Lucia vs Clerk
Side-by-side — pricing, strengths, tradeoffs, and fit.
Lucia
Simple and flexible auth for TypeScript
Clerk
The most comprehensive user management platform
At a glance
Open SourceFree Tier
● Established·From Free / Open Source
Free TierEnterprise
· Not enough data·From Freemium
Overview
One-liner
One-liner
Simple and flexible auth for TypeScript
One-liner
The most comprehensive user management platform
Maturity
Maturity
EstablishedMaturity
Not enough dataOpen source
Open source
✓ YesOpen source
✕ NoPricing
Free tier
Free tier
✓ AvailableFree tier
✓ AvailableStarts at
Starts at
Free / Open Source
Starts at
Freemium
Model
Model
Flat rate
Model
Hybrid
Enterprise
Enterprise
✕ NoneEnterprise
✓ AvailableBest for
✓ Best for
TypeScript developers who need fine-grained control over auth logic and session management without a third-party service
✓ Best for
Next.js and React developers who need auth, user management, and organization features with minimal setup
Not ideal for
✕ Not for
Teams wanting managed auth-as-a-service with no configuration
✕ Not for
Teams that need fully self-hosted auth or already have mature auth infrastructure
Strengths
↑ Strengths
Session management
Database adapters
Framework integrations
OAuth support
↑ Strengths
Pre-built UI components
Multi-factor auth
Organization management
Social login
Weaknesses
↓ Weaknesses
—
↓ Weaknesses
The Hobby plan restricts session lifetime to a fixed 7 days, preventing customization for security or UX requirements.
The Hobby plan limits application logs to 1 day of retention, hindering debugging and audit capabilities.
The Hobby plan restricts user impersonation to 5 per month, limiting developer testing and support workflows.
The B2B Authentication add-on limits organizations to 20 members by default, requiring an additional paid tier for larger teams.