Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Auth.js VS Clerk Authentication

Compare Auth.js VS Clerk Authentication and see what are their differences

Auth.js logo Auth.js

Authentication for the Web.

Clerk Authentication logo Clerk Authentication

Clerk is a complete suite of embeddable UIs, flexible APIs, and admin dashboards to authenticate and manage your users.
  • Auth.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-30
  • Clerk Authentication Clerk Overview
    Clerk Overview //
    2024-06-03
  • Clerk Authentication Clerk Prebuilt UI Components
    Clerk Prebuilt UI Components //
    2024-06-03
  • Clerk Authentication Clerk Sign In & Sign Up Customization
    Clerk Sign In & Sign Up Customization //
    2024-06-03
  • Clerk Authentication Clerk User Button Component
    Clerk User Button Component //
    2024-06-03
  • Clerk Authentication Clerk User Profile Component
    Clerk User Profile Component //
    2024-06-03

Clerk Authentication

Website
clerk.com
$ Details
-
Release Date
2019 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
CA
Founder(s)
Colin Sidoti, Braden Sidoti
Employees
50 - 99

Auth.js features and specs

  • Ease of Integration
    Auth.js is designed to be easily integrable into modern web applications, allowing developers to quickly add authentication features without significant overhead.
  • Extensive Provider Support
    The library supports a wide range of authentication providers and strategies, making it flexible for various use cases.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, Auth.js allows developers to inspect, contribute to, and customize the code to suit their needs.
  • Community and Documentation
    Auth.js has a supportive community and well-maintained documentation, which can help developers troubleshoot issues and learn to use the library effectively.
  • Security Best Practices
    The library follows modern security best practices, ensuring that authentication processes are protected against common vulnerabilities.

Possible disadvantages of Auth.js

  • Dependency Management
    Relying on third-party libraries like Auth.js can introduce dependency management challenges, especially with updates and security patches.
  • Abstraction Complexity
    While the abstraction provided by Auth.js simplifies implementation, it may reduce the flexibility for developers who need low-level access to customize authentication processes deeply.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with authentication concepts or modern JavaScript frameworks, there may be a learning curve to effectively utilize Auth.js.
  • Performance Overhead
    Integrating an additional library like Auth.js may introduce some performance overhead, which could be a concern for applications with stringent performance requirements.
  • Limited Offline Support
    Auth.js is primarily designed for online authentication flows, which may not be ideal for applications requiring robust offline support.

Clerk Authentication features and specs

  • Multifactor Authentication
    Each user's self-serve multifactor settings are enforced automatically during sign-in.
  • Advanced security
    Clerk is SOC 2 type 2 certified and CCPA compliant. We conduct regular third-party audits and penetration tests.
  • Session Management
    Clerk manages the full session lifecycle, including critical security functionality like active device monitoring and session revocation.
  • Email and SMS one-time passcodes
    Fast and reliable one-time passcode delivery with built-in brute force prevention.
  • Passwords
    Simple and secure password authentication, complete with breach detection and recovery options.
  • Magic Links
    Improve sign-up conversion rates and filter out spam/fraud with Magic Links.
  • Social Sign-On
    Add high-conversion Social Sign-on (SSO) to your application in minutes. 20+ options and growing.
  • Bot Detection
    Dramatically reduce fraudulent sign-ups with built-in, continually updated machine learning.
  • Webhooks
    Gain full control of your application by leveraging Clerk's 20+ webhook events.

Auth.js videos

Clerk vs Next-Auth.js | It's not that simple...

Clerk Authentication videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Auth.js and Clerk Authentication)
Developer Tools
48 48%
52% 52
Identity Provider
15 15%
85% 85
Authentication
100 100%
0% 0
SSO
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Clerk Authentication might be a bit more popular than Auth.js. We know about 35 links to it since March 2021 and only 27 links to Auth.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Auth.js mentions (27)

  • Top 5 Open Source Identity and Access Management (IAM) providers 2025
    Home page | GitHub Repo | Documentation | Discord community. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Next.js and Next-Auth V5: Guide to Social Logins(OAuth)
    Auth.js is an open-source authentication library that integrates with modern JavaScript frameworks like Next.js, Svelte, and Express. Previously the project was available only for Next.js and thus it used to be called Next-Auth. Today, a portion of Auth.js is still supports Next-Auth, but along with it, there are SvelteKitAuth, and ExpressAuth available too. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Real-Time Authorization in a Chat Application with Permit.io and WebSockets
    We’ll be using Auth.js, an authentication library originally built for Next.js. Run the following command to install the package:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Simple Next.js Magic Link JWT Authentication with Prisma, PostgreSQL, and Resend
    When building web applications, authentication is almost always a core requirement. I needed something simple and secure that would let me get started quickly on new projects without over-complicating the setup. My goal was to have a solution that's easy to implement, handles email verification out of the box, and just works. In this post, I'm sharing how to build a straightforward magic link authentication system... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Building a Personal Finance App with Arcjet
    This article will serve as a guide on how to create a simple finance management app using Arcjet, Next.js, Auth.js, Prisma, SQLite, and Tailwind CSS. Building a personal finance management app with modern web development skills, practical functionality, and robust security helps drive home the point of how effective it can be to incorporate these features. Our application will be proof of concept, so there will be... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
View more

Clerk Authentication mentions (35)

  • Go for Node developers: creating an IDP from scratch - Set-up
    On this series, I will teach the process of building an IDP (identity provider), a project I started to create a comunity driven self-hosted opensource version of clerk. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Clerk vs Auth0: Choosing the Right Authentication Solution
    When building a modern web application, robust and user-friendly authentication is crucial. Choosing the right authentication solution can significantly impact your development speed, security, and user experience. Two popular options in the market are Clerk and Auth0. Both offer comprehensive features, but they cater to different needs and priorities. This article provides a detailed comparison of Clerk and... - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • Here's How Developers Can Ensure Sensitive Data Does Not Accidentally Reach Another Device
    We have created a tutorial to walk you through how to build a Remix app using Clerk as an authentication layer. Clerk is a popular user authentication and management tool. You’ll use Neon Postgres as your data layer and leverage Neon Authorize to secure all the data for each logged-in customer. Each row in the table will designate a userID, which Clerk provides. Only those authenticated with the userID can... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Build a Production-Ready SaaS Application
    It uses Clerk for authentication, has a Stripe integration for payments, and uses Tailwind and shadcn/ui for styling and components. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • 😎 Top React Native ESSENTIALS Tech Stack for 2025 🫵⛳️
    Clerk: The most comprehensive User Management Platform. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Auth.js and Clerk Authentication, you can also consider the following products

Resend - Email for developers

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

MonoCloud - The authentication platform that helps you secure your apps with branded login pages and your choice of identity methods. Stop worrying about auth and start building with MonoCloud.

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

Okta - Enterprise-grade identity management for all your apps, users & devices