Auth and identity

Clerk vs Supabase

Clerk is hosted auth with prebuilt UI and 50,000 free retained users per app; Supabase Auth comes inside a Postgres backend with 50,000 free MAU and row-level security, and can be self-hosted.

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The short answer

Clerk sells auth and user management only: drop-in sign-in, profile and organization components for Next.js, React, Expo and Astro, plus billing components and API keys. Supabase Auth is one part of a backend platform, with email, magic link, phone OTP, 20+ social providers and SAML SSO, and authorization handled by Postgres row-level security in the same project as your data.

The free limits are similar in size. Clerk allows 50,000 monthly retained users per app and does not count users who never return after day one; Supabase Free allows 50,000 MAU, but projects pause after a week idle. Clerk Pro lists $25 a month with 50,000 retained users, then $0.02 each, and is needed for MFA and passkeys. Supabase Pro lists $25 per organization with 100,000 MAU, then $0.00325 each, plus compute; phone MFA is a $75 a month add-on.

Clerk is closed source and keeps user data in its own infrastructure, so you sync records by webhook. Supabase is open source and self-hostable.

Choose Clerk if

You want polished prebuilt auth UI for Next.js or React
You sell to businesses and need organizations, roles and a first SSO connection
Your database lives elsewhere and you want auth only

Choose Supabase if

You also want a database, file storage and functions from one vendor
You want authorization enforced by Postgres row-level security
You may need to self-host auth later

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Side by side

	Clerk	Supabase
Stages	HobbyIndieStartupScale-upEnterprise	HobbyIndieStartupScale-upEnterprise
What it is	Hosted auth and user management	Managed Postgres backend platform
From	From $25/mo (Pro, $20/mo billed annually)	From $25/mo (Pro, per organization, includes $10 compute credit)
Free tier	Hobby plan: 50,000 monthly retained users per app, unlimited apps, up to 3 social connections, 3 dashboard seats; no MFA, passkeys or branding removal	2 active projects, 500 MB database on shared CPU with 500 MB RAM, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress, 50,000 auth MAU, 500,000 edge function calls; projects pause after 1 week of inactivity and have no automatic backups
Free MAU	50,000 MRU per app	—
After free	$0.02 per MRU beyond 50,000 (Pro)	—
Enterprise SSO	1 SAML/OIDC connection on Pro, then $75/mo each	—
Self-host	No	—
Open source	No	Yes
Self-hostable	No	Yes
EU data residency	Not stated	Available
Compliance	SOC 2, HIPAA	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA
Checked	28 Sept 2026	28 Sept 2026
Strengths	50,000 retained users per app free, with unlimited apps First-day-free counting avoids paying for sign-ups that never return Polished UI components for Next.js and React save weeks of front-end work Organizations, billing and API keys in the same product	Database, auth, storage, functions and realtime in one project with shared permissions Plain Postgres, so data and SQL skills stay portable Open source and self-hostable Free tier includes 50,000 auth MAU and two projects
Limitations	MFA, passkeys and branding removal are not available on the free plan Closed source with no self-hosting option Each extra enterprise SSO connection costs $75/mo on Pro and Business SOC 2 report needs Business ($300/mo) and HIPAA needs Enterprise	Free projects pause after one week of inactivity and have no automatic backups Compute is billed per project, so several projects on Pro cost more than the $25 headline Point-in-time recovery costs $100/mo per 7 days of retention SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports and dashboard SSO require the $599/mo Team plan

Sources: Clerk pricing, Supabase pricing. Full plans on each tool's page.

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Plans

Clerk

Hobby 50,000 MRU per app, 3 dashboard seats, Clerk branding, 7-day fixed sessions	Free
Pro $20/mo annually; 50,000 MRU included then $0.02 each; MFA, passkeys, 1 enterprise connection	$25/mo
Business $250/mo annually; 10 seats, SOC 2 report, priority support, 30-day logs	$300/mo
Enterprise Annual only; 99.99% SLA, HIPAA BAA, log sinks, migration support	Custom

Supabase

Free 2 active projects, 500 MB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress, 50,000 MAU; pauses after 1 week idle	$0
Pro 8 GB disk per project, 250 GB egress, 100 GB storage, 100,000 MAU, daily backups 7 days; $10 compute credit covers one Micro instance	$25/mo
Team SOC 2 and ISO 27001, dashboard SSO, 14-day backups, 28-day logs, HIPAA as paid add-on	$599/mo
Enterprise Uptime SLAs, AWS PrivateLink, 24x7 support, designated support manager	Custom

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