Facts read November 6, 2026
Clerk vs WorkOS AuthKit
Clerk is Cuely's default auth pick when your description doesn't favor either one: fastest to a polished sign-in, with drop-in UI components. Pick WorkOS AuthKit if you care most about selling to businesses.
Side by side
| Fact | Clerk | WorkOS AuthKit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted auth with prebuilt UI components and organizations. | Hosted auth built around organizations, with enterprise SSO and directory sync as add-ons. |
| Free plan | Hobby: 50,000 monthly retained users per app, 100 monthly retained organizations (up to 20 members each); no MFA, passkeys or SSO. | First 1 million monthly active users free, including email and password, social login, passkeys, MFA and magic auth. |
| Paid from | Pro: $20/month billed annually ($25 monthly), 50,000 MRU included, then $0.02 per MRU. | $2,500/month per additional 1M MAU; SSO and Directory Sync from $125 per connection. |
| At 1,000 users | $0/month | $0/month |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Best for | Fast setup with prebuilt sign-in UI; Next.js and React apps; Consumer and prosumer apps | B2B SaaS selling to companies; Enterprise SSO (SAML/OIDC) and SCIM later; Large free user allowance |
| Watch out | The free plan excludes MFA, passkeys and SSO. B2B features beyond the basics (custom roles, domain restrictions) are a $100/month add-on. | SSO and Directory Sync are priced per connection ($125 each at 1-15); the page doesn't state the billing period. A custom auth domain is $99/month. |
Where they differ
The published scores, from −3 to +3, that decide which one Cuely picks for each need.
| Need | Clerk | WorkOS AuthKit |
|---|---|---|
| Next.js or React | +3 First-class Next.js SDK with prebuilt components. | 0 No particular strength here. |
| sells to businesses (organizations, roles, SSO) | +1 Organizations on all plans; SSO and advanced B2B features cost extra. | +3 Organizations are the core model, and enterprise SSO is one switch away. |
| keep costs as low as possible | 0 50k free users, but MFA and SSO need a paid plan. | +2 1M free monthly active users covers most products for a long time. |
| regulated or compliance-sensitive | 0 No particular strength here. | +2 Audit Logs and enterprise SSO are available as add-ons. |
| native iOS or Android app | +1 Has an Expo SDK for React Native apps. | 0 No particular strength here. |
Sources: Clerk pricing (read November 6, 2026), WorkOS AuthKit pricing (read November 6, 2026). No vendor pays for placement.