Pick Clerk if
next.js / SaaS teams who will stay on Hobby at $0 (50,000 MRUs, 3 seats) while they ship a first Sign-in, then buy Pro at $20/month billed yearly ($25 monthly) when they need MFA, passkeys, and branding removed.
Read the Clerk pageClerk vs Ory
Our take
Pick Clerk if next.js / SaaS teams who will stay on Hobby at $0 (50,000 MRUs, 3 seats) while they ship a first Sign-in, then buy Pro at $20/month billed yearly ($25 monthly) when they need MFA, passkeys, and branding removed. Pick Ory if platform teams who will run Kratos/Hydra/Keto at $0 on their own cluster, or buy Ory Network Production at $770/year ($21 included monthly credit) when they want a hosted identity
Best for
Clerk Sign-in you start at $0
Ory Login + OAuth + permissions you start on OSS or a printed Network $
Free plan
Clerk $0 · no card. 50,000 MRUs / app. 3 dashboard seats. Unlimited applications. Custom domain. Session 7 days. Logs 1 day. API keys: 1,000 creations / 100,000 verifications. M2M: 2,500 / 100,000. Up to 5 impersonations. Up to 3 social connections
Ory $0 · software. You run Kratos / Hydra / Keto / Oathkeeper. Hosting is your bill
Lowest paid
Clerk Pro $25/mo
Ory Ory Network Growth $9/yr
Next step up
Clerk B2B Enhanced add-on $100/mo
Ory Ory Network Production $770/yr
Runs where
Clerk Local or hosted
Ory
Watch out
Clerk Hobby MFA / passkeys / no-branding are Pro
Ory $770 is yearly Network, not a $0 Cloud
Last checked
Clerk 2026-10-23 · clerk.com/pricing
Ory 2026-10-23 · ory.sh/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Ory if
platform teams who will run Kratos/Hydra/Keto at $0 on their own cluster, or buy Ory Network Production at $770/year ($21 included monthly credit) when they want a hosted identity cloud instead of Clerk-shaped components.
Read the Ory page