Amazon Cognito vs Clerk: Features, Pricing and User Reviews 2026
Compare features, pricing, reviews, and more to make an informed decision
Amazon Cognito
Amazon Cognito is a cloud service that adds secure user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to web and mobile apps.
Clerk
Clerk is a developer-friendly authentication platform with pre-built components, flexible APIs, and admin dashboards for complete user management.
Amazon Cognito
Amazon Cognito is a cloud service that adds secure user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to web and mobile apps.
Clerk
Clerk is a developer-friendly authentication platform with pre-built components, flexible APIs, and admin dashboards for complete user management.
Amazon Cognito
User pools for managing accounts
Social login with Google, Facebook, Apple
Enterprise federation via SAML and OIDC
Passwordless authentication options
Multi-factor authentication support
Advanced security and threat detection
Customizable login pages
AWS service access control
Email and SMS verification
Lambda triggers for custom workflows
Mobile and web SDK support
Compliance with security standards
Clerk
Pre-built authentication components and user interfaces
20+ social login providers including Google and GitHub
Multi-factor authentication with SMS and authenticator apps
Password authentication with automatic breach detection
Organizations with roles and permissions for teams
Enterprise SSO with SAML and OAuth support
Session management and device tracking
Webhooks and API access for custom integrations
SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance
Free tier with 10,000 monthly active users
Amazon Cognito
Amazon Cognito uses pay-as-you-go pricing based on monthly active users (MAUs). A user counts as active when they sign in during the month. The service offers three pricing tiers:
Free Tier: Get 10,000 MAUs free every month for users signing in directly, plus 50 free MAUs for enterprise federation. This never expires and works for both new and existing customers.
Lite Tier: Starts at free for the first 10,000 users, then $0.0055 per MAU for users 10,001 to 100,000. Prices decrease as volume grows, reaching $0.0025 per MAU above 10 million users.
Essentials Tier: Costs $0.015 per MAU above 10,000 users. Includes standard security features and is the default for new accounts.
Plus Tier: Costs $0.02 per MAU with no free tier. Includes advanced security like threat detection, compromised credential monitoring, and risk-based authentication. This tier can save up to 60% compared to adding security features separately.
Enterprise federation through SAML or OIDC costs $0.015 per MAU above 50 users across all tiers.
Clerk
Clerk offers flexible pricing to support projects of all sizes. The free plan includes 10,000 monthly active users with all core features, pre-built components, and custom domain support. Users who sign up but never return are completely free.
The Pro plan charges just $0.02 per monthly active user after your first 10,000 free users. Pro includes removing Clerk branding, allowlist and blocklist features, and customizable session duration.
For advanced needs, add-ons cost $100 per month each. The Enhanced Authentication add-on provides multi-factor auth, device tracking, and enterprise SSO. The Enhanced Administration add-on includes user impersonation and audit logs.
Organizations start at $1 per monthly active organization after your first 100 free, with unlimited members per organization in Pro.
Enterprise plans offer custom pricing with 99.99% uptime guarantees, support SLAs, HIPAA compliance, dedicated Slack support, and onboarding assistance. Startup discounts are available through partners like Y Combinator and Stripe Atlas.
