# AWS Cognito vs Clerk

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Clerk

| Attribute | AWS Cognito | Clerk |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 44.8 (73% (medium)) | 72.2 (71% (medium)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | AWS Cognito provides secure, scalable user authentication and access management that enables applications to support user sign-up, sign-in, and multi-factor authentication. It offers both a pre-built login interface and APIs for custom implementations, supports passwordless authentication via passkeys and SMS/email OTP, and federates with social and enterprise identity providers. | A cloud-based authentication and user management platform offering prebuilt UI components, APIs, and dashboards to implement user sign-in, profile management, organizations, and billing features. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true}` | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true}` |
| integrations.count | 10 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Apple"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"Amazon"},{"name":"SAML"},{"name":"OIDC"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"AWS Amplify"},{"name":"AWS AppSync"},{"name":"AWS Verified Permissions"}]` | `[{"name":"Google OAuth"},{"name":"GitHub OAuth"},{"name":"Google Workspace"},{"name":"Convex"},{"name":"MCP"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Lite","description":"Basic user registration, authentication, and management capabilities, including social identity and SAML/OIDC provider integration, and password-based authentication.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Essentials","description":"Comprehensive user authentication and access control with Managed Login, passwordless login using passkeys, email, or SMS, access token customization, and password reuse restrictions.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Plus","description":"Advanced security with risk-based adaptive authentication, compromised credentials detection, and authentication event log export.","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Usage-based pricing with no minimum fees or upfront commitments. Three tiers available (Lite, Essentials, Plus).","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/cognito/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:06:18.259Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free tier, 10,000 MAUs","features":["Sign-in and sign-up","Customizable sign-in pages","Custom domain","Profile management","Social login"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Up to 10,000 monthly active users","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"monthly_active_users":"10,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$25/month plus $0.02 per additional MAU","features":["All Free features","Remove Clerk branding","Custom session duration","Password complexity requirements","User ban/unban","Allowlist/blocklist","Multiple domains","SMS authentication","SOC2 report on request"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"MAU"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Complete feature set for most applications","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"monthly_active_users":"10,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Enhanced Authentication"},{"name":"Enhanced Organizations"},{"name":"Enhanced Administration"}],"summary":"From $25/month. Free tier with 10,000 MAUs.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://clerk.com/blog/new-pricing-plans","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:16:19.293Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.02,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |

## Capabilities (Auth & Identity Software)

| Capability | AWS Cognito | Clerk |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Cloud only |
| **Methods** |  |  |
| Social login | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passwordless | ✓ | - |
| Passkeys / WebAuthn | ✓ | - |
| Multi-factor auth | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Enterprise** |  |  |
| SAML SSO | ✓ | ✓ |
| SCIM provisioning | - | - |
| B2B / multi-tenancy | - | ✓ |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenID Connect provider | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Hosted UI | Both | Both |
| **Access** |  |  |
| RBAC | - | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Self-hostable OSS core | ✗ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:33:34.576Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*