Clerk vs Duo Security Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Clerk pricing | Duo Security pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $25/mo | $3/mo |
| Number of plans | 4 | 4 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | hybrid | per-seat |
Price is one row. To weigh the features too, use our feature comparison template →
Hobby
- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- Unlimited applications
- 50,000 MRU limit per app
- Up to 5 user impersonations
- APIs and prebuilt UIs for sign-up, sign-in, and user profile
- Custom domain
- Fixed, 7 day session lifetime
- Application Logs
- Machine Authentication
Pro
Popular- 50,000 MRU included per app
- 1 Enterprise connection included
- Remove Clerk branding
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Satellite domains
- Custom session lifetime
- Application Logs
- SMS Authentication available
- Machine Authentication
Business
- 10 dashboard seats included
- SOC2 Report
- Enhanced dashboard roles
- Enterprise SSO for workspace
- Priority support
- Application and Admin Logs
Enterprise
- Annual committed use discounts
- 99.99% Uptime SLA
- Premium support SLA + dedicated slack channel
- Application and Admin Logs
- Log sink destinations
- HIPAA compliance available with BAA
- Onboarding & migration support
- Custom security questionnaires
Duo Free
- Add up to 10 users
- Strong MFA
- Seamless integrations
- Free authenticator app
Duo Essentials
- Duo Directory
- Phishing-resistant MFA
- Complete passwordless authentication
- Single sign-on
- Trusted Endpoints
- Unlimited applications
Duo Advantage
Popular- Cisco Identity Intelligence (Cross-identity visibility, ISPM, and ITDR)
- Duo Passport
- Session theft protection
- Active Directory Defense
- Risk-Based Authentication
Duo Premier
- A comprehensive package for complete Zero Trust access
- VPN-less remote access to private resources
- Complete device trust with endpoint protection check
Clerk vs Duo Security FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Duo Security is the cheaper option, starting at $3/mo vs $25/mo for Clerk.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Clerk uses hybrid pricing, while Duo Security goes with per-seat. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Clerk: Clerk isn't the cheap auth API (that's more like Supabase Auth or raw Firebase) — it's priced as a premium, dev-experience-first product competing with Auth0 and WorkOS for teams who'll pay more to ship faster. The free tier is generous enough to hook indie devs, but the real target is funded startups who'll outgrow Hobby fast and don't blink at $300+/mo once they're making money. Duo Security: At $3-9/seat, Duo sits mid-pack in the identity/MFA space — cheaper than bundled enterprise IAM suites like Okta's access products, but pricier than bare-bones MFA-only tools. They're clearly going after Cisco's existing customer base and mid-market companies that want strong MFA without buying into a full IAM platform.
Still deciding? See the best Clerk alternatives or the best Duo Security alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
Stop checking your competitors manually.
Outmano watches your competitors' prices and features for you. See how competitor pricing monitoring works.
Try Outmano free »
14-day free trial