Clerk vs WorkOS
No clear leader: WorkOS (72.0) and Clerk (71.4) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for auth & identity software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Clerk
Provides embeddable components and APIs for adding authentication, profile management, organizations, and subscription billing to applications. Supports enterprise features like SAML, SCIM provisioning, and multi-tenancy.
WorkOS
A platform providing identity infrastructure including SSO, multi-factor authentication, directory synchronization, and user management capabilities for SaaS applications and enterprise software.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Clerk
Free up to 50K MRU. Pro from $20/mo billed annually (includes 50K MRU + 1 enterprise connection). Add-ons available.
- FreeFree
- Social authentication (Google, GitHub, Facebook)
- Email/password authentication
- Magic links
- Organizations
- Multifactor authentication
- +1 more
- Pro$20/mo billed annually (includes 50K MRU + 1 enterprise connection)
- 50K monthly retained users included
- 1 enterprise SSO connection included
- Custom session lifetime
- Clerk branding removal
- Directory sync
- +5 more
WorkOS
Free up to 1,000,000 MAUs. $2,500/month per additional million MAUs. $125/month per SSO-enabled organization.
- FreeFree
- Single Sign-On (SAML & OIDC)
- SCIM provisioning
- Role-based access control
- Bot detection
- Identity linking
- +5 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- GitHub
Clerk
- Google OAuth
- GitHub OAuth
- Google Workspace
- Convex
- MCP
- Stripe
- Okta Workforce
- Microsoft Entra ID
WorkOS
- Slack
- GitLab
- Bitbucket
- Xero
- Rippling
- ADP
- Intuit
- Microsoft
- Apple
- SAML
- OIDC
- Vercel
- Clever
- Asana
- Box
- Dropbox
- Front
- HelpScout
- Hubspot
- Intercom
- Jira
- Sentry
- Mailgun
- +1 more
Clerk or WorkOS: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.