About Clerk
Overview
Clerk is a full-stack authentication and user management platform built for React, Next.js, Remix, and modern web frameworks. It provides drop-in UI components for sign-up, sign-in, profile management, organization management, and billing that developers embed in minutes.
The product addresses the complexity of building authentication from scratch by offering prebuilt components, session management, multifactor authentication, fraud prevention, and B2B multi-tenancy features. Unlike rolling your own auth with Passport.js or using a basic OAuth provider, Clerk bundles UI, backend logic, and security compliance into one SDK.
Key Benefits
- Drop-in UI components like <SignUp/> and <SignIn/> embed pixel-perfect authentication UIs in minutes with any CSS library.
- Complete B2B authentication support includes organization creation, account switching, member management, and invitations.
- Fraud and abuse prevention blocks disposable email domains and email subaddresses with the "+" separator automatically.
- SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and CCPA compliant with regular third-party audits and penetration tests.
- Supports unlimited applications on every pricing plan, including the free Hobby tier.
- Billing add-on lets developers implement subscriptions with prebuilt components and pays only 0.7% of billing volume.
How It Works
You install the Clerk SDK into your frontend framework, wrap your application with the Clerk provider, then place prebuilt components like <SignIn/> or <UserButton/> directly in your JSX. Clerk handles session creation, token refresh, multifactor enforcement, and user data storage on its backend. For B2B scenarios, you add organization components such as <OrganizationSwitcher/> and <OrganizationProfile/> to let users create and manage teams.
Use Cases
- Full-stack developers building SaaS products who need sign-up, sign-in, and user profiles without writing auth logic.
- B2B platform teams that require multi-tenant organization management with custom roles, invitations, and verified domains.
- Next.js and Remix app creators who want framework-native auth components that work with server-side rendering and API routes.
- Startup founders launching a paid application who need subscription billing, pricing table components, and plan-based access control.
- Enterprise engineering teams that need compliance features like SOC 2 reports, HIPAA availability, and custom session lifetimes.
Why Choose This Product
Clerk is best suited for teams using React-based frameworks who want to ship authentication and user management quickly without building custom UI or backend infrastructure. The free Hobby tier supports unlimited applications and up to 50,000 monthly retained users, making it accessible for prototyping and early-stage products. Limitations include SMS authentication and passkeys restricted to paid plans, and B2B features with unlimited members requires the enhanced add-on.
Clerk Pros & Cons
- Free Hobby tier with unlimited applications
- SOC 2 Type 2 and CCPA compliant
- Prebuilt UI components for auth, orgs, and billing
- Supports React, Next.js, and Remix
- Fraud and abuse prevention built in
- Hobby plan limits SMS authentication and passkeys
- Pro plan MRU overage costs $0.02/month per extra MRU
- B2B enhanced add-on costs $100/month for unlimited members
Key Features
Prebuilt UI Components
Prebuilt React components for sign-up, sign-in, user profile, and account switching that can be customized with any CSS library
B2B Organization Management
Complete organization creation, member management, invitations, role assignment, and verified domain joining
Fraud Prevention
Automatically blocks disposable email domains and email subaddresses with the plus separator to reduce fraud
Multifactor Authentication
Self-serve multifactor authentication enforcement using authenticator apps, SMS codes, and backup codes
Security Compliance
SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, CCPA compliant, with regular third-party audits and penetration testing
Session Management
Full session lifecycle management including creation, refresh, and termination with configurable lifetimes
Subscription Billing
Prebuilt pricing table component and customer self-service subscription management with Stripe integration
Multiple Auth Methods
Let users sign in with Google, GitHub, Facebook, MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, email codes, email links, and passwords
Machine Authentication
API key and machine-to-machine token authentication for server-to-server communication
User Metadata & Webhooks
Store custom data with user objects and sync Clerk user data to external systems via webhooks
Clerk Pricing
View full pricing →- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- Unlimited applications
- 50,000 MRU limit per app
- Up to 5 user impersonations
- Custom domain
- Fixed 7 day session lifetime
- Application logs with 1 day retention
- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- 50,000 MRU included per app
- $0.02/mo per additional MRU
- 1 Enterprise connection included
- Remove Clerk branding
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Custom session lifetime
- Application logs with 7 day retention
- 10 dashboard seats included
- $20/mo per additional seat
- SOC2 Report
- Enhanced dashboard roles
- Priority support
- Application logs with 30 day retention
- Annual committed use discounts
- 99.99% Uptime SLA
- Enterprise SSO for workspace
- Premium support SLA with dedicated Slack channel
- Custom log retention
- Log sink destinations to SIEM
- HIPAA compliance with BAA
- Onboarding and migration support
| Feature | Hobby Free/mo | Pro $25/mo | Business $100/mo | Enterprise Custom/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 3 dashboard seats | ||||
| Unlimited applications | ||||
| 50,000 MRU limit per app | ||||
| Up to 5 user impersonations | ||||
| Custom domain | ||||
| Fixed 7 day session lifetime | ||||
| Application logs with 1 day retention | ||||
| 50,000 MRU included per app | ||||
| $0.02/mo per additional MRU | ||||
| 1 Enterprise connection included | ||||
| Remove Clerk branding | ||||
| Multi-factor authentication (MFA) | ||||
| Custom session lifetime | ||||
| Application logs with 7 day retention | ||||
| 10 dashboard seats included | ||||
| $20/mo per additional seat | ||||
| SOC2 Report | ||||
| Enhanced dashboard roles | ||||
| Priority support | ||||
| Application logs with 30 day retention | ||||
| Annual committed use discounts | ||||
| 99.99% Uptime SLA | ||||
| Enterprise SSO for workspace | ||||
| Premium support SLA with dedicated Slack channel | ||||
| Custom log retention | ||||
| Log sink destinations to SIEM | ||||
| HIPAA compliance with BAA | ||||
| Onboarding and migration support |
Pricing extracted from the product website and may change. Check the source for current details.
Frequently asked questions about Clerk
Is Clerk free?
Clerk offers a free plan with optional paid upgrades. See the pricing section for what's included in each tier.
How much does Clerk cost?
Clerk offers the following plans: Hobby, Pro, Business, Enterprise. See the pricing section for what's included in each tier and any per-seat or usage-based costs.
What platforms does Clerk support?
Clerk is available on: Web.
How Clerk compares
C ClerkThis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free | Free | — |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Linux | Web, iOS, Android |
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| Rating | — | — | — | — |
