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Cybersecurity · head to head

Clerk vs Cortex

Clerk logo

Clerk

Cybersecurity

Drop-in user authentication and management for developers

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Cortex logo

Cortex

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Clerk has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Clerk pricing scales with monthly retained users, which can grow expensive quickly for consumer apps with large user bases.; Cortex pricing is quote only, so a platform team cannot build a business case or compare against the true cost of self-hosted Backstage without entering a sales cycle first.
  • They diverge on capability: Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Cortex covers Service catalogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clerk and Cortex actually diverge.

Attributes where Clerk and Cortex differ
AttributeClerkCortex
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, ios, android, apiWeb, API
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 Clerk

  • Prebuilt UI components
  • Organization management
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Social sign-on
  • Billing
  • Enterprise connections

Only in Cortex

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards
  • Initiatives
  • Self-service templates
  • Query language
  • Eng intelligence
  • Integrations layer
  • On-call and ownership mapping

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Clerk

  • Adding sign-in and user profiles to a web or mobile app quicklynot Cortex
  • B2B SaaS apps needing organizations and role-based accessnot Cortex
  • Startups wanting prebuilt UI instead of building auth in-housenot Cortex
  • Apps needing MFA and fraud detection out of the boxnot Cortex

Cortex

  • A platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a Kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of servicesnot Clerk
  • An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Clerk
  • Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Clerk
  • Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Clerk

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

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.

Cortex

  • Pricing is quote only, so a platform team cannot build a business case or compare against the true cost of self-hosted Backstage without entering a sales cycle first.
  • The catalogue is only as accurate as the metadata you supply, so an organisation with inconsistent repository conventions spends its first quarter cleaning data before any scorecard means anything.
  • Scorecards create political friction: publishing a per-team grade turns an engineering standard into a performance metric, and teams will game the rules rather than fix the underlying issue.
  • It is closed source and hosted, so organisations with strict data residency or air-gap requirements have limited options compared with running Backstage themselves.
  • Value scales with organisation size, so a company with fifty engineers and thirty services will find the catalogue tells them nothing they did not already know while still paying an enterprise contract.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Cortex

On request
  • Cortex$undefined/year
    • Service catalogue and ownership mapping
    • Scorecards and initiatives
    • Self-service templates

Which should you pick?

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.
Clerk review

Choose Cortex if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want scorecards.
Cortex review

Questions people ask

Is Clerk or Cortex better?
Neither clearly leads. Clerk starts at Free and Cortex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clerk or Cortex?
Clerk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Clerk and On request for Cortex.
Does Clerk or Cortex run on more platforms?
Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api. Cortex runs on Web, API.
Can I use Clerk for free?
Yes. Clerk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cortex starts at On request.
What is Clerk best used for?
Clerk is most often used for adding sign-in and user profiles to a web or mobile app quickly, b2b saas apps needing organizations and role-based access, startups wanting prebuilt ui instead of building auth in-house, apps needing mfa and fraud detection out of the box. Of those, adding sign-in and user profiles to a web or mobile app quickly and b2b saas apps needing organizations and role-based access are not what Cortex is typically brought in for.
What can Clerk do that Cortex cannot?
Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on. Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.

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.

Source
Cortex: How is Cortex different from Backstage?

Backstage is an open source framework you build and staff. Cortex is a hosted product with scorecards and initiatives out of the box and no platform team required to keep it running.

Clerk: 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.

Source
Cortex: Is pricing published?

No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.

Clerk: 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.

Source
Cortex: Can it self-host?

It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.

Cortex: What is the main adoption risk?

Bad or missing service metadata. The catalogue and every scorecard on top of it inherit whatever quality your repositories already have.

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