The 5 best Clerk alternatives in 2024

While Clerk offers a solid set of user management and authentication features, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. That's why many businesses are looking for alternatives. 

Whether driven by budget constraints, scalability requirements, or the desire for more advanced features, companies seek solutions that align more closely with their growth and technical needs.

In this article, we’ll explore why people are moving beyond Clerk and take a closer look at some of the top Clerk alternatives, such as WorkOS, Auth0, Okta, Firebase, and OneLogin.

Why do businesses look for a Clerk alternative?

1. Cost: While Clerk offers robust features, its pricing structure might not be suitable, especially for startups or small businesses with limited financial resources. Companies might look for alternatives that provide a more cost-effective solution without sacrificing key functionalities.
2. Scalability: Some organizations may find that Clerk does not scale as efficiently or cost-effectively as they require, prompting them to explore other options that offer better scalability.
3. Need more features: Some businesses might find that Clerk lacks certain functionalities essential for their operations, such as enterprise SSO, SCIM, or extensive SDK support.

Best Clerk alternatives in 2024

1. WorkOS
2. Auth0
3. Okta
4. Firebase
5. OneLogin

1. WorkOS

WorkOS is a platform designed for developers to quickly add enterprise features to applications. It specializes in making apps enterprise-ready with minimal configuration.

Key features

• Single Sign-On (SSO): Seamless integration with major identity providers.
• Directory sync: Allows applications to sync with enterprise user directories via SCIM.
• Authentication: Supports multiple authentication methods, including email/password, social logins, and magic links.
• Multi-factor authentication: Enhances security with additional authentication layers.
• Audit logs: Provides detailed access and activity logs of users’ actions within the application.
• Admin portal: A customizable admin dashboard customers can use to self-configure SSO and SCIM connections.

Pricing

• User management: Free for up to 1 million MAUs (Monthly Active Users) and $2500/month for each additional million.

• Custom domains: Offered separately for a flat rate of $99/mo.
• Single Sign-On: $125 per connection/month.
• Directory Sync: $125 per connection/month.
• Audit logs: Starts at $5 per organization/month.

Best for

WorkOS best suits anyone looking to scale their applications to enterprise-level clients quickly. It is particularly valuable for those needing to implement complex enterprise features like SSO or directory synchronization without dedicating extensive internal resources to develop these features from scratch.

2. Auth0

Auth0 is an identity management solution that provides done-for-you authentication and authorization solutions for B2C applications.

Features

• Universal login offers a centralized login system that works across all applications and supports various authentication methods, including social logins and email/password auth.
• Multi-factor authentication: Auth0 supports various MFA options, including push notifications, SMS, email, voice notifications, one-time passwords, recovery codes, and WebAuthn with security keys and biometrics.
• Social login: Like Clerk, Auth0 allows users to log in using their existing social media accounts.
• Single Sign-On (SSO): Auth0 SSO supports popular SSO protocols such as OIDC and SAML.
• Authorization: Authorization in Auth0 is handled through a flexible policy-driven model. This model allows developers to define exactly what resources a user can access. It supports both role-based and fine-grained authorization policies.
• Actions: Actions in Auth0 are customizable pieces of code that run during authentication.

Pricing

Auth0 offers a free plan that supports up to 7,500 MAUs with unlimited logins for both B2B and B2C applications.

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For B2B apps:

• Essentials plan: It starts at $150/month for up to 500 MAUs and caps at $1,725/month for up to 7,500 MAUs. Scaling beyond 7,500 MAUs requires scheduling a consultation with Okta’s sales team.
• Professional plan: Starts at $800/month for 500 MAUs.
• Enterprise plan: Pricing is available through the sales team.

For B2C apps:

• Essentials plan: $35/month for up to 500 MAUs.
• Professional plan: Starts at $240/month for 1000 MAUs.
• Enterprise plan: Pricing is available through the sales team.

Best for

Auth0 is ideal if you’re looking for an out-of-the-box authentication solution with basic customization options. 

If you want a unique login experience, you may want to explore other alternatives.

3. Okta

Okta is a comprehensive identity management service that facilitates secure access to applications and systems via cloud-based identity and access management (IAM). Its key differentiation lies in its ability to integrate deeply with on-premise and cloud environments.

Features

• Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Offers context-based authentication that adapts to risk levels.
• Single Sign-On (SSO): Allows one-click access to all cloud, mobile, and on-premise applications.
• Lifecycle management: Automates user account activities from onboarding to offboarding.
• Universal directory: Consolidates multiple directories into a single, cloud-based directory.
• API access management: Uses OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect to secure APIs.

Pricing

Okta's Workforce Identity Cloud uses a pricing model based on features, with monthly charges applied per user. Here are some specific examples:

• Single Sign-On (SSO): $2 per user/month
• Adaptive SSO: $5 per user/month
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): $3 per user/month
• Adaptive MFA: $6 per user/month
• Universal directory: $2 per user/month
• API access management: $4 per user/month
• Device access: $4 per user/month

Okta’s Customer Identity Cloud uses the Auth0 pricing structure.

