Descope alternatives, ranked by what you’d actually pay
Answer: As of 2026-10-31: at 10k users Descope Pro costs $249/mo and 9 of 9 priceable alternatives are cheaper (cheapest: Clerk Hobby at $0/mo, $2,988/yr less); at 50k users Descope Growth costs $2,049/mo and 7 of 8 priceable alternatives are cheaper (cheapest: Clerk Hobby at $0/mo, $24,588/yr less); at 100k users Descope Growth costs $4,549/mo and 7 of 7 priceable alternatives are cheaper (cheapest: WorkOS AuthKit at $0/mo, $54,588/yr less).
| Vendor (cheapest verified plan) | 10k users | 50k users | 100k users | 50k + 5 SSO | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descope (current) | $249 Pro | $2,049 Growth | $4,549 Growth | $2,049 Growth | |
| Clerk | $0 Hobby | $0 Hobby | $1,025 Pro | $325 Pro | Descope vs Clerk |
| WorkOS | $0 AuthKit | $0 AuthKit | $0 AuthKit | $625 AuthKit | Descope vs WorkOS |
| Logto | $0 Free | $0 Free | $24* Pro | $264* Pro | Descope vs Logto |
| Supabase Auth | $0 Free (platform) | $0 Free (platform) | $25 Pro (platform) | $39.25 Pro (platform) | Descope vs Supabase Auth |
| Firebase Auth / Identity Platform | $0 Pay as you go | $0 Pay as you go | $275 Pay as you go | $14.25 Pay as you go | Descope vs Firebase Auth / Identity Platform |
| Amazon Cognito | $0 Lite | $220 Lite | $495.00 Lite | $234.25 Lite | Descope vs Amazon Cognito |
| Kinde | $0 Free | $716.25 Pro | $1533.85 Plus | $718.85 Plus | Descope vs Kinde |
| Auth0 | $0 Free | $3,500 Essentials (B2C) | — | — | Descope vs Auth0 |
| Stytch | $0 Pay as you go (B2B) | — | — | — | Descope vs Stytch |
Monthly USD list prices, cheapest verified plan per vendor for each scenario, sorted by 50k-user cost. “—” = no fixed published price for that volume (custom / contact sales, or overage not printed). Billing units differ: Clerk counts retained users (MRU), most others MAU. “50k + 5 SSO”: SSO users: Amazon Cognito, Supabase Auth and Firebase Auth / Identity Platform bill SAML/OIDC per SSO user, not per connection (first 50 free, then $0.015 per SSO user a month). Their SSO results here assume 200 SSO users per connection (5 connections = 1,000 SSO users). See how 1,000 or 2,000 per connection changes the result or set your own. * Logto Pro bills access tokens, not MAU (50k tokens included, then $0.08 per 100) — the figure is base fee only; token overage depends on your usage. How we calculate this.
Why teams leave Descope
Free Forever $0: 7,500 MAU, 10 tenants, 3 SSO connections, no overages. Pro starts at $249/mo billed annually: 10,000 MAU then $0.05/MAU, 35 tenants then $1, 5 SSO then $50/connection. Growth starts at $799/mo: 25,000 MAU then $0.05/MAU, 100 tenants, 10 SSO then $50, SCIM. Enterprise: contact sales.
Source: www.descope.com/pricing · 2026-10-31
Check before you switch
Unit (MAU + tenant), SSO per-connection fees, and MFA availability change the ranking more than the headline price. Run your exact numbers in the calculator and read MAU vs MRU.
Or skip the vendor: self-host Better Auth / Auth.js
$0 per user, but you pay in database, email, SMS and engineer hours. See what self-hosting costs instead of Descope, with the break-even math at 10k/50k/100k users.
Hear when Descope or its alternatives change prices
Weekly: every auth price change we confirmed, SSO fee moves, and the cheapest verified plan for 10k and 50k users. Free; unsubscribe in one click. Sent via Kit · Privacy.