Lucia Auth vs. Clerk
Lucia Auth
Lucia is an open source auth library that abstracts away the complexity of handling sessions. It works with any JS runtime - Node.js, Bun, Deno, Cloudflare Workers. It's also fully typed. It integrates with MongoDB. PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and with their respective ORMs and query builders.
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
Clerk offers a comprehensive authentication and user management platform with official SDKs for multiple frameworks, as well as a free tier for up to 10,000 MAUs. It provides enhanced authentication features such as SMS auth, device tracking, and SAML authentication, but these come at an additional cost. On the other hand, Lucia Auth is an open-source library that focuses on simplicity and flexibility, working with any JS runtime and supporting multiple databases. It is also fully typed. The choice between Clerk and Lucia Auth depends on whether you need a feature-rich, ready-to-use solution with extensive support (Clerk) or a lightweight, customizable library (Lucia Auth).
Lucia Auth is open source and therefore free to use, making it a highly cost-effective option for startups that have the resources to manage and customize their authentication systems. Clerk offers a free tier for up to 10,000 MAUs, but additional features and higher usage come with costs. Clerk's Pro tier starts at $25/month with $0.02/MAU, plus additional costs for enhanced authentication and admin features. If budget is a primary concern and you have technical expertise, Lucia Auth may be the more cost-effective choice. However, if you prefer a more managed solution with additional features, Clerk might be worth the investment.
Clerk offers a high level of developer experience with its official SDKs for a variety of frameworks, embeddable UIs, and APIs. It also provides an admin dashboard for user management, making it easier to integrate and manage authentication. Lucia Auth, being open source and fully typed, offers flexibility and works seamlessly with any JS runtime and multiple databases. It is ideal for developers who prefer a straightforward, customizable solution. If you are looking for a feature-rich and easy-to-integrate platform, Clerk may offer a better developer experience. However, if you value flexibility and control, Lucia Auth could be more suitable.
Lucia Auth is an open-source authentication library designed to simplify session management. It supports various JavaScript runtimes, including Node.js, Bun, Deno, and Cloudflare Workers, and is fully typed. The library integrates with databases such as MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite, as well as their respective ORMs and query builders.
Pros of using Lucia Auth include being open source, fully typed, and its compatibility with any JavaScript runtime. As of now, there are no user-generated cons listed for Lucia Auth.
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.
