Clerk vs Better Auth
A comparison of Clerk and Better Auth built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
4 sourced criteria separate them:
- Entry paid plan
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Price per SSO connection
- Clerk: One enterprise connection included on Pro, then $75/month each.
- Better Auth: One connection included on Pro, then $50/month per connection, covering self-service SSO and Directory Sync together.
- 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.
- 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.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Clerk 0
Better Auth 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Clerk | Better Auth |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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. |
| Auth | ||
| 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Clerk ↗
“Base price $0 $25/mo, $20/mo billed annually $300/mo, $250/mo billed annually”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“The Better Auth framework is free and open source. Pricing below is for our managed infrastructure. [...] Pro [...] $20 / month Unlimited seats”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Clerk ↗
“Base price $0 $25/mo [...] Additional $0.02/mo each [...] Additional $75/mo each [...] Additional $20/mo each [...] Additional $10/mo each”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“$20 / month [...] 20,000 audit logs / month then $0.0001 per event 10,000 security detections / month then $0.001 per event [...] Transactional email & SMS $0.001 per email, $0.09 per SMS”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Price per SSO connection
- Clerk
- One enterprise connection included on Pro, then $75/month each.
- Better Auth
- One connection included on Pro, then $50/month per connection, covering self-service SSO and Directory Sync together.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Clerk ↗
“1 Enterprise connection included Additional $75/mo each”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“Self-service SSO & Directory Sync 1 connection, then $50/month per connection”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Clerk ↗
“Application Logs 1 day retention [...] Custom session lifetime Application Logs”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“Starter [...] 10,000 audit logs / month 1 day retention [...] Pro [...] 20,000 audit logs / month then $0.0001 per event”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Which should you choose?
Choose Clerk if…
Getting a complete, styled sign-in flow running quickly, with 50,000 users free before any bill starts.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Clerk: Enterprise connections are $75/month each after the first, so a B2B product selling to several SSO-using customers pays per logo.
- 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.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.