Compare
Better Auth vs Clerk
Clerk offers a managed UI-first user management platform; Better Auth is code-first and runs inside your app.
Better AuthOpen-source authentication framework for TypeScript
ClerkThe most comprehensive User Management PlatformWhich to pick
Pick Better Auth if you want…
- Composable, self-hosted auth for TypeScript apps
- Open-source code (better-auth/better-auth on GitHub, MIT license)
- Integrations with Nuxt, SvelteKit or Hono (on Better Auth's list, not Clerk's)
Pick Clerk if you want…
- Turnkey auth and user management
- Managed user-management UI
- Integrations with React, Expo or React Router (on Clerk's list, not Better Auth's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Better Auth:Better Auth is an open-source, TypeScript-first authentication framework that runs inside your app.
- Clerk:Clerk provides embeddable UI components, APIs, and dashboards for full-stack user authentication, management, and billing.
- Best for
- Better Auth:Composable, self-hosted auth for TypeScript apps
- Clerk:Turnkey auth and user management
- Who it’s for
- Better Auth:Full-stack developers building web apps with TypeScript.
- Clerk:Developers building web or mobile apps that need authentication, multi-tenant user management, and subscription billing.
- Pricing
- Better Auth:Freemium
- Clerk:Freemium
- Plans
- Better Auth:Starter $0 per month · Pro $20 per month
- Clerk:Hobby $0 · Pro $20 per month, billed annually · Business $250 per month, billed annually
- Open source
- Better Auth:Yes, 30,143 GitHub stars
- Clerk:—
- Works with
- Better Auth:Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hono, Google, GitHub, Apple
- Clerk:Next.js, React, Expo, React Router, Astro, Supabase, Convex, Vercel
Better Auth features
- Framework agnostic. Works with Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hono and 20+ other frameworks.
- Built-in credential auth. Provides sessions, email verification and password reset out of the box.
- Social sign-on. Supports Google, GitHub, Apple, Discord and additional providers.
- Multi-tenancy. Teams, roles, invitations and access-control built in.
- Enterprise SSO & SCIM. Offers SSO, SAML 2.0, SCIM provisioning and directory sync.
- Passkeys & magic links. Includes passkey, magic-link, API-key, JWT and other auth methods.
- AI agent auth. Provides token exchange and delegation for AI agents.
- Security & observability. Bot detection, IP blocking, email validation and audit-log monitoring.
Clerk features
- Pre-built UI components. Drop-in React components for sign-up, sign-in, profile, organization and billing UI.
- Multi-tenancy & org management. Components and APIs to create organizations, switch accounts, invite members and manage roles.
- MFA & advanced security. Built-in multifactor authentication, bot detection, passkeys and SOC 2/CCPA compliance.
- Session & device management. Full session lifecycle with active device monitoring and revocation.
- Billing & subscriptions. Ready-to-use subscription billing UI, plan definition and revenue tracking.
- SDKs for modern frameworks. Libraries for Next.js, React, Expo, React Router, Astro and more.
- API keys & machine auth. Generate secure API keys and M2M tokens for user-scoped access.
- CLI for AI agents. Command-line tool to configure Clerk without leaving the terminal.
Better Auth vs Clerk FAQ
Is Better Auth or Clerk free?+
Better Auth has a free plan (Starter); paid plans start at $20/month (Pro). Clerk has a free plan (Hobby) and paid plans.
Is Better Auth or Clerk open source?+
Better Auth is open source (better-auth/better-auth on GitHub, MIT license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Clerk.
Do Better Auth and Clerk integrate with the same tools?+
Partly. Both list Next.js and Astro. Better Auth also lists Nuxt, SvelteKit, Hono, Google and 3 more; Clerk also lists React, Expo, React Router, Supabase and 2 more.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.