DEV Community: Alex Rapp

Introducing Billing Free Trials

Alex Rapp — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 23:17:34 +0000

If you're looking for a way to increase user conversion, free trials are a great feature to get users to your "a-ha!" moment faster. 'Free Trials' are now available through Clerk Billing. This saves you from building trial logic, cancellation flows, and upgrade paths yourself.

If you already have Clerk Billing set up:

Navigate to your Clerk Dashboard -> Configure -> Billing -> Subscription plans.
Choose any paid plan your app offers.
Flip the toggle for 'Free trial'.

That's it! Your <PricingTable /> component will automatically update your plans that have free trials enabled.

You can set the duration of the trial and cancel free trials at the user level at any point - all from the Clerk Dashboard.

We’ve set up free trials with best practices built in. Users who sign-up for a free trial are required to provide a credit card upfront, ensuring a smooth transition to a paid plan once the trial period ends.

Give it a try. It only takes a few clicks to start offering free trials in your application. See our demo

New to Clerk Billing? Here's our guide to get you started.

Build a Full Stack eCommerce App with Next.js 15: A Step-by-Step Guide

Alex Rapp — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 23:23:59 +0000

In this comprehensive tutorial, Sonny Sangha walks you through how to build a full-stack eCommerce application using Next.js 15, Sanity CMS, and Stripe.

Sonny is well-respected in the dev community for creating engaging and informative tutorials. His content makes learning complex technologies both easy and fun.

This tutorial covers key aspects of eCommerce development, including setting up the development environment, implementing user authentication, and processing payments, all of which apply directly to building production-ready eCommerce applications that can scale with your business needs.

Key Learning Points and Tools

Use Next.js 15 with React 19 to build efficient apps. Dealing with potential issues from the Canary release of React 19 prepares you for real-world troubleshooting.

Sanity CMS offers dynamic content management. Features like the Live Content Lake enable real-time updates and visual editing. TypeGen provides type-safe GROQ queries, reducing errors through TypeScript types generated from Sanity schemas.

Clerk adds strong security to your Next.js 15 app, supporting various authentication methods like MFA, SSO, and Passkeys for secure login, using their Next.js package.

Zustand helps manage global states efficiently, useful in user basket management and local storage synchronization.

Stripe integration manages payments seamlessly, complete with webhooks for managing payment success callbacks. This payment system is necessary for building a functional online store.

Tailwind CSS and ShadCN handle styling needs, allowing you to create responsive designs that adapt to different devices.

Real-World Benefits

Building an eCommerce application is a fantastic way to gain practical, real-world experience. As you dive into creating and integrating various tools and features, you learn to navigate and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of technology. This process not only sharpens your technical skills but also enhances your ability to solve complex problems, a crucial asset in any development scenario.

Working on an eCommerce app prepares you to tackle real-world challenges, such as managing user authentication, handling secure transactions, and optimizing performance for high traffic. These experiences are invaluable, as they equip you with the skills needed to troubleshoot and resolve live system issues efficiently. Ultimately, developing an eCommerce application helps you build a robust skill set that is applicable to a wide range of projects, making you a more versatile and capable developer.

Debugging and Error Handling

This tutorial not only prepares you for building an application but also helps you fix issues. Handling real-time glitches and understanding error solutions are important for delivering a stable product.

Taking Your Store to Production

Building an eCommerce platform requires attention to detail and a focus on user experience. The combination of Next.js, Sanity CMS, Clerk, and Stripe provides a solid foundation for creating secure, reliable online stores. Prioritize performance optimization, implement comprehensive error handling, and maintain security best practices.

Hope you enjoy the tutorial!

Watch the full tutorial here

How I scout the 'ideal' YouTube partner at Clerk

Alex Rapp — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:41:05 +0000

I've been at Clerk.com for almost a year now in the Growth Marketing role. Dev Marketing was all very new to me but strategizing a marketing plan based on a new persona is something I've tackled my entire career. The experience (so far) has been the most rewarding of my career, filled with valuable insights that elevate our cross-channel efforts. One channel in particular - YouTube partnerships - has been ripe with insights that I can't help but share.

