Kinde vs Stytch
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Kinde and Stytch built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Kinde if…
Products that want a predictable flat fee and a large free user allowance that does not change when you start paying — 10,500 MAU on every tier is the opposite of Auth0's paid-plan cliff.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Stytch if…
B2B products selling to several SSO-using customers early — five connections free is the difference between paying per logo and not paying at all.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Kinde: Enterprise SSO only becomes free at the $75 tier, and if you use Kinde's billing there is a 0.5% cut of your own transactions on top of the plan fee.
- Stytch: There is no flat plan to budget against: everything above the free allowances is metered, so the bill tracks usage rather than a number you agreed to.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Kinde alternatives · Stytch alternatives
13 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
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.
Kinde 0
Stytch 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Kinde | Stytch |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Always free | Always free |
| What the free plan includes | 10,500 monthly active users on every plan, with paid features billed on top; no credit card required. | 10,000 monthly active users, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens and 10,000 fingerprints; usage beyond that is billed at list rates. |
| Entry paid plan | $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan. | No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom". |
| Pricing model | A flat monthly fee with the same MAU allowance at every level, plus a transaction fee when you bill your own customers through Kinde — 0.5% per transaction, discounted 0.1% on Plus and 0.2% above. | Pay as you go with no platform fee: usage above the always-free allowances is metered, and the estimator on the page prices monthly active users, SSO connections, SCIM connections and M2M tokens as separate lines. |
| Auth | ||
| Users included | 10,500 monthly active users on every tier including free. Paying more does not buy more users — Pro adds uncapped MAU billing, and the higher tiers add MAU discounts of 6% and 13%. | 10,000 monthly active users free, permanently, alongside unlimited organizations and 1,000 M2M tokens. |
| SAML single sign-on | Supported | Supported |
| Multi-factor authentication | Supported | Supported |
| Audit logs | Kinde includes enterprise SSO, RBAC, advanced security, custom domains, audit logs, and compliance features on higher plans. | Event logs cover API requests and dashboard admin actions, are visible in the Dashboard and retained 30 days; longer retention means streaming to Datadog Logs or Grafana Loki, the only supported destinations. |
| Support | ||
| Support on entry paid plan | Email support plus Slack and Discord community access on every plan including Free. In-app chat support starts at Pro, which has a $25 base price. | Enterprise bundles an enterprise support SLA, a private support Slack channel and migration support. Below it the page offers a dev success team to contact, and names no tier. |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type 2 completed with report and attestation from AssuranceLab; full report is on paid plans (Pro, Plus, Scale) under NDA, not Free. | SOC 2 Type 2, covering all Services, which the document defines as including the cloud-based identity platform branded Stytch. Stytch's own docs point to the Twilio Trust Center for the Stytch-named SOC 2 report. |
| ISO 27001 | ISO 27001:2022 certified by Compass Assurance Services, with an ISMS and a dedicated internal security team; certificate downloadable from the docs. | ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017 and ISO/IEC 27018 certified for the Twilio Services, defined to include the identity platform branded Stytch. Stytch's docs list an ISO 27001 certification among Stytch's own compliance documents. |
| HIPAA | HIPAA compliant and acts as a Business Associate; a BAA is put in place on request before work begins. Kinde's FusionAuth comparison table lists HIPAA/BAA as Enterprise only. | HIPAA/BAA is listed only under Enterprise, which is custom-priced; the Pay as you go tier does not list it. |
| GDPR / data residency | GDPR compliant; data stays in the region chosen at sign-up (Sydney, Dublin, Oregon, London or Quebec), with only backend business metadata replicated. Region is picked at sign-up and cannot be changed later (docs: Supported data regions). | GDPR compliance via a DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses and EU/UK/Swiss Data Privacy Framework self-certification; data sits on U.S. servers only. |
| PCI DSS | No PCI-DSS Report on Compliance from a QSA; uses a third party provider's SAQ-A scope, with its own SAQ and AOC in preparation for the billing feature. | PCI SAQ-A covers the Stytch identity platform; PCI DSS Level 1 applies only to services named in Twilio's PCI DSS Responsibility Matrix. |
| Encryption at rest | AES256 for all customer data at rest in the production databases; keys via AWS KMS, with KMS administration limited to privileged admins. | Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the same document defines as including Stytch. |
| Dedicated infrastructure | Offered as an option on the custom-priced Enterprise plan (with Kinde Care for Enterprise+), alongside advanced deployment options. | Multi-tenant: the production environment is shared and logically isolated in a VPC, with Customer Data segregated by unique per-customer identifiers. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the document defines as including Stytch. |
Where they differ.
What the free plan includes
10,500 monthly active users on every plan, with paid features billed on top; no credit card required.
