Key takeaway: When an enterprise prospect asks about SAML in the first sales call, WorkOS is the shortest path to yes. It is deliberately B2B only, covering SSO, directory sync and audit logs rather than consumer sign-up funnels. For a pure B2C product it is the wrong shape entirely, and Clerk or Supabase Auth fit better.
Quick facts
- CategoryEnterprise SaaS
- LanguageTypeScript
- PricingFreemium
- LicenseProprietary
- Created2019
- GitHub stars0.3k
- HIPAA-eligibleYes (BAA)
- SSO / SAMLOut of box
What it is
WorkOS is the B2B-specific auth layer, enterprise SSO, SAML, SCIM, audit logs, directory sync. Free for the first million MAUs on the AuthKit tier. Used heavily in B2B SaaS where enterprise customers ask for "do you support SAML?" within the first sales call.
Best for
- B2B SaaS that needs enterprise SSO + SCIM to close deals
- Products selling to organisations with 1k+ employees
- Teams that want SAML done right without engineering it
When not to pick it
Skip WorkOS for pure B2C, its strength is enterprise B2B. Skip if you do not need SSO / SAML and Clerk's primitives suffice.
My take
WorkOS is the right answer for B2B SaaS the moment enterprise SSO becomes a deal-breaker. The free tier is generous; the product is well-built.
Directory sync is the part people underestimate
Enterprise identity is not just SSO. Once a customer with a few thousand employees signs, they expect users provisioned and deprovisioned automatically from their directory, and they expect it to work with Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace and whatever else the acquiring company brought along. That is SCIM, and implementing it yourself means learning a specification every vendor interprets slightly differently, then maintaining connectors per provider forever. WorkOS abstracts that into one API and one set of webhooks, which is the single strongest argument for using it. Audit logs are the same story: a security review asks for them, they are boring to build, and WorkOS ships them. The pattern to notice is that none of this is authentication. It is the enterprise administration layer around authentication, which is why WorkOS pairs with other tools rather than competing with all of them.
Where WorkOS stops, and what to pair it with
AuthKit gives WorkOS a hosted sign-in surface, so it can be your whole auth layer for a B2B product, and the free allowance is generous enough that early-stage teams pay nothing for a long time. But the product's centre of gravity is organisations, not individuals. If your app also has a consumer side, self-serve sign-ups, social logins, user-managed profiles, rich account settings, Clerk's component library does that part better. A common shape is Clerk or Better Auth for the product's own users and WorkOS for the enterprise connections, though running two identity systems carries its own coordination cost and is worth avoiding if AuthKit alone can carry the load. Decide by asking whether your users arrive as members of a company or as individuals. WorkOS is built for the first case.
Frequently asked questions
Is WorkOS free?
WorkOS has a free tier for AuthKit that covers a generous number of monthly active users, which makes it unusually cheap for early-stage B2B products. Enterprise connections such as SSO and directory sync are priced per connection, so cost scales with the number of enterprise customers you onboard rather than with your total user count.
WorkOS or Clerk?
WorkOS when your customers are companies and enterprise SSO, SCIM and audit logs decide deals. Clerk when your users are individuals and you want polished sign-in and profile components. Both can be the entire auth layer. The real question is whether the hard part of your identity work is enterprise administration or consumer-facing user experience.
Do I need WorkOS if I only have a few enterprise customers?
Probably yes, and sooner than you think. Building SAML for one customer looks tractable. Building it for the third customer with a different identity provider is where teams lose weeks. Since pricing is per enterprise connection, the cost stays proportional to the deals it helps you close, which makes the argument easy even at low volume.
Links
Compare WorkOS side-by-side
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Read the take →If WorkOS is your pick, the next conversation is short
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 WorkOS is genuinely your fit.