Look, my client spent $100 to $150 last month on Clerk for a project with around 15,000 users.
That's when I realized there might be a better way.
Why I Started Looking
Don't get me wrong. Clerk is amazing. Beautiful UI. Works out of the box. Perfect for quick projects.
But here's the problem.
- You hit 10,000 users? That's $25/month.
- Add organizations? Extra $100/month.
- Want MFA? Another $100/month.
- SSO? $50 per connection.
Suddenly, your "simple" auth costs more than your server.
So I tested 7 open source alternatives. Here's what I found.
What Makes Clerk Special (And Expensive)
Before we dive in, let's be fair to Clerk.
They nail the developer experience. Drop in their components, and boom. You have login, signup, and user profiles. No thinking required.
Their multi-tenancy is excellent. Organizations work perfectly. The dashboard is polished.
But it comes at a cost. Literally.
The Clerk Alternatives I Tested
1. Better Auth
This one surprised me the most.
Better Auth is brand new. Built by a self-taught developer from Ethiopia. Just raised $5M from Y Combinator.
It’s special because it was built for TypeScript from the very beginning.
You keep all your user data. It lives in your database. No third-party storage. You have full control.
The plugin system is genius.
👉 Want organizations? Add a plugin.
👉 Need MFA? Add another plugin.
👉 Need passkeys? You got it.
And get this. It works with any framework. Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Remix. Even vanilla JavaScript.
The setup process takes five minutes, seriously.
Why it beats Clerk: No monthly costs based on users. No hidden fees. Complete data ownership. And the TypeScript support is way better.
2. Auth.js
You might know this as NextAuth.js.
It's been around forever. Millions of downloads. Battle-tested.
What’s special is that it just works with everything.
You can use database sessions, use JWT, or even run it with no database at all.
The biggest win is that you can run it completely stateless, with no database needed if you don’t want one.
vs Clerk: Auth.js is completely free and self-hosted. But you build your own UI. It does include a default UI, but it’s very minimal. Clerk gives you pretty components. Auth.js gives you freedom.
Note: Auth.js recently became part of Better Auth, so the future looks even brighter.
3. Stack Auth
Five minutes. That's how long Stack Auth takes to set up.
These guys are YC-backed too. Built by developers who hated existing auth.
The difference is that you get both authentication and authorization built in.
You get built-in permissions, standard organization support, and a complete user management dashboard.
The components automatically match your design system, adapting to shadcn or fitting perfectly with MUI.
vs Clerk: Stack is open source with MIT license. Clerk is closed source. Stack includes authorization features. Clerk charges extra for advanced permissions.
4. Logto
If design matters to you, check Logto.
They're obsessed with user experience. The sign-in flows are gorgeous and fully customizable.
Built on OIDC and OAuth 2.1. Enterprise-grade from day one.
What stands out is that multi-tenancy is free in the open-source version, while Clerk charges for it.
SSO is free. RBAC is free. Organizations are all free.
Plus, it’s SOC 2 Type II certified, and even banks use it.
vs Clerk: Everything Clerk charges extra for, Logto includes it for free. If you can self-host.
5. SuperTokens
SuperTokens is different. It's built like building blocks.
If you want just session management you use that module, and if you need social login or email-and-password you simply add the corresponding blocks.
The architecture is smart. Frontend SDK. Backend SDK. Core service. All separate.
You can even use SuperTokens with other providers like Auth0 for sessions only.
vs Clerk: SuperTokens is fully open source. Core features are free forever with no user limits. Clerk charges per user after 10k.
6. Hanko
Hanko is all about passkeys.
No passwords. Just biometrics using Touch ID or Face ID. It's the future.
They're a FIDO Alliance member. They built passkeys.io to show how smooth it is.
Integration is dead simple. Drop in their web components and you're done.
vs Clerk: Hanko specializes in passwordless authentication. Clerk added it later. If you want modern auth without passwords, Hanko is your tool.
7. Authorizer
Authorizer takes "your data" seriously.
Connect it to your database. You can use Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, or even CassandraDB.
The data never leaves your infrastructure. Never.
You get a built-in admin panel, role-based access, and magic link login. All included.
Deploy on Railway in 2 minutes. Or use Docker. Or Kubernetes.
vs Clerk: With Authorizer, you own everything. The database. The users. The sessions. Clerk stores it all on their servers.
My Recommendation: Better Auth
After testing all seven, I'm going with Better Auth for my next project.
Here's why.
It's truly framework-agnostic. My team uses different frameworks. Better Auth works with all of them.
The TypeScript support is incredible. Types everywhere. Auto-complete everywhere. No guessing.
The plugin ecosystem is growing fast. Need something? There's probably a plugin. Or you can build one.
Complete data ownership. My users' data stays in my database. I can move away anytime.
No pricing surprises. Open source. MIT licensed. Host it yourself or use their managed service.
Actually modern. Built in 2024/2025. Not trying to retrofit old code.
And honestly, the developer experience is better than Clerk. I said it.
Making Your Choice
Clerk is great if you want zero setup and don't mind paying monthly fees.
But these open source alternatives give you more control, more features, and zero vendor lock-in.
Better Auth does it all. Beautiful code. Great docs. Amazing community. And it's completely free.
Your users don't care what auth system you use. They just want to log in fast.
Pick the tool that makes your life easier. Not the one with the best marketing.
For me, that’s Better Auth.
If you want to explore Open Source alternatives like these, you can check out other Open Source Clerk Alternatives that are actively maintained and growing.
And if you're looking for a complete alternatives including both free and paid solutions, here's a detailed guide on Clerk Alternatives that covers open source and commercial options.
What auth solution are you using? Drop a comment below!
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