# Better Auth vs Clerk

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Better Auth

| Attribute | Better Auth | Clerk |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 76 (26% (low)) | 73.2 (61% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 91 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 29,411 | - |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 6,546,561 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Framework-agnostic authentication framework for TypeScript that runs in your application code. Provides built-in email/password auth, social login, multi-tenancy, and enterprise features including SAML, SCIM, and a plugin ecosystem. | Clerk provides full-stack authentication and user management with prebuilt components for sign-up, sign-in, organization management, and billing. Supports B2B multi-tenancy, social login, passwordless auth, MFA, and enterprise SSO. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"both","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"headless","open_source":true,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true,"scim_provisioning":true}` | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":false,"rbac":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true,"passkeys_webauthn":false,"scim_provisioning":false}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 30 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Google"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Apple"},{"name":"Discord"}]` | `[{"name":"React"},{"name":"Next.js"},{"name":"Expo"},{"name":"Vue"},{"name":"Angular"},{"name":"Svelte"},{"name":"Python"},{"name":"Ruby"},{"name":"Go"},{"name":"Java"},{"name":"C#"},{"name":"PHP"},{"name":"Rust"},{"name":"JavaScript"},{"name":"Nuxt"},{"name":"Remix"},{"name":"Express"},{"name":"Fastify"},{"name":"Koa"},{"name":"Hono"},{"name":"Elysia"},{"name":"Tauri"},{"name":"Astro"},{"name":"SolidJS"},{"name":"React Router"},{"name":"TanStack React"},{"name":"Chrome Extension"},{"name":"Android"},{"name":"iOS"},{"name":"Stripe"}]` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | - |
| license.spdx | MIT | - |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US","GB","EU"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":["US","GB"],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Starter","summary":"Free","features":["1 dashboard seat","10,000 audit logs/month","1 day retention","1,000 security detections/month","Community support"],"minSeats":1,"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For evaluation and side projects","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"audit_logs":"10,000/month","dashboard_seats":"1","audit_log_retention":"1 day","security_detections":"1,000/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/month plus usage-based overages","features":["Unlimited dashboard seats","20,000 audit logs/month then $0.0001/event","10,000 security detections/month then $0.001/event","Self-service SSO & Directory Sync (1 connection included, $50/month per additional)","Transactional email & SMS","Email templates & abuse protection","User management","Dashboard RBAC","Email support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"audit_log_event"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.0001,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"security_detection_event"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.001,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"email"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.001,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"sms"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.09,"currency":"USD"},{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"connection","amount":50,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For production teams running auth in the critical path","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"audit_logs":"20,000/month","audit_log_retention":"7 days","security_detections":"10,000/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Custom usage and retention","Custom domain and log drain included","Dashboard RBAC","Slack support and implementation help","Custom MSA and DPA"],"description":"For organizations with bespoke security or volume needs","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Custom domain for Dashboard","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Log drain","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Free framework. Managed infrastructure: free tier available, Pro from $20/month plus usage overages, Enterprise custom.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.better-auth.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:07:07.344Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.0001,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Hobby","summary":"Free tier","features":["Up to 3 dashboard seats","Unlimited applications","50,000 MRU limit per app","Up to 5 user impersonations","APIs and prebuilt UIs","Custom domain","7 day session lifetime","Application logs 1 day retention","M2M tokens limited per month","Up to 3 social connections"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"No credit card required. Everything you need to start building.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"50,000 MRU/app","applications":"unlimited","impersonations":"5/month","dashboard_seats":"3","social_connections":"3"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/mo billed annually ($25/mo monthly)","features":["Everything in Hobby","50,000 MRU included per app","Unlimited social connections","1 Enterprise connection included (additional $75/mo)","Remove Clerk branding","Multi-factor authentication (MFA)","Satellite domains ($10/mo each)","Custom session lifetime","Application logs 7 day retention","SMS Authentication available","M2M tokens included"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed annually","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed monthly","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"MRU"},"kind":"metered","range":"50,001-100,000/mo","amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Scale with full-featured authentication.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"50,000 MRU/app included","applications":"unlimited","dashboard_seats":"3","social_connections":"unlimited"}},{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"$250/mo billed annually ($300/mo monthly)","features":["Everything in Pro","10 dashboard seats included (additional $20/mo each)","SOC2 Report","Enhanced dashboard roles","Priority support","Application logs 30 day retention"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed annually","amount":250,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed monthly","amount":300,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Tackle compliance and growing teams.","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"50,000 MRU/app included","applications":"unlimited","dashboard_seats":"10 included"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing. Contact sales.","features":["Everything in Business","Annual committed use discounts","99.99% Uptime SLA","Enterprise SSO for workspace","Premium support SLA + dedicated Slack channel","Application logs custom retention","Log sink destinations (stream to SIEM)","HIPAA compliance available with BAA","Onboarding & migration support","Custom security questionnaires"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Tailored solutions and guarantees.","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"B2B Authentication Enhanced","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed annually","amount":85,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Administration Enhanced","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":100,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","note":"billed annually","amount":85,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Billing","components":[{"of":"billing_volume","kind":"percentage","rate":0.7}]}],"summary":"Free plan available. Paid plans from $20/mo annual ($25/mo monthly). Usage-based overage pricing for additional users.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://clerk.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:06:44.374Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.02,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.starting_gbp | 0 | 0.02 |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |

## Capabilities (Auth & Identity Software)

| Capability | Better Auth | Clerk |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | 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 | Headless | Both |
| **Access** |  |  |
| RBAC | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Self-hostable OSS core | ✓ | ✗ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-08-07T00:01:46.819Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*