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Cybersecurity · head to head

Clerk vs OpsLevel

Clerk logo

Clerk

Cybersecurity

Drop-in user authentication and management for developers

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

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.; OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • They diverge on capability: Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, OpsLevel covers Service catalogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clerk and OpsLevel actually diverge.

Attributes where Clerk and OpsLevel differ
AttributeClerkOpsLevel
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, ios, android, apiWeb
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 OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

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 OpsLevel
  • B2B SaaS apps needing organizations and role-based accessnot OpsLevel
  • Startups wanting prebuilt UI instead of building auth in-housenot OpsLevel
  • Apps needing MFA and fraud detection out of the boxnot OpsLevel

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot Clerk
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot Clerk
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot Clerk
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot 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.

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.

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

OpsLevel

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

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 OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Questions people ask

Is Clerk or OpsLevel better?
Neither clearly leads. Clerk starts at Free and OpsLevel at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clerk or OpsLevel?
Clerk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Clerk and On request for OpsLevel.
Does Clerk or OpsLevel run on more platforms?
Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api. OpsLevel runs on Web.
Can I use Clerk for free?
Yes. Clerk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. OpsLevel 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 OpsLevel is typically brought in for.
What can Clerk do that OpsLevel cannot?
Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on. OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns.

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
OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

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
OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

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
OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

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