Software Alternatives & Startups

Clerk Authentication VS Makerkit.dev

Compare Clerk Authentication VS Makerkit.dev and see what are their differences

Clerk Authentication

Clerk is a complete suite of embeddable UIs, flexible APIs, and admin dashboards to authenticate and manage your users.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source
Makerkit.dev

MakerKit is a SaaS Starter Kit for Next.js/Tanstack Start and with Supabase/Drizzle/Prisma variants. Build unlimited SaaS products in record time with the best SaaS Boilerplate.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Free $349 / One-off
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Clerk Authentication seems to be a lot more popular than Makerkit.dev. While we know about 49 links to Clerk Authentication, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Makerkit.dev.

social mentions
49 vs 2
Identity Provider popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
94 vs 77

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Clerk Authentication
Makerkit.dev
Website clerk.com makerkit.dev
Pricing
Open source Official pricing
Free $349 / One-off Official pricing
Company Startup from the United States · 50 - 99 employees · 2019 Startup from Singapore · 1 - 9 employees · 2022
Listed in

About Clerk Authentication and Makerkit.dev

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Clerk Authentication
Makerkit.dev

No description of Clerk Authentication yet.

Makerkit is a production-ready SaaS starter kit built with Next.js App Router and Supabase that helps developers launch faster. It provides a robust foundation with built-in authentication, team management, billing integration, and Super Admin - all powered by a modular architecture that makes...

Read more about Makerkit.dev

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Clerk Authentication 9 features
Makerkit.dev 8 features
  • 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.
  • Marketing Pages
    Landing page, pricing, FAQ, and other marketing pages included
  • Blog and Documentation
    Full-featured blog/documentation system with CMS integration
  • Authentication
    Complete auth system with email, OAuth, and MFA support
  • Billing
    Integrated payment system with Stripe and Lemon Squeezy support
  • Super Admin
    Admin dashboard to manage users, subscriptions and content
  • Translations (i18n)
    Multi-language support
  • Organizations/Teams
    Team management with roles and permissions system
  • Plugins
    Non-core functionality included as plugins: Testimonials, Roadmap, AI Chatbot, Waitlist

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Clerk Authentication
Makerkit.dev

No analysis of Clerk Authentication yet.

Overall verdict

  • Makerkit.dev is a solid, well-built SaaS starter kit that helps developers skip weeks of boilerplate setup by providing production-ready authentication, billing, and multi-tenancy features out of the box.

Why this product is good

  • Provides pre-built, production-ready SaaS boilerplate covering authentication, subscriptions, and team/organization management
  • Supports popular modern stacks like Next.js, Remix, Supabase, and Firebase
  • Saves significant development time by eliminating repetitive setup and configuration work
  • Comes with documentation, active maintenance, and community support
  • Includes billing integration with providers like Stripe and Lemon Squeezy
  • Built with TypeScript and modern best practices for maintainable, scalable code

Recommended for

  • Solo developers and indie hackers looking to launch a SaaS product quickly
  • Startups wanting to validate ideas without building infrastructure from scratch
  • Development teams needing a reliable, well-structured foundation for multi-tenant apps
  • Developers already familiar with Next.js, Remix, Supabase, or Firebase
  • Anyone wanting to avoid reinventing authentication and billing systems

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Clerk Authentication
Makerkit.dev
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
SSO
0% 0%
46% 46%
54% 54%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Clerk Authentication and Makerkit.dev.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Indie Hackers and Companies who want to launch quickly, without compromising on quality.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Makerkit uses Next.js 15 (App Router), Supabase, React.js, Typescript and Stripe.

What makes your product unique?

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Makerkit stands out by offering a truly modular architecture built with Turborepo, where core features like auth, billing, and notifications live in their own packages for better maintainability.

While most starters lock you into specific patterns or providers, Makerkit gives you flexibility with a multi-account system supporting both B2B and B2C scenarios, provider-agnostic billing, and edge-ready deployment options.

Beyond the basics, it includes production-ready features like multi-factor auth, real-time notifications, and team permissions - all built with Supabase, TypeScript, React Query, and modern tooling to make development a genuine pleasure.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Makerkit.dev's answer:

While other starters give you basic auth and a dashboard, Makerkit provides a genuinely modular foundation with the real features SaaS products need - like multi-factor auth, team permissions, real-time notifications, and provider-agnostic billing, all organized in clean, maintainable packages using Turborepo.

You get a first-class developer experience with TypeScript, React Query, and modern tooling, plus the flexibility to support both B2B and B2C scenarios, different payment providers, and edge deployment options.

Best of all, Makerkit is actively maintained with regular updates and responsive support, so you're building on a foundation that grows with your needs rather than painting yourself into a corner.

User comments

Share your experience with using Clerk Authentication and Makerkit.dev. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Clerk Authentication 49 mentions
Makerkit.dev 2 mentions
  • Free auth for vibe coding (2026)
    Clerk is hosted sign-in UI, sessions, and Next.js middleware. Official Hobby is free: 50,000 monthly retained users (MRU) per application, unlimited apps, up to 3 dashboard seats, up to 3 social connections, a fixed 7-day session, and... - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • Tech Stack for Thumbrella Cloud
    For all user management I've been really happy with Clerk. This handled all registration and user account management. I've integrated Clerk's user admin dashboard directly into the main Thumbrella main website, and I worked hard to make... - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Enforce access control with a few custom linter rules
    I work at malibou, an HRIS that also runs payroll for its customers, built on Next.js with Clerk for authentication. Every row we serve belongs to exactly one company, and companies must never see each other. That sentence isn't hard to... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago

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Alternatives to Clerk Authentication and Makerkit.dev

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