WorkOS vs Descope Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
Pay as you go
- Automatic volume discounts
- First 1 million active users free
- Deploy in minutes
- Dedicated Slack channel
- Transparent pricing
Annual Credits
Popular- Pre-pay credit discounts
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- Guided migration and onboarding
- Guaranteed support SLA
Free Forever
- 7,500 Monthly active users (MAUs)
- 10 Monthly active tenants
- 3 SSO connections
- 1 Federated app (OIDC)
- 5 Test users
- 10,000 M2M exchanges
- 2,000 Monthly active consents (MACs)
- 2,000 Monthly active tokens (MATKs)
- All auth methods
- Role-based access control
- MFA / step-up authentication
- Secure session management
- Self-service admin widgets
- Third-party connectors
- No Descope watermark
- Community support
- 99% SLA
Pro
- 10,000 Monthly active users (MAUs)
- 35 Monthly active tenants
- 5 SSO connections
- 2 Federated apps (SAML / OIDC)
- 100 Test users
- 50,000 M2M exchanges
- 5,000 Monthly active consents (MACs)
- 5,000 Monthly active tokens (MATKs)
- Custom Domain
- Google One Tap
- Custom OIDC Provider
- SSO for third-party apps
- Self-service SSO setup
- CI / CD integration
- Localization
- Web and email support
- SOC 2 reports
- 99.99% SLA
Growth
- 25,000 Monthly active users (MAUs)
- 100 Monthly active tenants
- 10 SSO connections
- Unlimited Federated apps (SAML / OIDC)
- 500 Test users
- 100,000 M2M exchanges
- 10,000 Monthly active consents (MACs)
- 10,000 Monthly active tokens (MATKs)
- Bot protection
- 1M Anonymous users
- Zero-downtime SSO migration
- SCIM provisioning
- Admin Portal
- Fine-grained authorization
- External audit connectors
- Multi-region data residency
- HIPAA BAA
- FedRAMP High deployments
Enterprise
- Tiered discounts
- Premium support add-on
- Dedicated CS engineer
- Custom deployments
- Unlimited test users
- Unlimited anonymous users
WorkOS vs Descope FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- 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. WorkOS uses usage-based pricing, while Descope 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. WorkOS: WorkOS is playing the wedge game against Auth0 and enterprise IAM vendors by making basic auth free up to 1M MAUs — a number that undercuts almost everyone trying to nickel-and-dime early-stage startups. They're positioned as the affordable entry point for dev teams who need enterprise SSO to close deals but don't want Auth0-style pricing shock as they scale. Descope: Sitting between free-tier auth tools like Supabase Auth and heavyweight enterprise IAM players like Okta or Ping, Descope positions itself as the mid-market bridge — more capable than a bare-bones auth library, cheaper than a full enterprise identity suite. They're clearly trying to win teams that have outgrown DIY auth but aren't ready to sign an enterprise contract yet.
Still deciding? See the best WorkOS alternatives or the best Descope alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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