Clerk is dramatically cheaper per user at scale. Auth0 sells you deeper enterprise identity features for the premium.
Pick Clerk for modern app auth with the best DX and lowest cost at scale. Pick Auth0 if you need deep enterprise SSO/compliance features and the higher per-MAU cost is justified by requirements you already have.
| Provider | Free tier | Price after free tier |
|---|---|---|
| Clerk | 10,000 MAU free | $0.02/MAU |
| Auth0 | ~7,500 MAU free | $0.07/MAU (Professional plan) |
Use the auth provider cost calculator to model your own MAU count against both pricing plans.
Clerk's free tier covers 10,000 MAU before billing kicks in at $0.02/MAU, and Clerk only counts a user as active once they return 24+ hours after signup — a favorable counting method that can lower your billed MAU versus other providers. Auth0's free tier covers roughly 7,500 MAU, and its Professional plan charges $0.07/MAU after that, 3.5x Clerk's per-user rate.
At 100,000 MAU, that gap compounds into a large real-world difference: roughly $200/month on Clerk versus roughly $6,300/month on Auth0. Auth0 pricing also climbs further once you need enterprise SSO, custom domains, or advanced compliance features — those typically require higher tiers, and teams should budget 2-3x the base per-MAU estimate to cover them.
What Auth0 offers for that premium is depth: SAML SSO, more granular role-based access control, and a much longer track record in regulated industries where compliance requirements are non-negotiable. For teams without those requirements, Clerk's lower cost and modern developer experience make it the default choice.
You want modern auth with the best developer experience and want to keep per-user cost low as you scale to hundreds of thousands of MAU.
You need deep enterprise SSO, granular RBAC, or compliance features for regulated industries, and the higher per-MAU cost is justified by requirements you already have.
Clerk is significantly cheaper — about $200/month vs $6,300/month at 100,000 MAU, roughly 3.5x cheaper per user than Auth0's Professional plan.
Clerk only counts a user as MAU once they return 24+ hours after signup, a favorable counting method that can lower your billed MAU versus other providers.
Yes — deeper enterprise SSO, granular RBAC, and compliance features for regulated industries, though enterprise add-ons often cost 2-3x the base per-MAU estimate.