# Kinde vs WorkOS

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/kinde-vs-workos/

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Kinde | WorkOS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| 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. | No monthly platform fee and no per-user charge below a million: WorkOS gives user management away and bills per enterprise connection instead — SSO and Directory Sync at $125 each per month, audit log streaming at $125 per SIEM connection, event retention at $99 per million events. |
| 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%. | 1,000,000 active users free on AuthKit, then $2,500 per additional million. Two orders of magnitude above the other free allowances here. |
| SAML single sign-on | Supported | Supported |
| Multi-factor authentication | Supported | Supported |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type 2 completed, with report and attestation from AssuranceLab. | SOC 2 Type 2 certified. |
| HIPAA | HIPAA compliant; supports customers as a Business Associate. | WorkOS can sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for customers on enterprise plans. |
| GDPR / data residency | GDPR compliant per Kinde's own stated privacy principles. | WorkOS states it is GDPR compliant. Data residency options are not detailed on this page. |

## Where they differ

### 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. ([source](https://kinde.com/pricing/))
- WorkOS: No monthly platform fee and no per-user charge below a million: WorkOS gives user management away and bills per enterprise connection instead — SSO and Directory Sync at $125 each per month, audit log streaming at $125 per SIEM connection, event retention at $99 per million events. ([source](https://workos.com/pricing))

### Users included

- Kinde: 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%. ([source](https://kinde.com/pricing/))
- WorkOS: 1,000,000 active users free on AuthKit, then $2,500 per additional million. Two orders of magnitude above the other free allowances here. ([source](https://workos.com/pricing))

### SOC 2

- Kinde: SOC 2 Type 2 completed, with report and attestation from AssuranceLab. ([source](https://kinde.com/security/))
- WorkOS: SOC 2 Type 2 certified. ([source](https://workos.com/security))

### HIPAA

- Kinde: HIPAA compliant; supports customers as a Business Associate. ([source](https://kinde.com/security/))
- WorkOS: WorkOS can sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for customers on enterprise plans. ([source](https://workos.com/security))

### GDPR / data residency

- Kinde: GDPR compliant per Kinde's own stated privacy principles. ([source](https://kinde.com/security/))
- WorkOS: WorkOS states it is GDPR compliant. Data residency options are not detailed on this page. ([source](https://workos.com/security))

## Which should you choose?

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 WorkOS if B2B products where the enterprise features are the product requirement — a million users cost nothing and you pay only for the connections your customers actually use.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: WorkOS — Those connections are the most expensive here at $125 a month each, so a long tail of small SSO customers costs more than it does at Clerk or Better Auth.

## Documented by only one

- 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.
- Price per SSO connection: WorkOS: $125 per SSO connection per month for the first 15, falling to $100 at 16–30, $80 at 31–50 and $65 at 51–100. Directory Sync is priced on the same ladder, separately.
- SCIM provisioning: WorkOS: Supported
- Audit logs: WorkOS: Billed rather than bundled: $125 per month per SIEM connection for log streaming, plus $99 per month per million events stored.
- ISO 27001: Kinde: Certified, with a maintained information security management system (ISMS).
- Encryption at rest: Kinde: AES-256 encryption for data stored on Kinde's servers.
- Role-based access control: WorkOS: Role-Based Access Control is a documented product capability.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Should I choose Kinde or WorkOS?**

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 WorkOS if B2B products where the enterprise features are the product requirement — a million users cost nothing and you pay only for the connections your customers actually use.