Firebase Authentication vs Clerk pricing
Both are in authentication & identity apis. Firebase Authentication is billed mau-based (+ per-sms); Clerk is billed mau-based. Numbers below are copied from each vendor's pricing page.
Firebase AuthenticationFree tier or trial
- Free tier
- 50k MAU (basic email/social)
- Billed
- MAU-based (+ per-SMS)
- Best for
- Mobile/web auth inside Firebase
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
ClerkFree tier or trial
- Free tier
- 50k MAU (monthly retained users)
- Billed
- MAU-based
- Best for
- Embeddable auth UI for React/Next.js
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
Firebase Authentication plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| No-cost tier (Spark / Blaze free allowance) | $0 | First 50,000 monthly active users free for standard auth (email/password, social/federated, anonymous). |
| Standard MAU (Blaze, 50,001–100,000) | $0.0055 / MAU | Graduated per-MAU billing once you exceed the 50k free tier. |
| Standard MAU (100,001–1,000,000) | $0.0046 / MAU | Next graduated pricing band. |
| Standard MAU (1,000,001–10,000,000) | $0.0032 / MAU | Volume band; rate continues to fall to $0.0025/MAU above 10M. |
| Enterprise SSO (SAML / OIDC) | $0.015 / MAU | First 50 SAML/OIDC MAUs free, then $0.015 per MAU (requires Identity Platform upgrade). |
| Phone / SMS authentication | ~$0.01–$0.06 / SMS | Billed per SMS by destination country (US/Canada/India ~$0.01, UK ~$0.04, Brazil ~$0.05, most others ~$0.06); first 10/day free for testing. |
- Enterprise features (SAML/OIDC, MFA, SLA, real support) require the paid Identity Platform tier
- Per-SMS phone-auth costs can climb quickly for high-volume or international apps, and have been targets of SMS-pumping abuse
- Support is thin on the free tier; edge cases outside the docs can be hard to resolve
Clerk plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby (Free) | $0/mo | Free tier; first 50,000 monthly retained users (MRUs) included free in every app. |
| Pro | $25/mo ($20/mo annual) | 50,000 MRUs included; overage $0.02/MRU (50k-100k), dropping to $0.018, $0.015, $0.012 at higher tiers. |
| Business | $300/mo ($250/mo annual) | Higher-tier plan for scaling teams; 50,000 MRUs included with same tiered overage pricing. |
| Enterprise | Custom (annual only) | Volume MAU discounts, negotiated rates, enterprise SLAs and support. |
| B2B Authentication add-on | $100/mo ($85/mo annual) | Unlimited organization members, custom roles, enterprise connection linking, verified domains. |
| Administration / Billing add-ons | $100/mo admin · 0.7% of billing volume | Unlimited user impersonations (base = 5/mo); Billing add-on charges 0.7% of subscription volume. |
- Security-adjacent and B2B features (org management, unlimited impersonation, admin) gated behind $100/mo add-ons
- Costs can climb fast at scale once past the free MRU allotment for large user bases
Source: https://clerk.com/pricing