Clerk

• CategoryModern hosted SaaS
• LanguageTypeScript
• PricingFreemium
• LicenseProprietary
• Created2019
• GitHub stars1.7k
• HIPAA-eligibleYes (BAA)
• SSO / SAMLOut of box

Clerk is the auth product Next.js teams pick by default in 2026. Pre-built React components for sign-in / sign-up / user profile, organisation primitives, multi-factor, social logins, and the polish that lets you ship a real auth flow in an afternoon. Pricing kicks in at the 10k MAU threshold; below that it is free.

• Next.js / React teams shipping a B2C or B2B product
• Founders who want to delete auth from the engineering backlog
• Multi-tenant products needing organisation + member primitives
• Apps that need polished UI components without designing them

Skip Clerk if your team is committed to owning the user database — Supabase Auth or Better Auth fit that better. Skip if your scale (or pricing model) makes the per-MAU bill unattractive past 100k users.

Clerk is the default for Next.js auth in 2026. The DX is genuinely the best in the category and the time saved is real. The pricing is the trade-off — at scale, the bill matters; below that, the time saved buys it back.

• Official homepage →
• GitHub repo →

The 30-min call is where your auth choice becomes a real architecture, a migration plan if you are switching, and a price range you can take to your stakeholders. Describe your stack, your scale, your compliance constraints. I tell you whether Clerk is genuinely your fit.