10,000 monthly active users, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens and 10,000 fingerprints; usage beyond that is billed at list rates.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kinde Pricing ↗
“Every plan includes a free tier of 10,500 monthly active users (MAU), with paid features and usage billed as you scale. [...] Yes, our free plan gives you 10,500 monthly active users at no cost, and does not require a credit card to get started.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Stytch Pricing ↗
“If you surpass the 10,000 MAUs, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1000 M2M tokens, or 10,000 fingerprints included in our free tier, you'll pay for only what you use at the rates outlined above.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Entry paid plan
- Kinde
- $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan.
- Stytch
- No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom".
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“$25 USD per month 10,500 MAU free [...] $75 USD per month 10,500 MAU free [...] $250 USD per month 10,500 MAU free”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Pay as you go Starting at: $0 / Month [...] Enterprise Starting at: Custom Discounted Rates [...] Base Price Base Price $0 Contact us”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- Kinde
- A flat monthly fee with the same MAU allowance at every level, plus a transaction fee when you bill your own customers through Kinde — 0.5% per transaction, discounted 0.1% on Plus and 0.2% above.
- Stytch
- Pay as you go with no platform fee: usage above the always-free allowances is metered, and the estimator on the page prices monthly active users, SSO connections, SCIM connections and M2M tokens as separate lines.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“When you bill your customers with Kinde: 0.5% per transaction MAU is free [...] 0.1% transaction fee discount [...] 0.2% transaction fee discount”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Pay as you go Starting at: $0 / Month [...] Monthly active users : SSO Connections SSO SCIM Connections SCIM M2M Tokens M2M Optional add ons”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Users included
10,500 monthly active users on every tier including free. Paying more does not buy more users — Pro adds uncapped MAU billing, and the higher tiers add MAU discounts of 6% and 13%.
10,000 monthly active users free, permanently, alongside unlimited organizations and 1,000 M2M tokens.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“$0 forever 10,500 monthly active users (MAU) [...] $25 USD per month 10,500 MAU free [...] Uncapped MAU [...] 6% MAU discount [...] 13% MAU discount”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Always free: 10,000 monthly active users and AI agents Unlimited Organizations 5 SSO or SCIM Connections 1,000 M2M Tokens”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Audit logs
- Kinde
- Kinde includes enterprise SSO, RBAC, advanced security, custom domains, audit logs, and compliance features on higher plans.
- Stytch
- Event logs cover API requests and dashboard admin actions, are visible in the Dashboard and retained 30 days; longer retention means streaming to Datadog Logs or Grafana Loki, the only supported destinations.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kinde Auth, billing and access management for modern SaaS products. ↗
“Kinde includes enterprise SSO, RBAC, advanced security, custom domains, audit logs, and compliance features on higher plans.”
Read 2026-09-21 · official site · Report a correction
- Event Logs — Stytch Docs ↗
“Event logs should be available within a minute upon request completion and are currently retained for 30 days. For longer retention or external analysis, we recommend enabling event log streaming. [...] Currently Datadog Logs and Grafana Loki are the only supported destinations.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Support on entry paid plan
- Kinde
- Email support plus Slack and Discord community access on every plan including Free. In-app chat support starts at Pro, which has a $25 base price.
- Stytch
- Enterprise bundles an enterprise support SLA, a private support Slack channel and migration support. Below it the page offers a dev success team to contact, and names no tier.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kinde Pricing ↗
“support feature free plan pro plan plus plan scale plan in-app support via chat not included included included included email support included included included included slack community access included included included included”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Stytch Pricing ↗
“need help estimating usage? contact our dev success team enterprise starting at: custom discounted rates enterprise support sla private support slack channel migration support”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
SOC 2
- Kinde
- SOC 2 Type 2 completed with report and attestation from AssuranceLab; full report is on paid plans (Pro, Plus, Scale) under NDA, not Free.
- Stytch
- SOC 2 Type 2, covering all Services, which the document defines as including the cloud-based identity platform branded Stytch. Stytch's own docs point to the Twilio Trust Center for the Stytch-named SOC 2 report.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Compliance - Kinde docs ↗
“Kinde has completed a SOC 2 Type 2 with report and attestation from AssuranceLab [...] Access to the full SOC 2 report is included in our paid plans (Pro, Plus, and Scale) but is not currently available on the Free plan.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“Certification or Attestation Covered Services ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018 Twilio Services, Segment Services SOC 2 Type 2 All Services [...] means any (a) services or application programming interfaces branded as “Twilio” and (b) cloud-based identity, authentication, and security platform, and related services, branded as “Stytch”.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
ISO 27001
- Kinde
- ISO 27001:2022 certified by Compass Assurance Services, with an ISMS and a dedicated internal security team; certificate downloadable from the docs.
