When should I pick Clerk over WorkOS?

Pick Clerk if: You're on Next.js or React and want sign-in, profiles and teams working today.

When should I pick WorkOS over Clerk?

Pick WorkOS if: You sell to companies whose IT team will ask for SAML SSO or SCIM.

Which is cheaper, Clerk or WorkOS?

At monthly active users 10k MAU: Clerk $0/mo (Hobby), WorkOS $0/mo (AuthKit), at list prices.

Which do more makers use for authentication?

Among makers' products we track: Clerk 305, WorkOS 19.

How do Clerk and WorkOS compare in cost as you grow?

Both cost $0 up to 50k MAU; from 100k MAU WorkOS costs less ($0 vs $1,025); and still does at 1M MAU ($0 vs $17,225). Cheapest usable plan at each scale, at list prices.

Are people switching from Clerk to WorkOS?

Public GitHub pull requests since 2024-10-02: 6 from Clerk to WorkOS, 4 from WorkOS to Clerk.

Clerk vs WorkOS for authentication: which fits you

Which fits you

Choose Clerk if

You're on Next.js or React and want sign-in, profiles and teams working today

Use it whenYou want prebuilt components, user profiles and organizations out of the box.

Trade-offPer-user pricing grows with you; users live in Clerk, not your database.

Choose WorkOS if

You sell to companies whose IT team will ask for SAML SSO or SCIM

Use it whenYour first big customer asks for SAML or SCIM.

Trade-offIts free tier covers basic sign-in, but enterprise SSO and directory sync are priced per connection — worth it once a customer pays for them.

At a glance

	Clerk	WorkOS
Used by	305 makers' products · 11 open-source projects	19 makers' products · 11 open-source projects
Cost at default usagemonthly active users 10k MAU	$0/mo Hobby	$0/mo AuthKit
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024	4 from WorkOS	6 from Clerk
Downloads	2.1M/wk+50% vs npm	2.9M/wk+109% vs npm
Pricing	Free tier by monthly active users; paid plans add features and seats. · paid from $25/mo	Free user-management tier; enterprise SSO and directory sync priced per connection. · paid from $125 per connection/mo
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Open source	No	No
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page	13 (1 major)	24 (11 major)

Cost as you grow

Both cost $0 up to 50k MAU; from 100k MAU WorkOS costs less ($0 vs $1,025); and still does at 1M MAU ($0 vs $17,225).

WorkOS Clerkx: monthly active users (MAU) · cheapest usable plan at each point, list prices · try your own numbers

The numbers, plan by plan

Monthly active users	Clerk	WorkOS
100	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
1,000	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
5,000	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
10,000	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
25,000	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
50,000	$0 Hobby	$0 AuthKit
100,000	$1,025 Pro	$0 AuthKit
250,000	$3,725 Pro	$0 AuthKit
1,000,000	$17,225 Pro	$0 AuthKit

From each vendor's pricing page: Clerk, WorkOS.

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Clerk to WorkOS" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

WorkOS →

Clerk4 PRs

Migrate auth from WorkOS to ClerkFRC4392/DeceptiveHours · 2026-07-07
Migrate auth from WorkOS to Clerkdanielnogueira8/LinkedInViralPostsSwipeFile · 2026-05-20
feat: Migrate auth from WorkOS to ClerkShimizu-Technology/cornerstone-payroll · 2026-02-24
Refactor: Migrate from WorkOS to Clerk authflyweightdev/convex-paddle · 2026-02-09

All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

Clerk →

WorkOS6 PRs

feat: migrate auth from Clerk to WorkOS AuthKitddelvalfraire/poc-workout-tracker · 2026-08-20
feat(auth): migrate from Clerk to WorkOS AuthKitthefappybird/gallurio · 2026-06-13
Migrate auth from Clerk to WorkOS + nav & pricing improvementshimayat-commits/growth-hub · 2026-05-16
attempt to convert from clerk to workosNathanGrace/barely-my-sveltekit-template · 2026-03-29
attempt to convert from clerk to workosdavis7dotsh/my-sveltekit-template · 2026-03-29
feat: Migrate authentication from Clerk to WorkOS AuthKitZapdev-labs/zapdev · 2025-11-28

All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

What makers say

Makers on using it for authentication, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Clerk

The team loves Clerk for its intuitive interface, seamless integration, and efficient management of administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on building groundbreaking solutions.

Garple, the makerSep 2026 ↗

We used Clerk for account management. Building an authentication infrastructure from scratch is challenging, but by using Clerk’s abstracted API, we were able to simplify this process.

Hanabi.rest, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Nobody wants to worry about authentication or build their own system. Clerk allowed me to simply integrate them into my project and immediately feel confident in the security of my site.

Trade Trender, the makerSep 2026 ↗

72 more on the Clerk page →

On WorkOS

We use WorkOS for the enterprise identity pieces of Harden, so customers can get the access controls they need without us building that layer from scratch.

Harden, the makerSep 2026 ↗

We chose WorkOS because it's straightforward to integrate and easy to work with. It let us add the features we needed without unnecessary complexity.

Velo, the makerSep 2026 ↗

WorkOS made it extremely easy for us to add auth to our ActionKit playground - we also use them for SSO for our core product as well.

Paragon, the makerSep 2026 ↗

9 more on the WorkOS page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Clerk

Most loved

Sign-up, sign-in, sessions and social login get wired in an afternoon instead of a sprint. PH PH 2
Organizations, roles and billing come built in, covering multi-tenant B2B apps without custom identity work. PH PH 2
Prebuilt UI components, including profile and settings pages, look polished out of the box. PH

Watch-outs

Outsourcing auth means a Clerk outage or account problem locks your users out, and the dependency is hard to reverse. HN HN 2 HN 3 HN 4
Costs climb with SSO, MFA, passkeys and branding removal, and some switched to cheaper open-source options. HN HN 2 HN 3 HN 4

On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 112 reviews · mentioned most: easy integration, comprehensive solution, free tier

WorkOS

Most loved

Enterprise SSO, SAML and SCIM directory sync arrive ready-made, integrated in weeks instead of months, so teams can close enterprise deals. PH HN
Organization separation and B2B features come built in alongside standard social login. PH
The free tier is permissive, and it works well even for B2C apps that skip enterprise features. HN HN 2 HN 3

Watch-outs

When WorkOS has an outage, logins fail for every app that depends on it. HN HN 2
SCIM integrations have broken for customers, and it withholds SAML and SCIM configs and password hashes, creating hard lock-in. HN
Pricing is confusing and gets expensive as enterprise connections grow. HN HN 2

On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 21 reviews · mentioned most: easy authentication integration, quick onboarding, enterprise-level security