4 WorkOS alternatives + which to choose

While WorkOS offers a comprehensive set of features for enterprise authentication and directory sync, it's always wise to explore your options before committing to a solution.

This article will break down four WorkOS alternatives: Auth0, Frontegg, Clerk, and Stytch. We'll examine their features, pricing, and who they're best for, so you can make a well-informed choice.

Top 4 WorkOS alternatives

Below are the top 4 WorkOS alternatives:

1. Auth0
2. Frontegg
3. Clerk
4. Stytch

1. Auth0

Auth0 from Okta is an identity management solution that supports a range of protocols including OAuth2 and OpenID Connect, and authentication options such as SSO, email/password authentication, MFA, and social logins. 

Here are some of its features:

• Enterprise SSO: Auth0 supports SSO connections to enterprise providers like Okta and OneLogin.
• Universal login: Auth0 provides a hosted login UI that you can use to authenticate users via social logins, SSO, and email/password authentication. You can also customize it, such as changing the color and text of the login box.
• Actions: Unlike WorkOS, where you can call the authentication APIs directly and build your front end, Auth0 has limited customization options. However, it allows you to write custom scripts called actions that you can configure to run at various stages of the authentication pipeline, such as during login, token issuance, or when a user is updated. 
• Machine-to-machine authentication: Auth0 uses the OAuth device flow to authenticate input-constrained devices like smart TVs.

When comparing Auth0 with WorkOS, several key differences emerge:

• Auth0's user management is capped at 7,500 users for $1725/month, whereas WorkOS offers uncapped user management, starting free for up to 1,000,000 Monthly Active Users (MAUs).
• Auth0 limits organizations to 50, and admins to one per account, while WorkOS provides unlimited organizations and admins. 
• Auth0 allows up to 3 Single Sign-On (SSO) connections, compared to WorkOS’s model of charging a flat rate of $125/month per SSO connection with automatic volume discounts.
• Unlike WorkOS, which offers an admin portal for customers to self-serve SSO and Directory Sync, Auth0 lacks a similar portal.

Pricing

For B2B apps:

• Free plan: Free for 7,500 MAUs with unlimited logins for password auth, passkeys, social logins, branded forms, and 3 actions.
• Essentials plan: It starts at $150 per month for up to 500 MAUs and is capped at $1,725 per month for up to 7,500 MAUs. 
• Professional plan: Starts at $800 per month for 500 MAUs.
• Enterprise plan: Pricing is available upon request from the sales team.

For B2C apps, you have these options:

• Free plan: Free for 7,500 MAUs with unlimited logins for password auth, passkeys, social logins, branded forms, and 3 actions.
• Essentials plan: Starts at $35 monthly for up to 500 MAUs.
• Professional plan: Starts at $240 per month for 1000 MAUs.
• Enterprise plan: Pricing is available upon request from the sales team.
  
  

2. Frontegg

Frontegg is a user management platform for B2B SaaS apps. It provides ready-to-use tools to implement essential features like authentication, authorization, and user management quickly.

Here are some of its features:

• Authentication: Frontegg supports several authentication methods, including social logins, multi-factor authentication, magic links, and traditional email password authentication.
• Authorization: You get granular roles and permissions management via a dedicated admin portal, where you can view, edit, and remove users or tenants.

• Admin portal: Like WorkOS, Frontegg’s has a self-serve feature that your customers can use to configure their SSO or SCIM connection. These connections can be with any IDPs that support OIDC and SAML.
• Webhooks: Webhooks allow you to connect Frontegg to your app and subscribe to events like user signups.
• SCIM provisioning: Frontegg supports SCIM connections to Okta and Azure AD. Customers who use another identity provider can configure a custom SCIM connection.

Pricing

Frontegg’s pricing is MAU-based:

• Starter plan: 7500 MAUs, 50 tenants, and 5 SSO connections
• Scale plan: Talk to sales
• Enterprise plan: Talk to sales

Here’s how Frontegg compares WorkOS:

• Frontegg supports 2 SSO providers and generic SCIM connections. WorkOS supports a broader range of SSO and SCIM providers.
• Frontegg’s billing approach has no automatic volume discounts. Sales interaction starts after 3 connections. WorkOS automatic volume discounts start with your 16th enterprise connection.
• Frontegg uses webhooks to send notifications, which work well in asynchronous situations but can encounter issues like out-of-sequence messages. WorkOS offers an Events API in addition to webhooks. The Events API delivers notifications to your app in real-time and in the correct order.

3. Clerk

Clerk is a consumer-centric authentication solution designed to simplify how you add authentication and user management features to your app by providing pre-built embeddable components, APIs, and admin dashboards to authenticate and manage users. 

Here are some of its features:

• Authentication: It supports traditional password authentication, magic links, email and SMS OTPs, multi-factor authentication, and social sign-on.
• SAML support: Clerk supports integrations with SAML-compliant identity providers for SSO.
• Basic RBAC: RBAC allows you to determine access based on the user's role and supports custom roles and permissions. However, you have to buy an add-on to access it.
• Session management: Clerk manages the entire lifecycle of user sessions, providing functionalities like active device monitoring and session revocation.
• Webhooks: Clerk has over 20 webhook events that allow your app to receive event notifications, such as when a user is created or updated.
• Developer-focused: Clerk is built with developers in mind, offering pre-built React components and hooks for easy integration into web applications, especially those built with React or Next.js.