If you're a content creator in the dev tool space, I'm hopeful that you'll find some inspiration to help gain your first partnership or grow your existing program.

Tips for Securing Sponsorships

Note: These are some of the signals I look for when scouting new partners for Clerk.

🏗️ Publish Content Frequently -> It shouldn't be a surprise, but YouTube favors channels that are consistently publishing content. This signals to YouTube that your channel is active and also builds anticipation among your viewers. Aim to publish at least 1 piece of content each month - but don't sacrifice the viewer experience for a more rapid cadence. You'll be able to balance both in the future.

🤝 Engage with your Viewers -> You're creating content for your viewers. They are an invaluable resource for ideas on what content will resonate. Take time to read comments and respond. This builds a sense of community and also signals strong viewer engagement to YouTube. You might just find your next content idea in the comments.

📚 Don't Underestimate Keyword Optimization -> Do your research when composing video titles and descriptions. Look for relevant and trending keywords. A/B test different headlines -even after publishing, especially if you feel viewership is underperforming.

🍿 Pre-Promote & Cross-Promote -> I cannot stress this strategy enough. Build anticipation ahead of your publish date - Trailers/teasers are effective for Hollywood movie studios & will work for you. Craft a short teaser with content from your long-form video and share it out to socials. Once you've published, share the final product to further expand your reach. There are many distribution channels (mostly free) where you can drive awareness for your content. Dev.to, Twitter (X), Reddit, LinkedIn are great examples if you're building content for developers. Don't hesitate submitting your content to relevant newsletters for organic consideration. Publishers like Bytes, TLDR, ThisWeekInReact are always looking to fill content gaps.

🤹 Diversify Content but have a 'Brand' -> Viewers are generally coming to your channel to learn, especially in the developer space. Specialization is good for establishing an identity, but don't be afraid to experiment with new frameworks, tools, etc. This will help expand your audience & tap into new content ideas. However, make sure you establish a consistent look & feel for all content to build your brand. Other creators might have built the same ChatGPT that you have planned. Don't be deterred. Set yourself apart.

🎯 Cater to your Sponsor Targets -> If you're targeting a specific dev tool to sponsor your content, start by learning the tool & integrate it into your content. We've found a number of partners just by searching YouTube for 'Clerk'. This shows the prospective sponsor that you understand their value-proposition and ideally what makes you passionate about their tool. The easiest way to promote a tool (or anything in life) is to show & tell your audience what Be authentic & share how it can be improved. Developers love authenticity & this feedback loop can improve the developer/user experience.

💌 Reach out! -> Don't hesitate to make the first move. Growth Marketers, especially at smaller dev tool companies, are maintaining multiple-channels and time is at a premium. Drop into the company DMs, find the right contact, and send an email. I love it when creators proactively reach out to inquire about a partnership. This takes a lot of the heavy-lifting off my plate, especially if you show me how you've accomplished the above.

💸 Know your Value -> When it comes down to negotiating compensation, have a sense of your value. You know what it takes to produce content you can be proud of and that will resonate with your audience. Most sponsors will offer a flat price per video or suggest a performance-based sliding scale (generally centered around CPM). Be okay taking a lower offer to prove your value but negotiate compensation to be in-line with your growth.

🧩 Ideate Content with the Sponsor in Mind -> I don't dictate the content our partners create but I am constantly recommending Clerk features based on the type of build they are planning. Do your research and come to the table with suggestions of how you think you can best showcase the tool.

These tips should get you started. This is also not an exhaustive list or 'one-size, fits all' approach. Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Focus on growing your metrics (latest view counts, new monthly subscribers, churn, engagement) and understand what's driving growth. I have no doubt you'll find yourself well-positioned to secure sponsorships.

If you have questions or want to connect, feel free to drop me a DM on X (@_dapp).

If you're a creator interested in working with Clerk, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!