# Clerk vs Firebase Authentication

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Clerk

| Attribute | Clerk | Firebase Authentication |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 72.2 (71% (medium)) | 65.5 (26% (low)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | A backend authentication service offering SDKs and UI components to integrate user sign-in across web and mobile platforms. Supports email, password, phone, and social login methods, with customizable UI options and pre-built components. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true}` | `{"oidc":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Google OAuth"},{"name":"GitHub OAuth"},{"name":"Google Workspace"},{"name":"Convex"},{"name":"MCP"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"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"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Spark","description":"Free tier with usage limits","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"saml_oidc_users":"50","monthly_active_users":"50K"}},{"free":false,"name":"Blaze","description":"Pay-as-you-go with Spark free tier limits included, then usage-based billing","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"saml_oidc_users":"50","monthly_active_users":"50K"}}],"summary":"Free Spark plan with 50K monthly active users. Blaze plan uses pay-as-you-go pricing.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://firebase.google.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T15:28:10.980Z","billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |

## Capabilities (Auth & Identity Software)

| Capability | Clerk | Firebase Authentication |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **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 2026-09-01T17:08:59.436Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*