Is Clerk or Strapi better?

Neither clearly leads. Clerk starts at Free and Strapi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Clerk or Strapi?

Clerk starts at Free and Strapi at Free.

Does Clerk or Strapi run on more platforms?

Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.

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 Strapi is typically brought in for.

What can Clerk do that Strapi cannot?

Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, PostgreSQL.

Identity & Access Management · head to head

Clerk vs Strapi

Clerk

Identity & Access Management

Drop-in user authentication and management for developers

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Strapi

API Management

Headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Strapi cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
They diverge on capability: Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Strapi covers REST API.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clerk and Strapi actually diverge.

Attributes where Clerk and Strapi differ
Attribute	Clerk	Strapi
Pricing model	freemium	open-source
Platforms	web, ios, android, api	Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker
Category	Identity & Access Management	API Management
Founded	Unknown	2015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Strapi

REST API
GraphQL API
Content management
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MongoDB
AWS
Webhooks

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

Strapi

Running a self hosted headless CMS with a REST or GraphQL APInot Clerk
Giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content modelnot 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.

Strapi

Cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
Starter at $35 a month allows 100,000 API requests, and overage is $1.50 per 25,000
Extra bandwidth is $30 per 100 GB and extra asset storage $0.60 per GB
Backups start at the Pro plan, weekly, and only become daily at Business
An uptime SLA is Business only, at $450 a month per project
Additional environments cost $60 a month on Pro and $300 a month on Business

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

Strapi

Free

CommunityFree
- Self-hosted Strapi
- Community support
Pro$99/monthly
- Cloud hosting
- Advanced features
- Priority support
Business$undefined/monthly
- Enterprise features
- Custom SLA
- Dedicated 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.

Clerk review

Choose Strapi if

You need rest api.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
You also want graphql api.

Strapi review

Questions people ask

Is Clerk or Strapi better?: Neither clearly leads. Clerk starts at Free and Strapi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clerk or Strapi?: Clerk starts at Free and Strapi at Free.
Does Clerk or Strapi run on more platforms?: Clerk runs on web, ios, android, api. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
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 Strapi is typically brought in for.
What can Clerk do that Strapi cannot?: Clerk covers Prebuilt UI components, Organization management, Multi-factor authentication, Social sign-on. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, PostgreSQL.

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

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

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

Clerk vs Strapi

Clerk

Strapi

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Clerk

Only in Strapi

What people use each for

Clerk

Strapi

Where each one falls short

Clerk

Strapi

Pricing, plan by plan

Clerk

Strapi

Which should you pick?

Choose Clerk if

Choose Strapi if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Clerk

More on Strapi

Keep looking

Other head to heads