Clerk vs FusionAuth
Clerk
clerk.comFusionAuth
fusionauth.ioSide by side
| Figure | Clerk | FusionAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1.67/mo | $162/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 8 |
| Spec score · Identity and Access Management Software | 8.6 (#7) | 9.2 (#1) |
| Spec score · Authentication Software | 8.5 (#5) | 9.2 (#2) |
| Spec score · Passkey Authentication Software | 8.5 (#12) | 9.2 (#4) |
| Spec score · Passwordless Authentication Software | 8.5 (#8) | 9.2 (#3) |
| Integrations | Clerk documents integrations with Convex, Firebase, Supabase, Shopify, Vercel Marketplace, and Google Analytics. | Identity-provider integrations include Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter and arbitrary OIDC or SAML v2 providers, with connectors, plugins and monitoring integrations also available. |
| Support | Business includes priority support, while Enterprise includes a premium support SLA and dedicated Slack channel. | Community support is provided through forums, Slack, and GitHub; Essentials includes email support with a 24 to 48 hour business-hours response time, and Enterprise includes 24/7 email and phone support. |
Plans
FusionAuth
- CommunityFree
- CommunityFree
- Starter$162 a month
- Starter$162 a month
- Enterprise$2,970 a month
- Enterprise$2,970 a month
- Essentials$2,970 a month
- Essentials$2,970 a month
In their own words
Clerk
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.
FusionAuth
FusionAuth is a Customer Identity and Access Management server for authentication, authorization, and user management. It supports username and password login, passkeys, one-time passwords, and external identity providers, including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. It implements OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML v2. Authorization includes role-based access across users, roles, groups, applications, and entities, plus fine-grained authorization integration. Teams can customize pages and messages and use lambda functions and webhooks. It can run locally, on-premises, in private or air-gapped cloud environments, or as a managed FusionAuth Cloud instance. The free Community Edition is self-hosted and unlimited, with no trial clock. Starter costs $162 a month billed annually and includes one connector and 100 machine-to-machine entities; Essentials and Enterprise cost $2,970 a month billed annually. FusionAuth supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and API deployments.