9 Clerk alternatives, ranked

Authentication for the web. Open source, framework-agnostic. Formerly NextAuth.js — now supports everything.

• Strong on: Open source
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Many providers

Enterprise identity platform by Okta. Powerful, flexible, and battle-tested at scale.

• Strong on: Enterprise features
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Universal Login

Open source identity and access management. Self-hosted, enterprise-grade, highly configurable.

• Strong on: Fully open source
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Self-hosted

Auth for B2B SaaS. SSO, SCIM, and directory sync that enterprise customers demand.

• Strong on: Built for B2B
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Enterprise SSO out of box

Authentication baked into Supabase. Email, social, phone auth with row-level security.

• Strong on: Integrated with Supabase
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Row-level security

Google's authentication service. Easy setup, many providers, great for mobile and web.

• Strong on: Easy to set up
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Many sign-in providers

Auth library with zero vendor lock-in. Lightweight, framework-agnostic, and fully open source.

• Strong on: Zero dependencies
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Full control

Passwordless authentication API. Magic links, OTPs, OAuth — modern auth without passwords.

• Strong on: Passwordless first
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Great API design

The classic Node.js auth middleware. 500+ strategies, battle-tested, and still going strong.

• Strong on: 500+ auth strategies
• Addresses Clerk's tradeoff: Expensive at scale
• Also: Mature ecosystem