Duo Security vs Clerk Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Duo Security | Clerk | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $3/mo | $25/mo |
| Number of plans | 4 | 4 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | per-seat | hybrid |
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
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
- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- 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
- Priority support
- Application Logs
Enterprise
- Annual committed use discounts
- 99.99% Uptime SLA
- Enterprise SSO for workspace
- Premium support SLA + dedicated slack channel
- Application Logs
- Log sink destinations
- HIPAA compliance available with BAA
- Onboarding & migration support
- Custom security questionnaires
Duo Security vs Clerk FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Duo Security starts lower at $3/mo, compared to $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. Duo Security uses per-seat pricing, while Clerk goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Duo Security: At $3–$9/user/month, Duo sits in the affordable-to-mid range for identity security — well below Okta's MFA add-ons and competitive with Microsoft Authenticator bundles for orgs not already in the M365 ecosystem. They're clearly targeting security-conscious SMBs and mid-market teams that want enterprise-grade MFA without enterprise-grade pricing. Clerk: Clerk sits mid-to-premium in the auth-as-a-service space — more expensive than rolling your own with Auth0's free tier or using Supabase Auth, but they're betting on developer experience and B2B feature depth to justify it. They're clearly targeting VC-backed startups, hence the Stripe Atlas and YC discount pipeline.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Duo Security and Clerk and let you know when something moves.