The short answer
Clerk is billed mau-based. It has a free tier: 50k MAU (monthly retained users). The paid plans we list start at $25/mo ($20/mo annual) (Pro).
Plans and prices
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby (Free) | $0/mo | Free tier; first 50,000 monthly retained users (MRUs) included free in every app. |
| Pro | $25/mo ($20/mo annual) | 50,000 MRUs included; overage $0.02/MRU (50k-100k), dropping to $0.018, $0.015, $0.012 at higher tiers. |
| Business | $300/mo ($250/mo annual) | Higher-tier plan for scaling teams; 50,000 MRUs included with same tiered overage pricing. |
| Enterprise | Custom (annual only) | Volume MAU discounts, negotiated rates, enterprise SLAs and support. |
| B2B Authentication add-on | $100/mo ($85/mo annual) | Unlimited organization members, custom roles, enterprise connection linking, verified domains. |
| Administration / Billing add-ons | $100/mo admin · 0.7% of billing volume | Unlimited user impersonations (base = 5/mo); Billing add-on charges 0.7% of subscription volume. |
How Clerk bills you
The pricing model is mau-based. DX-obsessed drop-in auth with prebuilt UI components and best-in-class Next.js/React SDKs; 50k free monthly-active users and frictionless self-serve. Best suited to: embeddable auth ui for react/next.js.
What to watch for on the bill
- Security-adjacent and B2B features (org management, unlimited impersonation, admin) gated behind $100/mo add-ons
- Costs can climb fast at scale once past the free MRU allotment for large user bases
The pricing page we read
Source: https://clerk.com/pricing. Prices change, so confirm there before you commit.
Compare Clerk with alternatives
Other authentication & identity apis: Auth0, Firebase Authentication, WorkOS, Stytch, Supabase Auth.
Looking at quality rather than price? See the Clerk score on APIbenchmarks. Full entry: Clerk pricing.