Clerk vs Auth0
Clerk is a hosted authentication service with prebuilt UI components, billing by monthly retained users per app since February 2026, with a free tier covering 50,000 users. Auth0, owned by Okta, is a broader identity platform billing by monthly active users, with a free tier covering 25,000 users and deeper enterprise identity features. Choose Clerk for prebuilt UI and a generous free tier in modern frameworks like Next.js; choose Auth0 for enterprise identity features and Okta's broader ecosystem.
Facts checked on against the official sources listed at the end. Usage numbers update daily.
Best for
Next.js and React apps that want prebuilt sign-in UI and a large free tier
Free plan. Paid from $25 a month, or $20 a month billed yearly (Pro).
Best for
Enterprise applications that need Okta's broader identity and compliance features
Free plan. Paid from $35 a month for Essentials (up to 500 monthly active users).
Clerk vs Auth0 at a glance
| Compared on | Clerk | Auth0 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Monthly retained users per app | Monthly active users |
| Free tier limit | 50,000 monthly retained users per app | 25,000 monthly active users |
| Prebuilt UI components | Prebuilt sign-up, sign-in, user profile and organization UI out of the box | Universal Login hosted pages and customizable widgets, less component-based than Clerk's |
| Framework focus | Deep Next.js, React and Expo SDKs, plus many other frameworks | Broad SDK coverage across web, mobile, single-page apps and machine-to-machine |
| B2B organizations | Basic organizations on Hobby; a separate paid add-on for deeper B2B features | 5 organizations included free, 10 on Essentials, more on higher tiers |
| Dashboard seats | 3 seats on Hobby, 10 on Business, extra seats billed separately | Not priced per dashboard seat; access is managed through tenant roles |
| Open source | No, Proprietary service; client SDKs published on GitHub | No, Proprietary |
| Free plan | Yes: Hobby plan with 50,000 monthly retained users per app and up to 3 dashboard seats | Yes: up to 25,000 monthly active users, 1 custom domain, passwordless auth, unlimited social connections, 5 organizations |
| Paid plans from | $25 a month, or $20 a month billed yearly (Pro) | $35 a month for Essentials (up to 500 monthly active users) |
| Made by | Clerk, Inc. | Okta, Inc. (Auth0 by Okta) |
| Launched | 2019 | 2013 |
What's the difference between Clerk and Auth0?
Clerk bills by retained users per app, Auth0 bills by active users
Clerk counts monthly retained users specifically for each application, a metric it moved to on 5 February 2026. Auth0 counts monthly active users across your tenant, a more standard metric used broadly across identity platforms.
Clerk's free tier is double Auth0's
Clerk's Hobby plan covers 50,000 monthly retained users per app for free. Auth0's free plan covers 25,000 monthly active users, half of Clerk's included amount.
Clerk ships prebuilt UI components, Auth0 leans on hosted pages
Clerk provides prebuilt, customizable UI components for sign-up, sign-in, user profiles and organizations that drop directly into a React or Next.js app. Auth0's Universal Login provides hosted, customizable login pages rather than embeddable component-level UI.
Advanced security features sit behind add-ons on each platform, but at different tiers
Clerk's Hobby plan has no MFA or passkeys; those, along with enterprise SSO, require the $25-a-month Pro plan or higher. Auth0's free plan includes passwordless auth and unlimited social connections, but multi-factor authentication and role-based access control require the $35-a-month Essentials plan.
Clerk vs Auth0 pricing
Clerk charges a base monthly fee that includes a set number of retained users, then per-user overage. Auth0 charges a base monthly fee tied to a fixed active-user allotment, priced by feature tier rather than a large included pool.
Clerk
Hobby is free for 50,000 monthly retained users per app. Pro is $25 a month ($20 billed yearly), including 50,000 users, then $0.02 per extra user up to 100,000. Business is $300 a month ($250 billed yearly) with more dashboard seats and logs.
- Hobby
- $0
- Pro
- $25 a month, or $20 a month billed yearly
- Business
- $300 a month, or $250 a month billed yearly
- Enterprise
- Custom, billed yearly
- B2B authentication add-on
- $100 a month, or $85 a month billed yearly
- Administration add-on
- $100 a month, or $85 a month billed yearly
Auth0
Free covers up to 25,000 monthly active users. Essentials is $35 a month for up to 500 MAU with MFA and role-based access control. Professional is $240 a month, also starting at 500 MAU, adding custom database connections and enhanced attack protection.
