Authentication: cheapest modeled plans
Eligible plans ordered by monthly equivalent at the workload below. A low subscription fee alone does not establish the cheapest total.
What this comparison covers
Consumer email/social authentication for one application. No SMS, enterprise SSO, directory sync, custom email delivery or advanced security add-ons. Clerk bills retained users, not all active users. Enter that ratio explicitly.
Evaluating 4 products from 4 published in this category. USD monthly equivalents, before tax. Features and service compatibility need separate evaluation.
- Monthly active users
- 10,000 users / month
- Returning after the first day
- 60 % of active users
Cost ranking at this workload
4 eligible products. Quote-only, expired and unsupported configurations are excluded from cost rankings.
Clerk
Authentication priced by users who return after signup day.
$0 / month
Hobby
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-05
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $0
- Retained users return at least 24 hours after signup. Hobby has feature and dashboard-seat limits.
- SMS, enterprise SSO, directory synchronization, custom domains, custom email delivery and optional security add-ons.
Hobby: $0/month at reference usage.
Supabase Auth
Authentication bundled with a PostgreSQL backend.
$0 / month
Free · auth allowance
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-05
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $0
- Assumes auth data and traffic stay within Free database and egress allowances. Inactive free projects can pause.
- SMS, enterprise SSO, directory synchronization, custom domains, custom email delivery and optional security add-ons.
- SMTP delivery and usage beyond bundled database, storage and transfer allowances.
Free · auth allowance: $0/month at reference usage.
WorkOS AuthKit
Consumer authentication with a large free active-user allowance.
$0 / month
AuthKit
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-05
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $0
- Additional active-user blocks (1,000,000 included): $0
- First 1 million monthly active users included. Additional capacity is sold per million users. Custom domain costs extra.
- SMS, enterprise SSO, directory synchronization, custom domains, custom email delivery and optional security add-ons.
AuthKit: $0/month at reference usage.
Auth0
Enterprise-grade identity and access management with extensive integrations.
$665.00 / month
B2C Essentials
Official pricing · Checked 2026-10-05
Cost breakdown and exclusions
- Monthly subscription: $35.00
- Additional active users (1,000 included): $630.00
- Includes 1,000 monthly active users, custom domains, and MFA. B2B enterprise federation sold separately.
- Enterprise SLA, external database migration scripts, and dedicated tenant isolation.
B2C Essentials: $665.00/month at reference usage.
Questions before you decide
Which Authentication product is cheapest?
Clerk has a lowest modeled cost among the eligible products shown at reference usage. Ties share a rank. This is not a claim about every vendor or workload.