Appwrite vs. Clerk
Appwrite
Appwrite is an open-source platform for building scalable applications. It comes with authentication, databases, storage, and functions. It's basically a complete development platform. They have an extremely generous free plan with 75,000 MAUs free of charge and their Pro plan is only $15/month. Appwrite offers email and password login, phone auth, magic links, email OTP, anonymous login, JWT login, SSR login, custom tokens, and two-factor authentication.
Clerk
Clerk is a comprehensive user management and authentication platform designed to streamline how developers handle user accounts within web and mobile applications. It offers a suite of embeddable UI components—such as <SignIn/>, <SignUp/>, <UserButton/>, and <UserProfile/>—that integrate seamlessly into your application without redirecting users off-site. These components are fully customizable to match your brand, making the user experience cohesive and frictionless. Under the hood, Clerk provides a robust API and SDKs compatible with modern frameworks like Next.js, Remix, React, and Expo. It handles the entire authentication lifecycle, supporting multifactor authentication (MFA), session management, passwordless sign-in (via magic links or one-time passcodes), and traditional password-based methods with breach detection. The platform also integrates social sign-on (SSO) with over 20 providers, enabling quick user onboarding while adhering to security best practices. Clerk’s securit...
Reviews
Reviews
Reviewed on 2/25/2025
Clerk is a comprehensive authentication and user management platform. It comes with embeddable UIs, APIs and admin dashboards for user management. Clerk offers official SDKs for Next.js, React, JavaScript, Node.js, Remix, Go, Gatsby, and Ruby / Rails. There are many more community SDKs for other frameworks and languages. They have a free tier of 10,000 MAUs and a $25/month Pro tier with $0.02/MAU. Enhanced authentication, with SMS auth, device tracking and revocation, simultaneous sessions and SAML authentication costs additional $100/month. Admin add-on, with user impersonation and enhanced roles is another $100/month.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Clerk and Appwrite both offer robust solutions for user authentication, but they cater to different needs. Clerk provides a comprehensive platform with embeddable UIs, APIs, and admin dashboards, supporting various frameworks and languages. However, it can be more expensive if you need advanced features like SMS authentication, device tracking, and admin add-ons. Appwrite, on the other hand, is an open-source platform that offers a more affordable pricing structure with a generous free plan. It also includes a broader range of authentication methods like magic links, email OTP, and two-factor authentication. If cost and open-source flexibility are your primary concerns, Appwrite might be the better choice. For a more integrated and feature-rich experience, Clerk could be more suitable.
Appwrite offers a more generous free tier compared to Clerk. Appwrite's free plan allows for 75,000 monthly active users (MAUs), while Clerk's free tier offers up to 10,000 MAUs. If you need a solution that can support a larger user base without incurring costs, Appwrite provides a better option in terms of its free tier.
Appwrite supports a wider range of authentication methods compared to Clerk. Appwrite offers email and password login, phone authentication, magic links, email OTP, anonymous login, JWT login, SSR login, custom tokens, and two-factor authentication. Clerk, while feature-rich, primarily focuses on enhanced authentication with SMS auth, device tracking, and SAML authentication. If you require diverse authentication methods, Appwrite has the edge.
Appwrite is an open-source platform designed for building scalable applications. It includes features such as authentication, databases, storage, and functions, making it a comprehensive development platform.
Appwrite supports a variety of authentication methods including email and password login, phone authentication, magic links, email OTP, anonymous login, JWT login, SSR login, custom tokens, and two-factor authentication.
Appwrite offers an extremely generous free plan that includes 75,000 monthly active users (MAUs) at no charge. Their Pro plan is available for $15 per month.
Appwrite's main features include authentication, databases, storage, and functions. These components work together to provide a complete development platform for building scalable applications.
Yes, Appwrite is an open-source platform. This allows developers to customize and extend its functionalities according to their needs.
Clerk is a comprehensive user management and authentication platform designed to streamline how developers handle user accounts within web and mobile applications. It offers a suite of embeddable UI components, such as <SignIn/>, <SignUp/>, <UserButton/>, and <UserProfile/>, that integrate seamlessly into applications without redirecting users off-site. Clerk also provides a robust API and SDKs compatible with modern frameworks like Next.js, Remix, React, and Expo.
Clerk includes features such as multifactor authentication (MFA), session management, passwordless sign-in, traditional password-based methods with breach detection, and social sign-on (SSO) with over 20 providers. It also offers advanced multi-tenancy features for B2B SaaS applications, allowing organization-based user management with custom roles and permissions.
Pros of Clerk include its comprehensive suite of embeddable UI components, robust API, and strong security features such as SOC 2 Type 2 certification and CCPA compliance. It also offers a free tier for up to 10,000 monthly active users, making it a scalable solution. However, some cons include the additional costs for enhanced authentication features and admin add-ons, which can add up for larger applications.
Clerk has a strong security posture that includes SOC 2 Type 2 certification and CCPA compliance. It undergoes continuous third-party audits and penetration testing. Additionally, Clerk incorporates fraud prevention measures such as disposable email blocking and machine learning-powered bot detection to reduce spam and abusive sign-ups.
Clerk offers a free tier for up to 10,000 monthly active users. For additional features, there is a Pro tier priced at $25 per month with a cost of $0.02 per additional monthly active user. Enhanced authentication features and admin add-ons are available for an additional $100 per month each.
