API Management · head to head
Apigee vs Clerk
Apigee
API Management
API management platform for designing, securing, and scaling APIs
- From
- $500/monthly
- Rated
- -
Clerk
Identity & Access Management
Drop-in user authentication and management for developers
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Clerk has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Apigee the free evaluation is a sandbox limited to 60 days; Clerk pricing scales with monthly retained users, which can grow expensive quickly for consumer apps with large user bases.
- They diverge on capability: Apigee covers API Gateway, Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Apigee and Clerk actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Apigee
- API Gateway
- API Analytics
- Developer Portal
- Google Cloud services
- Azure
- AWS
- Okta
- Cloud support
Only in Clerk
- Prebuilt UI components
- Organization management
- Multi-factor authentication
- Social sign-on
- Billing
- Enterprise connections
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Apigee
- Publishing, securing and versioning APIs for an enterprise API programnot Clerk
- Monetizing APIs and running a developer portalnot Clerk
- Analyzing API traffic and defending APIs against bots and abusenot Clerk
Clerk
- Adding sign-in and user profiles to a web or mobile app quicklynot Apigee
- B2B SaaS apps needing organizations and role-based accessnot Apigee
- Startups wanting prebuilt UI instead of building auth in-housenot Apigee
- Apps needing MFA and fraud detection out of the boxnot Apigee
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Apigee
- The free evaluation is a sandbox limited to 60 days
- Pay-as-you-go has no SLA available at all
- Pay-as-you-go bills environments separately from API calls, with a Base environment costing $365 per month per region
- The Base environment is capped at 50 QPS with an SLA of up to 99%
- Standard API Proxy calls are billed at $20 per 1M calls up to 50M, and Extensible API Proxy calls at $100 per 1M calls up to 50M
- API Analytics is a paid add-on at $20 per 1M API calls and cannot be bought on a Base environment
- Advanced API Security is a paid add-on at $350 per 1M API calls and cannot be bought on a Base environment
- Monetization is unavailable on pay-as-you-go and requires a subscription tier
- Additional API proxy deployments beyond those included cost $0.04 per hour per region on a Comprehensive environment
- Subscription tiers Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus are quote only with no published price
- Google Cloud networking charges for IP addresses, data transfer out and forwarding rules are billed on top of Apigee usage
Clerk
- Pricing scales with monthly retained users, which can grow expensive quickly for consumer apps with large user bases.
- Enterprise SSO connections beyond the first are billed as add-ons, adding cost for larger organizations.
- The Business tier's extra dashboard seats cost $20/month each, which adds up for larger teams.
- Enterprise-tier features like the 99.99% uptime SLA require annual contracts rather than flexible monthly billing.
Pricing, plan by plan
Apigee
$500/monthly- Starter$500/monthly
- API gateway
- Analytics
- Developer portal
- Professional$2500/monthly
- Advanced security
- Traffic management
- Monetization
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- SLA
- Dedicated support
Clerk
Free- HobbyFree
- 50,000 MRU limit per app
- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- Unlimited applications
- Pro$25/month
- 50,000 MRUs included, $0.02/MRU overage
- Up to 3 dashboard seats
- 1 Enterprise Connection included
- Business$300/month
- 50,000 MRUs included with volume pricing
- 10 dashboard seats included
- SOC2 report and priority support
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Custom pricing, annual billing
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- HIPAA available, dedicated Slack channel
Which should you pick?
Choose Apigee if
- You need api gateway.
- You work on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises.
- You also want api analytics.
Choose Clerk if
- You need prebuilt ui components.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, ios, android, api.
- You also want organization management.
Questions people ask
- Is Apigee or Clerk better?
- Neither clearly leads. Apigee starts at $500/monthly and Clerk at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Apigee or Clerk?
- Clerk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $500/monthly for Apigee and Free for Clerk.
- Does Apigee or Clerk run on more platforms?
- Apigee runs on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises. Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api.
- Can I use Clerk for free?
- Yes. Clerk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Apigee starts at $500/monthly.
- What is Apigee best used for?
- Apigee is most often used for publishing, securing and versioning apis for an enterprise api program, monetizing apis and running a developer portal, analyzing api traffic and defending apis against bots and abuse. Of those, publishing, securing and versioning apis for an enterprise api program and monetizing apis and running a developer portal are not what Clerk is typically brought in for.
- What can Apigee do that Clerk cannot?
- Apigee covers API Gateway, API Analytics, Developer Portal, Google Cloud services. Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Clerk: What does Clerk cost?
Clerk's Hobby plan is free with a 50,000 MRU limit; Pro is $25/month ($20/month billed annually), Business is $300/month ($250 annually), and Enterprise uses custom annual pricing.
SourceClerk: Is there a free plan and what are its limits?
Yes, the Hobby plan is free with a 50,000 monthly retained user (MRU) limit per app, up to 3 dashboard seats, and unlimited applications, with no credit card required.
SourceClerk: How is usage metered?
Clerk meters by monthly retained users (MRUs) — users who return to the app at least a day after signing up — with overage billed at $0.02 per MRU beyond the included 50,000 on paid plans.
SourceRelated pages
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