Authentication and user management · Comparison

Clerk vs WorkOS

2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.

Side by side

Clerk vs WorkOS: value, access facts, plan limits and bottom lines
Metric	Clerk	WorkOS
What you're paying for	Saves engineering timeReady-made sign-in and user management, free for 50,000 retained users, with SSO and MFA from $25 a month at published prices.	Saves engineering timeEnterprise SSO and directory sync at a published $125 per connection, on top of user management that is free for up to 1 million monthly users.
Overall score	8.2Best	7.9
Free option	Free plan	Free plan
Card to start	No card needed	No card needed
Getting access	Self-serve	Self-serve
Starter priceCheapest paid plan	$25/mo	$125/SSO connection/mo
Pricing model	Usage-based	Usage-based
Pricing page	Public prices	Public prices
Free plan	50,000 MRU per app, no card	1,000,000 MAU, no card until production
Entry paid plan at 10,000 users	$25/mo (Pro), $20 billed annually	$0 (users free up to 1M)
Enterprise SSO	1 connection on Pro, then $75/mo each	$125/mo per connection (1–15), down to $65 at 51–100
SOC 2 report	Type 2, on Business ($300/mo)	Type II, from the Trust Center on request
HIPAA BAA	Enterprise plan	Enterprise plans
Data region	US only	US (per the DPA)
Log retention on the entry paid plan	7 days of application logs (Pro)	90 days of events via the Events API
Bottom line	From its public pages, Clerk offers the largest free allowance here and clear prices from the first user to SSO. Check US-only hosting and the plan that unlocks the SOC 2 report against your customers’ requirements.	From its public pages, WorkOS offers the largest free user allowance here and clear per-connection prices for enterprise SSO. Budget $125 a month per SSO customer and check US-only hosting.

Evidence: Clerk: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; WorkOS: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.

When to pick each

In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.

From our WorkOS review
Checked Oct 15, 2026
Pick WorkOS when
You expect more than 50,000 monthly users on a free plan, or want MFA and passkeys without a paid plan.
Pick Clerk when
You need several SSO connections at the lower price ($75 a month each against $125) and bot protection with no metered checks.

Entry price

Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.

Clerk
Pro
$25/mo
50,000 MRU per app, then $0.02 each (50,001–100,000); $20/mo billed annually
- MFA and passkeys
- 1 SSO connection, then $75/mo each
- 7-day application logs
- Email support
WorkOS
Enterprise SSO
$125/connection/mo
1–15 connections; $100 for 16–30, $80 for 31–50, $65 for 51–100
- SAML and OIDC
- Same price regardless of end users
- Admin Portal included

Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Clerk 2026-10-15, WorkOS 2026-10-15.

Which one fits

If you need to start today without a sales call: ClerkSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (8.2/10).
If you want to try it without entering a card: ClerkFree plan, no card needed, and the highest score of the 2 that skip the card (8.2/10).
Lowest starter price: Clerk$25/mo for the Pro plan.
Highest overall score: Clerk8.2/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.

Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score

Full reviews

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