authentik vs Clerk

authentik is an open-source, self-hostable identity and access management product for workforce single sign-on, customer identity, zero-trust security, legacy application integration and API security. It supports OAuth2/OpenID Connect, SAML2, LDAP, RADIUS, SCIM and Kerberos, as well as WS-Federation. MFA options include TOTP, WebAuthn/passkeys, email, SMS, Duo and static tokens. Access policies can consider factors such as user attributes, time and location. Security features include audit logging, session binding, GeoIP and impossible-travel detection, and client certificate authentication with mTLS. It can run on customer infrastructure, including Docker and Kubernetes; the pricing FAQ says there is no hosted version currently. The authentik Agent integrates with Windows, macOS and Linux for local device login and CLI authentication. A free open-source plan includes community Discord support but no product support. Enterprise costs $5 a month, billed annually, at $5 per user per month; external users are $0.02 per month and service accounts have no cost.

Clerk provides full-stack authentication and user management for applications, including Organizations and Billing. Prebuilt components cover sign-up, sign-in, and user profiles, while Frontend, Backend, and Platform HTTP APIs support client-side, backend, and workspace operations. Clerk Billing handles subscription billing and charges 0.7% of billing volume in addition to Stripe fees. Its free B2B offering includes 100 monthly retained organizations per app and up to 20 members per Organization. Listed integrations include Convex, Firebase, Supabase, Shopify, Vercel Marketplace, and Google Analytics. Security practices include account lockout, bot protection, rate limiting, breached-password detection, and MFA enforcement. Clerk lists SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA certifications; SOC 2 reports are available on Business and above, while a HIPAA BAA is available on Enterprise. Data is hosted on US infrastructure, with no regional data residency. Clerk is available on Android, iOS, web, APIs, and extensions, and provides an iOS SDK for native Apple apps. Hobby is free; Pro costs $20/mo billed annually, and Business costs $250 per year billed annually.