewed by an editor on this date; this record is not a ToolCompare benchmark. Prices and limits change.
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