Compare Auth0 and Clerk free tiers side by side. Auth0 offers 25K MAU with enterprise-grade features, while Clerk focuses on developer experience with 50K monthly retained users and pre-built UI components.
Side-by-side comparison of free tiers, pricing changes, and stability. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-09-19.
Quick Verdict: Auth0 offers 25K MAU with enterprise-grade features, while Clerk focuses on developer experience with 50K monthly retained users and pre-built UI components. Auth0 wins on scale and configurability; Clerk wins on time-to-ship.
Drop-in auth with 50K monthly retained users free, unlimited apps
Key Differences
Free tier: Auth0 gives 25K MAU (B2C), unlimited logins, and no credit card required. Clerk gives 50K monthly retained users — more users but different counting methodology (retained vs active).
DX focus: Clerk provides pre-built, customizable UI components (sign-in, sign-up, user profile) that work out of the box. Auth0 requires more configuration with Universal Login and Actions.
Growth cost: Clerk costs ~$1,800/month at 100K MAU. Auth0 is cheaper at scale with enterprise plans, but growth pricing is less transparent.
Enterprise features: Auth0 has deeper enterprise capabilities (RBAC, Organizations, Machine-to-Machine tokens, Actions for custom logic). Clerk is adding these but Auth0 has the head start.
Pricing Change History
Auth0
increasedeffective 2025-11-01high impact
Auth0 increased free tier from 7,500 to 25,000 monthly active users. Largest free tier expansion since Okta acquisition. Makes Auth0 competitive with Clerk and Firebase Auth on free tier Source ↗
Clerk
No recorded pricing changes for Clerk.
Our Recommendation
Choose Auth0 if you need enterprise-grade auth with deep customization, RBAC, M2M tokens, or you're building a multi-tenant B2B application.
Choose Clerk if you want the fastest path to production auth with beautiful pre-built components, especially with Next.js or React.
Auth0 offers 25K MAU with enterprise-grade features, while Clerk focuses on developer experience with 50K monthly retained users and pre-built UI components. Auth0 wins on scale and configurability; Clerk wins on time-to-ship.
What is Auth0's free tier?
Auth0 offers a Free plan: Identity platform — 25K MAU (B2C), unlimited logins, social + database connections, Universal Login, 1 Enterprise Connection, 5 Organizations, 1 Custom Domain. No credit card required
What is Clerk's free tier?
Clerk offers a Hobby plan: Drop-in auth with 50K monthly retained users free, unlimited apps
Should I choose Auth0 or Clerk?
Choose Auth0 if you need enterprise-grade auth with deep customization, RBAC, M2M tokens, or you're building a multi-tenant B2B application. Choose Clerk if you want the fastest path to production auth with beautiful pre-built components, especially with Next.js or React.
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