Pricing

• Free plan: This plan offers support for up to 10,000 MAUs and 100 monthly active organizations (MAOs), with a limit of up to 5 members per organization, at no cost.

• Pro plan: It costs $0.02 per MAU after the first 10,000 and $1 per MAO beyond the initial 100, and each organization can have unlimited members.

• Enhanced authentication add-on: Priced at $100 per month, this add-on includes multi-factor authentication (MFA), SAML authentication, support for simultaneous sessions, and device tracking capabilities.

• Enhanced administration add-on: This add-on provides features such as user impersonation and advanced role management for an additional $100 monthly.

Here’s how Clerk compares to WorkOS:

• Clerk currently supports SAML-based SSO, whereas WorkOS supports SAML and OIDC.
• Clerk does not currently offer SCIM integration, which is crucial for automating user provisioning and deprovisioning. On the other hand, WorkOS's Directory Sync supports dozens of SCIM providers.
• Clerk does not provide audit logs or log streaming capabilities, which are essential for monitoring and security compliance. The WorkOS audit logs feature starts at $5 per organization per month.
• Clerk lacks support for authentication scoped policies, limiting its use in environments that require fine-grained access control based on user attributes or roles. WorkOS supports custom organization policies.

4. Stytch

Stytch is a versatile authentication platform designed for both B2B and consumer applications. 

Key features of Stytch include:

• Multiple authentication methods: Stytch supports various authentication strategies, including email magic links, one-time passcodes, OAuth/Social login, biometrics, and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Customization and integration: The platform is highly customizable, offering SDKs and APIs that integrate seamlessly with mobile and web applications.
• Single Sign-On: It supports both SAML and OIDC protocols with their scale plan.
• SCIM provisioning: Stytch supports SCIM provisioning, which allows you to sync your app’s user data with your customers' directories.
• JIT provisioning: It supports Just-in-Time provisioning of new users by their email domain or SSO connection.
• Fraud and risk prevention: Stytch incorporates advanced security measures such as device fingerprinting, breach-resistant passwords, and an observability dashboard that help mitigate risks and protect against fraud.

Here’s how Stytch compares to WorkOS:

• It does not support audit logs, but WorkOS does.
• Stytch supports machine-to-machine authentication, while WorkOS doesn’t.
• SCIM support is only included in their enterprise plan, for which you must contact sales for pricing. WorkOS fully supports it via Directory Sync at $125/month/connection.

Pricing

B2B authentication:

• Starter plan: $0/month for 25 organizations, 1000 members, and 1000 M2M tokens.
• Pro plan: $249/month for 25 organizations, 1000 members, and 5000 M2M tokens. Includes 3 SSO connections, Stytch branding removal options, full email customization, and SMS provider failover.
• Scale plan: $799/month for 100 organizations, 7500 members, and 5000 M2M tokens. Includes everything in the Pro plan plus 8 SSO connections and enforced MFA.
• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing for unlimited SSO connections, SCIM, bot detection, device fingerprinting, enterprise support, and 99.999% uptime SLA.

Consumer authentication:

• Starter plan: $0/month for 5000 active users and 1000 M2M tokens.
• Pro plan: $249/month for 5000 active users and 5000 M2M tokens. Features include Stytch branding removal, email customization, and SMS provider failover.
• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing for bot detection, device fingerprinting, enterprise support, and 99.999% uptime SLA.

Contact the sales team to add fraud and risk prevention to your B2B or B2C plan.

Which should you choose?

Choose Auth0 if you need a ready-to-use authentication solution tailored for B2C applications with basic customization options. 

Clerk is a solid choice for those building JavaScript-based consumer apps requiring extensive customization. 

If your focus is on B2B applications with multi-tenancy capabilities, consider Frontegg. 

Alternatively, if your needs span both B2B and B2C applications and you prioritize security, Stytch might be the right fit.

However, if you’re building an app for enterprises, use WorkOS.

WorkOS is explicitly designed with the enterprise in mind. It supports Directory Sync for SCIM provisioning, OIDC and SAML SSO, roles, organization-scoped policies, audit logs, an admin portal for easier customer onboarding, easy-to-use APIs, SDKs, and UIs that simplify integration.

Moreover, unlike competitors like Auth0 and Frontegg, which cap connections and use MAU-based pricing, WorkOS stands out with its per-connection pricing model. MAU-based approaches can introduce budgeting challenges, especially when the number of users per organization is variable and potentially significant. WorkOS lets you know exactly what you're paying for each client connection.

Instead of bundling features you might not need in a plan, WorkOS lets you choose and pay for only what you need right now — SSO or SCIM. This à la carte approach ensures you don't overspend on unnecessary functionalities and can add other features as your needs evolve.

Try WorkOS

Ready to close your first enterprise client? Use WorkOS.

• 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.