Supabase vs. Clerk
Supabase
Supabase is the open-source alternative to Firebase. Like Firebase, it's a complete app development platform with user authentication, cloud functions, APIs, Postgres database, storage, vector embeddings, and other features. Supabase projects come with PostgreSQL's policy engine for fine-grained user access rules. It has social login integrations with Google, Facebook, GitHub, Azure (Microsoft), Gitlab, Twitter, Discord, and many more. They offer a customizable authentication component for React. Phone login and MFA can be added through third-party SMS providers such as Twilio or Bird. The free tier comes with 50,000 monthly active users. The Pro plan, at $25/month, comes with 100,000 MAUs and $0.00325/MAU beyond that.
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
Supabase and Clerk cater to different needs based on their features and pricing. Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase that offers a comprehensive app development platform, including user authentication, a Postgres database, cloud functions, and more. It is highly customizable and integrates with various social login providers. Supabase's free tier supports up to 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs), while the Pro plan is $25/month for 100,000 MAUs. Clerk, on the other hand, focuses on providing comprehensive user management with embeddable UIs, APIs, and admin dashboards. It offers official SDKs for a wide range of frameworks and languages. Clerk's free tier supports 10,000 MAUs, with a Pro tier at $25/month and additional costs for enhanced authentication and admin features. If you need a more extensive app development platform, Supabase might be the better choice. However, if you require specialized user management features and extensive SDK support, Clerk could be more suitable.
Supabase offers extensive customization options, leveraging PostgreSQL's policy engine for fine-grained user access rules and providing a customizable authentication component for React. It integrates with multiple social login providers, and additional features like phone login and multi-factor authentication (MFA) can be added through third-party SMS providers. Clerk also offers customization through its embeddable UIs and a variety of SDKs for different frameworks and languages, but it shines more in user management features rather than deep customization of authentication flows. Therefore, if customization is a priority, Supabase might be the better choice.
Supabase offers a more cost-effective pricing model if you require a large number of monthly active users (MAUs). Its free tier supports up to 50,000 MAUs, and the Pro plan costs $25/month for 100,000 MAUs, with an additional $0.00325 per MAU beyond that. Clerk's free tier supports 10,000 MAUs, and their Pro tier costs $25/month with an additional $0.02 per MAU. Clerk also has enhanced authentication and admin add-ons costing an additional $100/month each. In terms of base pricing for high volumes of users, Supabase provides a more economical option.
Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase, offering a complete app development platform that includes user authentication, cloud functions, APIs, a Postgres database, storage, vector embeddings, and other features.
Supabase offers a variety of features such as user authentication, cloud functions, APIs, a Postgres database, storage, and vector embeddings. It also includes PostgreSQL's policy engine for fine-grained user access rules, social login integrations, and a customizable authentication component for React.
Supabase offers social login integrations with Google, Facebook, GitHub, Azure (Microsoft), Gitlab, Twitter, Discord, and many more.
Yes, phone login and multi-factor authentication (MFA) can be added to Supabase through third-party SMS providers such as Twilio or Bird.
Supabase offers a free tier with 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs). The Pro plan is priced at $25 per month and includes 100,000 MAUs, with an additional cost of $0.00325 per MAU beyond that.
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.
