Identity & Access Management · head to head
Clerk vs Stoplight
Clerk
Identity & Access Management
Drop-in user authentication and management for developers
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Stoplight
API Management
API design, documentation, and governance platform
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Clerk pricing scales with monthly retained users, which can grow expensive quickly for consumer apps with large user bases.; Stoplight the free plan allows one project and one user
- They diverge on capability: Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Stoplight covers API Design.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Clerk and Stoplight actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), 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 Stoplight
- API Design
- API Documentation
- Governance
- GitHub
- GitLab
- Jenkins
- Azure DevOps
- Web support
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 Stoplight
- B2B SaaS apps needing organizations and role-based accessnot Stoplight
- Startups wanting prebuilt UI instead of building auth in-housenot Stoplight
- Apps needing MFA and fraud detection out of the boxnot Stoplight
Stoplight
- Designing and documenting OpenAPI specifications visuallynot Clerk
- Serving interactive API docs and instant mock servers from a specnot 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.
Stoplight
- The free plan allows one project and one user
- Private projects, multi branch support and custom domains start at the Startup plan, $113 a month billed annually
- SSO and shared style guides are Pro Team only, at $362 a month billed annually
- Seats beyond each plan's allowance are $11 to $27 each per month depending on tier and billing period
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
Stoplight
Free- FreeFree
- API design
- Documentation
- Community support
- Pro$75/monthly
- Governance
- Advanced testing
- Team collaboration
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- SLA
- Priority support
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.
Choose Stoplight if
- You need api design.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Cloud.
- You also want api documentation.
Questions people ask
- Is Clerk or Stoplight better?
- Neither clearly leads. Clerk starts at Free and Stoplight at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Clerk or Stoplight?
- Clerk starts at Free and Stoplight at Free.
- Does Clerk or Stoplight run on more platforms?
- Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api. Stoplight runs on Web, Cloud.
- Can I use Clerk for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- 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 Stoplight is typically brought in for.
- What can Clerk do that Stoplight cannot?
- Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on. Stoplight covers API Design, API Documentation, Governance, GitHub.
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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- Stoplight vs Logto
- Stoplight vs Ory
- Stoplight vs Speakeasy
- Stoplight vs Appwrite
- Stoplight vs Hasura
- Stoplight vs PocketBase
- Stoplight vs Sanity
- Stoplight vs Apigee
- Stoplight vs Ably
- Stoplight vs Pusher
- Stoplight vs Kong Gateway
- Stoplight vs PubNub
- Stoplight vs Treblle
- Stoplight vs Apollo GraphQL
- Stoplight vs Bruno
- Stoplight vs KeystoneJS
- Stoplight vs Moesif
- Stoplight vs Parse Server
- Stoplight vs Stainless
- Stoplight vs Strapi
- Stoplight vs Swagger/OpenAPI