Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

WorkOS VS Clerk Authentication

Compare WorkOS VS Clerk Authentication and see what are their differences

WorkOS logo WorkOS

Application and Data, Application Utilities, and User Management and Authentication

Clerk Authentication logo Clerk Authentication

Clerk is a complete suite of embeddable UIs, flexible APIs, and admin dashboards to authenticate and manage your users.
  • WorkOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30
  • 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
Release Date
2019 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
CA
Founder(s)
Colin Sidoti, Braden Sidoti
Employees
50 - 99

WorkOS features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    WorkOS provides straightforward integration for developers with well-documented APIs and SDKs, allowing organizations to incorporate enterprise-ready features into their applications quickly.
  • Security and Compliance
    It offers built-in security and compliance features such as single sign-on (SSO), directory sync, and audit logs, helping businesses meet regulatory requirements with ease.
  • Scalability
    WorkOS is designed to scale with your business, providing the flexibility to add more users and features as your application grows.
  • Time Efficiency
    By providing pre-built solutions for complex enterprise functions, WorkOS saves developers time and resources they would spend building these features from scratch.
  • Broad Compatibility
    The platform supports a wide range of identity providers, making it compatible with many different enterprise environments.

Possible disadvantages of WorkOS

  • Cost
    While WorkOS offers a lot of features, the associated costs might be high for startups and small businesses.
  • Dependency on Third-party
    Relying on WorkOS for critical components means entrusting a third-party service, which can lead to challenges if service outages or changes occur.
  • Complexity for Smaller Use Cases
    For companies with simpler access management needs, the comprehensive features provided by WorkOS might be more than necessary, leading to potential over-engineering.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite robust documentation, there might be a learning curve for developers unfamiliar with integrating third-party enterprise solutions.
  • Potential Vendor Lock-in
    As with any third-party service, there can be concerns about vendor lock-in, making it difficult to switch providers once integrated deeply.

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.

WorkOS videos

Add SSO to your Next.js app using WorkOS in 7 minutes

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing Admin Portal (by WorkOS)

Clerk Authentication videos

No Clerk Authentication videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to WorkOS and Clerk Authentication)
Developer Tools
61 61%
39% 39
Identity Provider
41 41%
59% 59
Identity And Access Management
SSO
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare WorkOS and Clerk Authentication

WorkOS Reviews

Top 10 Best SAML Identity Providers List for SSO (Pros and Cons)
Just launched in 2018, and WorkOS is already well liked by many enterprises and IT developers. The all in one solution boasts Enterprise SSO and supports all OIDC and SAML providers right out of the box.

Clerk Authentication Reviews

We have no reviews of Clerk Authentication yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Clerk Authentication should be more popular than WorkOS. It has been mentiond 35 times since March 2021. 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.

WorkOS mentions (12)

  • What is SCIM Provisioning: In-Depth Guide [2024]
    WorkOS aims to provide enterprise-grade identity management solutions for your app to help you ship without needing extensive resources or time. It includes a Directory Sync to help you 'build a frictionless user provisioning and deprovisioning workflow for your organization.'. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Why SMBs Don't Deploy SSO
    Full disclosure: I work at WorkOS (https://workos.com/), we provide SSO (among other things) as a service. I glanced through the report and it comes to the normal conclusion that SSO is hard and expensive to get right. Do SMBs focus on providing value to their customers in the problem space that they are experts at or do they spend months just getting sign-in working? Yeah I get the concern about the "SSO tax" but... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Migrating from Radix to React Aria: Enhancing Accessibility and UX at Argos
    React Aria underpins React Spectrum, Adobe's design system used for web applications like Photoshop. Adobe's significant investment in this technology ensures long-term support and reliability. While Ariakit is excellent and Diego Haz is a talented developer, the lack of corporate backing poses sustainability risks. The project could halt if the developer decides to stop, and there's a higher risk of breaking... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Show HN: Auth0 OSS alternative Ory Kratos now with passwordless and SMS support
    Have you tried WorkOS? It’s built for exactly this, with native support for SAML and SCIM. https://workos.com/ I’m the founder. Would love to hear your feedback and happy to answer questions. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • How Open ID Connect Works
    Have you tried WorkOS? (I work there.) Makes it super easy to add SAML/SCIM to your app. https://workos.com/ We also recently launched https://www.authkit.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year 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 / 17 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 1 month 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 / about 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing WorkOS and Clerk Authentication, you can also consider the following products

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

Frontegg - Elegant user management, tailor-made for B2B SaaS

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

Descope - Drag-and-drop authentication for your app

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.

Cotter - One-click phone number login and checkout