Clerk vs. Firebase
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...
Firebase
Google's Firebase is an entire app development platform that's packed with features.It comes with storage, cloud functions, monitoring and, of course, user authentication. The free tier comes with 50,000 MAUs. Beyond that pricing start at $0.0055/MAU and goes down to as low as $0.0025/MAU as you scale to millions of users. Firebase authentication supports email and password auth, phone auth, magic links, two-factor authentication and social identity providers - mainly Google, Google Play Games, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, GitHub and OAuth access tokens.
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.
Reviews
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| Easy to use | 1 | |
| Low price per monthly active user | 1 | |
| Generous free tier | 1 | |
| Easy SMS authentication | 1 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Firebase offers a more generous free tier with 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs) compared to Clerk’s 10,000 MAUs. Firebase also has a lower starting cost per MAU after the free tier and supports a wide range of authentication methods, including social identity providers and two-factor authentication. Clerk, on the other hand, provides a wide range of official SDKs for various frameworks and languages and offers additional features such as enhanced authentication and admin add-ons for an extra cost. If cost and initial free tier usage are your primary concerns, Firebase may be the better choice. However, if you need more extensive SDK support and advanced features, Clerk might be more suitable.
Firebase is generally more cost-effective for large-scale applications. Firebase's pricing starts at $0.0055 per monthly active user (MAU) and decreases to as low as $0.0025 per MAU as you scale to millions of users. Clerk, on the other hand, charges $0.02 per MAU after the free tier. Therefore, Firebase can be more economical as your application scales up.
Clerk offers official SDKs for a wide range of frameworks and languages including Next.js, React, JavaScript, Node.js, Remix, Go, Gatsby, and Ruby on Rails, as well as many community SDKs. Firebase also supports multiple platforms but is particularly strong in mobile app development with excellent support for Android and iOS. If you need extensive SDK support for web frameworks, Clerk might be the better option. For mobile app development, Firebase could be more advantageous.
Firebase is generally considered easier to use, especially for developers already familiar with Google’s ecosystem. It provides a comprehensive app development platform that integrates smoothly with other Google services. Firebase's user authentication setup is straightforward and well-documented. Clerk also offers a user-friendly experience but might require more effort to integrate additional features such as enhanced authentication and admin add-ons. If ease of use is a primary concern, Firebase may be the better choice.
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.
Firebase is Google's app development platform that offers a comprehensive suite of features, including storage, cloud functions, monitoring, and user authentication. It supports multiple authentication methods such as email and password, phone authentication, magic links, two-factor authentication, and social identity providers like Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, GitHub, and OAuth access tokens.
Pros of Firebase include its ease of use, low price per monthly active user, a generous free tier, and easy SMS authentication. Currently, there are no user-generated cons for Firebase.
The free tier for Firebase includes 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs). Beyond that, pricing starts at $0.0055 per MAU and can go as low as $0.0025 per MAU as you scale to millions of users.
Firebase supports multiple authentication methods, including email and password, phone authentication, magic links, two-factor authentication, and social identity providers such as Google, Google Play Games, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, GitHub, and OAuth access tokens.