- Stytch
- ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017 and ISO/IEC 27018 certified for the Twilio Services, defined to include the identity platform branded Stytch. Stytch's docs list an ISO 27001 certification among Stytch's own compliance documents.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Compliance - Kinde docs ↗
“Kinde is ISO 27001:2022 certified by Compass Assurance Services and maintains an information security management system (ISMS) with a dedicated internal security team. [...] download a copy of our ISO 27001:2022 certificate”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018 Twilio Services, Segment Services [...] means any (a) services or application programming interfaces branded as “Twilio” and (b) cloud-based identity, authentication, and security platform, and related services, branded as “Stytch”.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
HIPAA
- Kinde
- HIPAA compliant and acts as a Business Associate; a BAA is put in place on request before work begins. Kinde's FusionAuth comparison table lists HIPAA/BAA as Enterprise only.
- Stytch
- HIPAA/BAA is listed only under Enterprise, which is custom-priced; the Pay as you go tier does not list it.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Compliance - Kinde docs ↗
“Kinde is HIPAA compliant and supports our customers as a Business Associate. Reach out to our team if you need a Business Associate Agreement in place before working with us.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Enterprise Starting at: Custom Discounted Rates Enterprise Support SLA Private support Slack channel Migration support 99.99% uptime SLA HIPAA/BAA Advanced fraud protection”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- Kinde
- GDPR compliant; data stays in the region chosen at sign-up (Sydney, Dublin, Oregon, London or Quebec), with only backend business metadata replicated. Region is picked at sign-up and cannot be changed later (docs: Supported data regions).
- Stytch
- GDPR compliance via a DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses and EU/UK/Swiss Data Privacy Framework self-certification; data sits on U.S. servers only.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Security at Kinde - Kinde docs ↗
“has an attestation for SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA, and are GDPR compliant [...] Data is stored in the region you selected during sign up of our product. Currently the available regions are Sydney, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Oregon, USA; London, UK; and Quebec, Canada. [...] The only data replicated between regions is backend business metadata”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Data compliance — Stytch Docs ↗
“Data Processing Agreement (DPA) : We offer a DPA that incorporates Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for lawful cross-border data transfers. [...] Stytch self-certifies compliance with the Data Privacy Framework requirements for data transfers from the EU, United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States. [...] Because Stytch operates exclusively out of U.S. servers, achieving this level of rigid localization with their service is not possible.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
PCI DSS
- Kinde
- No PCI-DSS Report on Compliance from a QSA; uses a third party provider's SAQ-A scope, with its own SAQ and AOC in preparation for the billing feature.
- Stytch
- PCI SAQ-A covers the Stytch identity platform; PCI DSS Level 1 applies only to services named in Twilio's PCI DSS Responsibility Matrix.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Compliance - Kinde docs ↗
“Please note that Kinde does not hold a PCI-DSS Report on Compliance (ROC) from a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). [...] Currently we use a third party service provider and their SAQ-A scoped method, which greatly reduces the scope that Kinde has to meet as a PCI-DSS Service Provider. [...] Our SAQ and Attestation of Compliance (AOC) will be available when scoping work is completed”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“PCI DSS Level 1 All Services that are expressly identified in the PCI DSS Responsibility Matrix PCI (SAQ-A) The portion of the Twilio Services that are the cloud-based identity, authentication, and security platform, and related services, branded as “Stytch””
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- Kinde
- AES256 for all customer data at rest in the production databases; keys via AWS KMS, with KMS administration limited to privileged admins.
- Stytch
- Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the same document defines as including Stytch.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Security at Kinde - Kinde docs ↗
“All customer data at rest is encrypted in the Kinde production databases using the industry standard AES256 encryption algorithm. Encryption is facilitated by AWS KMS with access to administer KMS strictly limited to privileged admins.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Dedicated infrastructure
- Kinde
- Offered as an option on the custom-priced Enterprise plan (with Kinde Care for Enterprise+), alongside advanced deployment options.
- Stytch
- Multi-tenant: the production environment is shared and logically isolated in a VPC, with Customer Data segregated by unique per-customer identifiers. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the document defines as including Stytch.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“Advanced deployment options [...] Dedicated infrastructure option (with Kinde Care for Enterprise+)”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“The production environment of the Services that are hosted with the aforementioned infrastructure providers are logically isolated in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and Customer Data is encrypted at all times. [...] Twilio separates Customer Data using logical identifiers. Customer Data is tagged with a unique customer identifier that is assigned to segregate Customer Data ownership.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Kinde or Stytch?
Kinde: $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan.
Stytch: No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom".
Should I choose Kinde or Stytch?
Pick Kinde if Products that want a predictable flat fee and a large free user allowance that does not change when you start paying — 10,500 MAU on every tier is the opposite of Auth0's paid-plan cliff.
Pick Stytch if B2B products selling to several SSO-using customers early — five connections free is the difference between paying per logo and not paying at all.
Comments are hosted by EchoThread, which sets cookies and offers social sign-in. Like the analytics on this site, it does not load until you accept — see the privacy page.