Auth · working at 10,000 users · rates as read 27 Sept 2026
On free tier, Clerk is $0: up to 50,000 monthly active users and Kinde is $0 forever: 10,500 monthly active users. On cheapest paid plan, Clerk is $25/mo (Pro) and Kinde is $25 USD per month (Pro). On rate above what's included, Clerk is $0.02 per monthly active user, stepping to $0.015 and Kinde is $0.0175 per extra monthly active user, stepping to $0.0151. StackTab sells neither of these and takes no referral fee on either: it scores them. Every figure was read off the named company's own page on or since 2026-09-18; the URLs and the dates are at the foot of this page, and a job re-fetches each one on a schedule and fails when a figure is no longer on the page it came from.
2 compared · 3 criteria, identical for every column · every competitor figure read off that company's own page · last verified 2026-09-18
| Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ClerkDrop-in auth with pre-built React components and organisations.verified 27 Sept 2026clerk.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
| KindeAuth with billing and feature flags bundled in.verified 27 Sept 2026kinde.com/pricing | $ | $ | $ |
- Sorted by the total at
- Drop-in auth with pre-built React components and organisations.verified 27 Sept 2026clerk.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
00 Free - 10,000 users
- $
00 Free - 100,000 users
- $
1,0251,025 Pro
- Auth with billing and feature flags bundled in.verified 27 Sept 2026kinde.com/pricing
- 1,000 users
- $
00 Free - 10,000 users
- $
00 Free - 100,000 users
- $
1,5911,591 Plus
| Criterion | Clerk | Kinde |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0: up to 50,000 monthly active usersA hard cap rather than an overage: the Free plan carries a "50,000 MRU limit per app", and Clerk's own branding sits on the components. | $0 forever: 10,500 monthly active users"No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees", and no credit card to start. |
| Cheapest paid plan | $25/mo (Pro)$25/mo billed monthly, $20/mo billed annually. Removes the Clerk branding. | $25 USD per month (Pro)10,500 monthly active users are still free on top of the plan fee. |
| Rate above what's included | $0.02 per monthly active user, stepping to $0.015The rate steps down with volume: $0.02, then $0.018, then $0.015 each. Enhanced B2B SaaS is a $100/mo add-on on top. | $0.0175 per extra monthly active user, stepping to $0.0151Plus a transaction fee if you bill your customers through Kinde: 0.7% on Pro, 0.6% on Plus, with a 0.2% discount on Scale. Plus is $75 USD per month and Scale is $250 USD per month. |
- Free tier: what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words
- Rate above what's included: the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one
Clerk: $0: up to 50,000 monthly active users. A hard cap rather than an overage: the Free plan carries a "50,000 MRU limit per app", and Clerk's own branding sits on the components. Kinde: $0 forever: 10,500 monthly active users. "No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees", and no credit card to start. Read from clerk.com and kinde.com on 2026-09-18. Free tier here means what the vendor gives you at $0 a month, in its own words.
Clerk: $25/mo (Pro). $25/mo billed monthly, $20/mo billed annually. Removes the Clerk branding. Kinde: $25 USD per month (Pro). 10,500 monthly active users are still free on top of the plan fee. Read from clerk.com and kinde.com on 2026-09-18.
Clerk: $0.02 per monthly active user, stepping to $0.015. The rate steps down with volume: $0.02, then $0.018, then $0.015 each. Enhanced B2B SaaS is a $100/mo add-on on top. Kinde: $0.0175 per extra monthly active user, stepping to $0.0151. Plus a transaction fee if you bill your customers through Kinde: 0.7% on Pro, 0.6% on Plus, with a 0.2% discount on Scale. Plus is $75 USD per month and Scale is $250 USD per month. Read from clerk.com and kinde.com on 2026-09-18. Rate above what's included here means the per-unit or per-transaction rate the vendor publishes for usage beyond the plan: the figure you need to work out a bill before you commit to one.
Clerk: You want working sign-in this afternoon and you want to know what it will cost at 100,000 users. Clerk ships the components, and it is one of the few auth vendors here whose per-user rate above the included allowance is printed as a number you can multiply out rather than hidden behind a slider. Kinde: You want the billing and the auth on one bill. Kinde is the only provider in this table that also runs your customer billing: 0.7% per transaction on Pro, falling with the plan, and its free allowance of 10,500 monthly active users keeps running underneath every paid tier rather than being replaced by it.
StackTab does not sell any of these and has nothing to gain from which one you choose: it scores them. Each case below is the one that option genuinely wins.
- Clerk: You want working sign-in this afternoon and you want to know what it will cost at 100,000 users. Clerk ships the components, and it is one of the few auth vendors here whose per-user rate above the included allowance is printed as a number you can multiply out rather than hidden behind a slider.
- Kinde: You want the billing and the auth on one bill. Kinde is the only provider in this table that also runs your customer billing: 0.7% per transaction on Pro, falling with the plan, and its free allowance of 10,500 monthly active users keeps running underneath every paid tier rather than being replaced by it.
Prices and limits move, and a page quoting a stale one is worth less than a page quoting none. Every source is printed here so a reader can check it against the day they are reading this, and a job re-fetches each of these URLs on a schedule and fails when a figure above no longer appears on the page it came from.
- Clerk: clerk.com/pricing: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
- Kinde: kinde.com/pricing/: Free tier, Cheapest paid plan, Rate above what's included. Read 2026-09-18.
Last verified 2026-09-18. https://stacktab.thecompound.tech/compare/clerk-vs-kinde