- Free
- $0 a month
- Essentials
- $35 a month
- Professional
- $240 a month
- Enterprise
- Custom pricing
| Clerk | $25 a month on Clerk Pro (20,000 users fits within the 50,000 included) |
|---|---|
| Auth0 | $35 a month on Auth0 Essentials, since MFA requires moving off the free plan even though 20,000 users would otherwise fit under the free 25,000 limit |
Prices in USD from the official pricing pages on 29 September 2026. They change often, so confirm on clerk.com and auth0.com before you commit.
Usage and activity
Auth0 has 31% more GitHub stars than Clerk (2.3k against 1.8k). Weekly npm downloads: 3.1M for @clerk/nextjs and 1.1M for @auth0/nextjs-auth0. Releases on GitHub in the last 90 days: 10 for Clerk and 6 for Auth0.
| Measure | Clerk | Auth0 |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 1,763 | 2,310 |
| npm downloads a week | 3.1M (@clerk/nextjs) | 1.1M (@auth0/nextjs-auth0) |
| Latest release | @clerk/nextjs@7.…, 2 days ago | v4.31.0, 6 days ago |
| Releases in 90 days | 10 | 6 |
From the public GitHub and npm APIs, updated daily. Stars and downloads show developer interest, not product quality.
Should you choose Clerk or Auth0?
Choose Clerk if
- You're building in Next.js or React and want prebuilt sign-in UI you can drop in
- You want a large free tier, up to 50,000 users per app, before paying anything
- You want organizations and multi-tenant B2B support built into the core product
- You want a modern developer experience with fast SDK updates for newer frameworks
Choose Auth0 if
- You need enterprise identity features like custom database connections and advanced attack protection
- You're already using Okta or want a platform backed by Okta's broader identity ecosystem
- You want more organizations included on the free plan for early B2B testing
- You need machine-to-machine authentication alongside standard user login
Switching between Clerk and Auth0
Moving between them means re-implementing sign-in flows against a different API and either replacing Clerk's prebuilt components with Auth0's hosted Universal Login pages, or the reverse. User migration typically involves exporting user records and passwords in a compatible hash format and re-importing them, plus updating any organization or role structure to match the new platform's model.
Clerk vs Auth0: common questions
Is Clerk cheaper than Auth0?
Clerk's free tier covers more users, 50,000 versus Auth0's 25,000, but pricing beyond the free tier depends on which features you need and how many users and organizations you have on each platform.
Does Auth0 have prebuilt UI like Clerk?
Auth0's Universal Login provides hosted, customizable login pages, but Clerk offers more embeddable, component-level UI for sign-up, sign-in and user profiles directly inside your app.
Is Clerk free?
Yes, up to 50,000 monthly retained users per app on the Hobby plan. Auth0 is also free up to 25,000 monthly active users.
Who owns Auth0?
Okta, Inc. has owned Auth0 since 2021, operating it as Auth0 by Okta.
Does Clerk support B2B organizations?
Yes, basic organization support is included even on the free Hobby plan, with a separate paid add-on for deeper B2B authentication features.
Other options to consider
All auth toolsNextAuth.js
Open source authentication library for Next.js and React, now stewarded by the Better Auth team.
WorkOS
Enterprise-readiness platform adding SSO, directory sync, audit logs and user management to an app.
SuperTokens
Open source authentication platform, free to self-host with no limits, or managed cloud from $0.02 per MAU.
Ory
Open source identity and access management platform, self-hosted or as a managed cloud service.
Sources
More sources for each tool are on the Clerk and Auth0 pages.
Related comparisons
ClerkvsNextAuth.js
Clerk is a hosted authentication and user management service with prebuilt UI components, billed by monthly retained users after a free tier.
OryvsAuth0
Ory is open source identity infrastructure, with components for authentication, authorization and OAuth2 and OIDC, that you can self-host for free or use through Ory Cloud.
Auth0vsWorkOS
Auth0 is an identity and access management platform owned by Okta that adds login, social sign-in, SSO and MFA for consumer and business apps, with a free plan up to 25,000 monthly active users.