Is Ory or Stytch better?

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

Which is cheaper, Ory or Stytch?

Ory starts at Free and Stytch at Free.

Does Ory or Stytch run on more platforms?

Ory runs on web, api. Stytch runs on Web, API.

Can I use Ory for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Ory best used for?

Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what Stytch is typically brought in for.

What can Ory do that Stytch cannot?

Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations.

Cybersecurity · head to head

Ory vs Stytch

Ory

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Stytch

Cybersecurity

Identity platform with passwordless auth, passkeys and bot detection.

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.; Stytch free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ory and Stytch actually diverge.

Attributes where Ory and Stytch differ
Attribute	Ory	Stytch
Pricing model	usage-based	freemium

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (web, api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 Ory

Authentication APIs
Permissions engine
Machine-to-machine tokens
B2B organizations
SAML SSO
Multi-region deployments

Only in Stytch

Nothing recorded that Ory does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Ory

Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot Stytch
Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot Stytch
Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot Stytch
Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot Stytch

Stytch

Applications prioritising passwordless and passkey authenticationnot Ory
SaaS platforms requiring AI agent authentication and machine-to-machine flowsnot Ory
Companies with emerging identity needs such as bot detection and device intelligencenot Ory
Organisations building with Next.js and React requiring modern auth patternsnot Ory
Applications needing transparent pricing without surprise tiers or feature gatingnot Ory

Where each one falls short

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

Ory

Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.

Stytch

Free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
Fraud prevention capabilities billed at $0.005 per fingerprint for usage exceeding 10,000 free checks
Additional SSO or SCIM connections beyond the 5 included in free tier cost $125 each
Brand customisation and email removal require one-time payment of $99
HIPAA and advanced fraud protection only available in Enterprise tier
No native UI builder; requires custom frontend development for fully-branded auth flows

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

Free

DeveloperFree
- Community support
- No production environments
Production$64/month
- $21 monthly credit included
- 1 production environment
- 3 staging environments
Growth$779/month
- $255 monthly credit included
- 2 production environments
- B2B organizations (max 3)

Stytch

Free

FreeFree
- 10,000 monthly active users and AI agents
- Unlimited organisations
- 5 SSO or SCIM connections
Scaled$undefined/variable
- Usage-based pricing for users exceeding 10,000
- All free tier features
- Volume discounts available
Enterprise$undefined/variable
- Custom pricing
- Discounted volume rates
- Enterprise support SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

You need authentication apis.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api.
You also want permissions engine.

Ory review

Choose Stytch if

You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, API.

Stytch review

Questions people ask

Is Ory or Stytch better?: Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and Stytch at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ory or Stytch?: Ory starts at Free and Stytch at Free.
Does Ory or Stytch run on more platforms?: Ory runs on web, api. Stytch runs on Web, API.
Can I use Ory for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ory best used for?: Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what Stytch is typically brought in for.
What can Ory do that Stytch cannot?: Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ory: What does Ory cost?

Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.

Source

Stytch: What is included in Stytch's free tier?

The free tier includes 10,000 monthly active users (human and AI agents), unlimited organisations, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, and 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens with full authentication features.

Source

Ory: How is usage metered?

Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.

Source

Stytch: Does Stytch support AI agent authentication?

Yes. Stytch provides native AI agent authentication and authorisation, with support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for authenticating AI agents accessing external systems.

Source

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.

Source

Stytch: What fraud prevention features does Stytch offer?

Stytch includes bot detection with 99.99% accuracy, device fingerprinting, invisible CAPTCHA, and zero-day device intelligence built into all tiers.

Source

Ory vs Stytch

Ory

Stytch

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Ory

Only in Stytch

What people use each for

Ory

Stytch

Where each one falls short

Ory

Stytch

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

Stytch

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

Choose Stytch if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Ory

More on Stytch

Keep looking

Other head to heads