Is Ory or WorkOS better?

Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and WorkOS at $125/one-time per connection, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Ory or WorkOS?

Ory has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ory and $125/one-time per connection for WorkOS.

Does Ory or WorkOS run on more platforms?

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

Can I use Ory for free?

Yes. Ory has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. WorkOS starts at $125/one-time per connection.

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 WorkOS is typically brought in for.

What can Ory do that WorkOS cannot?

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

Cybersecurity · head to head

Ory vs WorkOS

Ory

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

WorkOS

Cybersecurity

Developer platform for enterprise-ready authentication and identity.

From: $125/one-time per connection
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Ory has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
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.; WorkOS authKit free tier limited to 1 million monthly active users; additional millions cost $2,500/month
Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ory and WorkOS actually diverge.

Attributes where Ory and WorkOS differ
Attribute	Ory	WorkOS
Starting price	Free	$125/one-time per connection
Free tier	Yes	No

Identical on both: pricing model (usage-based), 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 WorkOS

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 WorkOS
Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot WorkOS
Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot WorkOS
Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot WorkOS

WorkOS

SaaS applications needing rapid enterprise SSO deploymentnot Ory
Companies selling to mid-market and enterprise customersnot Ory
Applications requiring SCIM directory sync with corporate identity systemsnot Ory
Product teams needing audit logs for compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001)not Ory
Platforms with multiple identity provider requirementsnot 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.

WorkOS

AuthKit free tier limited to 1 million monthly active users; additional millions cost $2,500/month
Per-connection pricing for SSO and Directory Sync ($125–$50 each) scales poorly for enterprises with many identity providers
Audit logs require separate subscription at $125/month per SIEM connection or $99/month per 1 million events
Radar fraud protection billed separately at $100/month per 50,000 additional checks beyond 1,000 free checks
Custom domain feature requires $99/month subscription
Requires annual commitment for SLA and support guarantees; pay-as-you-go tier lacks uptime guarantee

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)

WorkOS

$125/one-time per connection

Pay as You Go$undefined/variable
- Per-connection pricing from $125 to $50 with volume discounts
- Up to 60% discount at scale
- Quick deployment
Annual Credits$undefined/variable
- Custom pricing with volume discounts
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- Guided migration

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 WorkOS if

You work on Web, API.

WorkOS review

Questions people ask

Is Ory or WorkOS better?: Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and WorkOS at $125/one-time per connection, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ory or WorkOS?: Ory has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ory and $125/one-time per connection for WorkOS.
Does Ory or WorkOS run on more platforms?: Ory runs on web, api. WorkOS runs on Web, API.
Can I use Ory for free?: Yes. Ory has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. WorkOS starts at $125/one-time per connection.
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 WorkOS is typically brought in for.
What can Ory do that WorkOS 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

WorkOS: How quickly can I implement WorkOS SSO?

Developers can implement single sign-on in minutes instead of months. Multiple customers report setting up SSO in less than a week, with WorkOS handling the complexity of SAML and OIDC protocols.

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

WorkOS: What SDKs does WorkOS provide?

WorkOS offers SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP, Java, and .NET.

Source

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

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

Source

WorkOS: Does WorkOS support SCIM provisioning?

Yes. WorkOS supports SCIM provisioning integration with systems like Okta and Entra ID for automated user management.

Source

Ory vs WorkOS

Ory

WorkOS

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Ory

Only in WorkOS

What people use each for

Ory

WorkOS

Where each one falls short

Ory

WorkOS

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

WorkOS

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

Choose WorkOS if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Ory

More on WorkOS

Keep looking

Other head to heads