# Clerk vs Better Auth

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/clerk-vs-better-auth/

Every value below is read from Clerk's and Better Auth's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Clerk | Better Auth |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $25/month for Pro, or $20/month billed annually. Business is $300/month. | $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it. |
| Pricing model | A monthly base price plus per-user billing above the included 50,000, with enterprise connections, extra dashboard seats and satellite domains each priced as separate add-ons at $75, $20 and $10 a month. | The framework is free and open source and holds your user data in your own database. The paid plans price the surrounding infrastructure by event: audit logs at $0.0001 each beyond the allowance, security detections at $0.001, email at $0.001 and SMS at $0.09. |
| Price per SSO connection | One enterprise connection included on Pro, then $75/month each. | One connection included on Pro, then $50/month per connection, covering self-service SSO and Directory Sync together. |
| SAML single sign-on | Supported | Supported |
| Multi-factor authentication | Supported | Supported |
| Audit logs | Application logs with 1-day retention on the free Hobby plan; longer retention is a paid-plan feature Clerk lists without publishing the window. | 10,000 audit log events a month with 1-day retention on the free Starter plan; 20,000 on Pro, then $0.0001 per event. |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- Clerk: $25/month for Pro, or $20/month billed annually. Business is $300/month. ([source](https://clerk.com/pricing))
- Better Auth: $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it. ([source](https://www.better-auth.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Clerk: A monthly base price plus per-user billing above the included 50,000, with enterprise connections, extra dashboard seats and satellite domains each priced as separate add-ons at $75, $20 and $10 a month. ([source](https://clerk.com/pricing))
- Better Auth: The framework is free and open source and holds your user data in your own database. The paid plans price the surrounding infrastructure by event: audit logs at $0.0001 each beyond the allowance, security detections at $0.001, email at $0.001 and SMS at $0.09. ([source](https://www.better-auth.com/pricing))

### Price per SSO connection

- Clerk: One enterprise connection included on Pro, then $75/month each. ([source](https://clerk.com/pricing))
- Better Auth: One connection included on Pro, then $50/month per connection, covering self-service SSO and Directory Sync together. ([source](https://www.better-auth.com/pricing))

### Audit logs

- Clerk: Application logs with 1-day retention on the free Hobby plan; longer retention is a paid-plan feature Clerk lists without publishing the window. ([source](https://clerk.com/pricing))
- Better Auth: 10,000 audit log events a month with 1-day retention on the free Starter plan; 20,000 on Pro, then $0.0001 per event. ([source](https://www.better-auth.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Clerk if Getting a complete, styled sign-in flow running quickly, with 50,000 users free before any bill starts.

Pick Better Auth if Teams that want the user table in their own database and no per-user bill at all — the framework is free, and the $20 plan buys tooling rather than access.

Consider something else: Clerk — Enterprise connections are $75/month each after the first, so a B2B product selling to several SSO-using customers pays per logo.

Consider something else: Better Auth — You want a hosted service with an SLA rather than a library you run, since everything below the dashboard is your operational problem.

## Documented by only one

- Self-hostable: Better Auth: Supported
- Users included: Clerk: 50,000 monthly retained users per app, on the free Hobby plan and on Pro alike. Beyond that, $0.02 each falling to $0.012 above 10 million.
- SCIM provisioning: Better Auth: Supported

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Clerk or Better Auth?**

Clerk: $25/month for Pro, or $20/month billed annually. Business is $300/month.
Better Auth: $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it.

**Should I choose Clerk or Better Auth?**

Pick Clerk if Getting a complete, styled sign-in flow running quickly, with 50,000 users free before any bill starts.
Pick Better Auth if Teams that want the user table in their own database and no per-user bill at all — the framework is free, and the $20 plan buys tooling rather than access.