Best for

Okta is ideally suited for medium to large enterprises or organizations requiring detailed, scalable identity management solutions across multiple systems and applications. 

However, since Auth0 is now part of Okta, you can use Okta’s customer identity cloud for your B2C apps. Just keep in mind it can get costly.

4. Firebase

Firebase authentication is a service within the Firebase platform that offers an identity management solution for secure user authentication across devices. It distinguishes itself from other authentication tools by integrating with Firebase and Google services.

Features

• Variety of authentication providers: Supports email/password, phone numbers, and popular social providers like Google and Facebook.
• Integration with Firebase services: Easily integrates with other Firebase offerings like Firestore and Real-time Database.
• Custom authentication: Allows integration with existing authentication systems by generating Firebase credentials from custom tokens. 
• Firebase Analytics: Free app measurement solution that provides insights on app usage and user engagement.

Pricing

All authentication features beyond phone authentication are free of charge. 

• Spark plan (no cost): Free 10 SMS sent/day for phone auth.
• Blaze plan (pay as you go): Phone auth is billed per SMS.

Best for

Firebase authentication is particularly suitable for those developing mobile or web applications that require integration with other Firebase services. However, it only supports a few authentication options and may not be ideal if you want other options like enterprise SSO, biometrics, or magic links.

5. OneLogin

OneLogin is a cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) provider for user management and authentication across multiple apps and systems.

Features

• Single Sign-On (SSO): Enables secure and easy access to multiple systems with a single set of credentials.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enhances security by requiring additional user verification during the login process.
• Advanced directory integration: Supports integration with multiple directory services including AD and LDAP.
• User provisioning: Automates creating, updating, and deleting user accounts across various applications.
• SmartFactor authentication: Utilizes context-based authentication methods to adjust security requirements dynamically.

Pricing

Workforce Identity and Access Management (IAM):

• Advanced plan: Offers SSO, MFA, and user management at $4/user/month.
• Professional plan: Includes advanced features plus Identity Lifecycle Management and HR Driven Identity.

If you prefer not to bundle these features, OneLogin also offers feature-based pricing:

• SSO: $2/user/month
• MFA: $2/user/month
• Identity lifecycle management: $4/user/month

Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM):

• CIAM Core: Includes social login, passwordless authentication, unlimited OIDC and SAML, single directory integration, and password reset. You have to call for pricing.
• CIAM Plus: Includes MFA, password authentication with all factors, and custom domains.  You have to call for pricing.

Best for

OneLogin provides a broader, more enterprise-oriented set of IAM functionalities than Clerk, focusing heavily on SSO and comprehensive user lifecycle management.

Therefore, it’s best suited for medium—to large enterprises that require identity management solutions to manage secure access across numerous apps.

Frequently asked questions

What functionalities are missing in Clerk that lead businesses to consider other options? 

Businesses often seek alternatives to Clerk when they need advanced features such as enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO), System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM), or more extensive Software Development Kit (SDK) support that Clerk does not provide.

How do the features of WorkOS compare to those of Clerk? 

WorkOS is designed to integrate enterprise features such as SSO and directory sync quickly, making it suitable for those needing to scale applications to the enterprise level quickly. In contrast, Clerk is more focused on consumer-centric user management and authentication, which might not meet the enterprise requirements of larger organizations.

What are some leading alternatives to Clerk and what unique features do they offer? 

Clerk alternatives include WorkOS, Auth0, Okta, Firebase, and OneLogin. Each offers unique features: WorkOS excels in enterprise-ready configurations like SCIM and SSO, Auth0 in ready-to-use authentication solutions, Okta in comprehensive IAM for large systems, Firebase in seamless integration with Google services, and OneLogin in enterprise SSO and user lifecycle management.

The bottom line

We’ve looked at five alternatives to Clerk — WorkOS, Auth0, OneLogin, Firebase, and Okta — each suited for different needs. If you’re building enterprise apps, you might want to use WorkOS. With a single API integration, you can integrate SCIM and SSO into your app with just a few lines of code.

• Get started fast: With SDKs in every popular language, easy-to-follow documentation, and Slack-based support, you can implement SSO in minutes rather than weeks.
• Support every protocol: With OAuth 2.0 integrations to popular providers like Google and Microsoft, compatibility with every major IdP, and full support for custom SAML/OIDC connections, WorkOS can support any enterprise customer.
• Avoid the back-and-forth: WorkOS’s Admin Portal takes the pain out of onboarding your customers’ IT teams and configuring your app to work with their identity provider.
• Pricing that makes sense: Unlike competitors who price by monthly active users, WorkOS charges a flat rate for each company you onboard — whether they bring 10 or 10,000 SSO users to your app.

Sign up for WorkOS today, and start selling to enterprise customers tomorrow.