What is Clerk?

Clerk is a comprehensive, full-stack user management and authentication platform built for developers building web and mobile applications. It provides intelligent, secure, and convenient solutions for handling sign-up, sign-in, profile management, multi-tenancy, and subscription billing—without requiring teams to build and maintain complex infrastructure. Clerk delivers pre-built, highly customizable UI components alongside robust backend services, enabling rapid integration with frameworks like Next.js, React, Expo, Astro, and more. It manages the entire user lifecycle—from first-time onboarding to security enforcement, organizational hierarchy, and compliance-ready operations—while supporting SOC 2, GDPR, and CCPA standards. By abstracting away low-level auth logic, Clerk empowers engineering teams to ship faster, scale securely, and focus on product innovation instead of identity plumbing.

Main Features

1. Pre-built UI Components: Ready-to-use, accessible React components for sign-in, sign-up, user profiles, organization dashboards, and pricing tables.

2. Multi-Factor Authentication: Automated enforcement of TOTP, SMS, and backup codes with flexible policies.

3. Social & Enterprise Identity Providers: Seamless integration with 20+ social logins (Google, GitHub, etc.) and enterprise SSO via SAML/OIDC (in add-ons).

4. Intelligent Organization Management: Domain-based auto-join, custom roles, team invitations, permissions, and verified domains.

5. Built-in Security Toolkit: Bot detection, disposable email blocking, device tracking, session management, and fraud prevention.

6. Flexible Session Control: Custom JWT templates, token revocation, and adjustable session durations.

7. Integrated Billing UI: Pre-built, embeddable pricing tables and subscription management components.

8. Framework-First SDKs: Official, well-documented SDKs for Next.js, React, React Native (Expo), Astro, and Vite.

9. Composable Integrations: Native sync with Supabase, Convex, Vercel, and other modern dev tools.

Use Cases

1. SaaS Platforms: Implement secure B2B or B2C authentication, team workspaces, role-based access, and subscription flows in hours—not months.

2. Startup MVPs: Launch with production-grade auth, user profiles, and organizations without hiring dedicated identity engineers.

3. Multi-Tenant Applications: Manage customers as organizations with domain restrictions, custom branding, and hierarchical permissions.

4. Subscription-Based Apps: Embed billing UIs and connect to Stripe or other providers using Clerk’s automated subscription components.

5. High-Security Applications: Leverage built-in MFA, device intelligence, session hygiene, and regulatory compliance out of the box.

6. Framework-Native Projects: Accelerate development for Next.js or React Native apps with zero-config, type-safe SDKs and hooks.

Pricing Plans

1. Free Plan: $0/month — includes 10,000 MAUs, 100 MAOs, 3 dashboard seats, basic social connections (up to 3), email/password auth, and community support.

2. Pro Plan: Starts at $25/month base + usage fees — adds unlimited social providers, SMS codes, custom sessions, white-labeling, allowlists/blocklists, user bans, and email support. Additional MAUs cost $0.02 each; extra MAOs cost $1 each; dashboard seats are $10/month each.

3. Add-ons: Enhanced Authentication ($100/month), Enhanced Administration ($100/month), and Enhanced Organizations ($100/month) unlock advanced security, admin controls, and org features.

4. Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing — includes HIPAA compliance (with BAA), SLA guarantees (99.99% uptime), dedicated Slack support, migration assistance, and volume discounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Q: What happens when I exceed the first 10,000 monthly active users or 100 monthly active organizations?

A: You must upgrade to the Pro tier. You’ll be billed per additional MAU ($0.02) or MAO ($1), with a one-month grace period.

2. Q: Is there a free trial?

A: All Pro features are fully available in development mode—no time limit. Upgrade only when moving to production.

3. Q: What is "First Day Free"?

A: Users are not counted toward MAU billing until they sign in again after their initial 24-hour access window.

4. Q: What is considered a monthly active user (MAU)?

A: A unique user who signs in two or more times in a calendar month, excluding their first 24-hour session.

5. Q: Do you offer volume discounts?

A: Yes—contact sales for custom enterprise pricing and tiered discounts.

6. Q: Can I export my data?

A: Yes, Clerk supports full user and organization data export via API or dashboard.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Dramatically accelerates auth implementation with production-ready, framework-native components

- Unified solution covering authentication, organizations, billing, and security—no fragmented tooling

- Strong compliance posture (SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA) and built-in fraud prevention

- Excellent developer experience with TypeScript support, clear docs, and active community

- Flexible p