Clerk
Drop-in auth for React and Next.js. Pre-built UI components handle sign-up, sign-in, MFA, organizations, and user profiles. The fastest path to production auth — ship in under an hour.
Why Clerk?
You're building with Next.js or React
You want pre-built UI for all auth flows
You need organizations or teams with RBAC out of the box
Signal Breakdown
What drives the Trust Score
Download Trend
Last 12 months
Tradeoffs & Caveats
Know before you commitYou need self-hosted auth (Clerk is SaaS-only)
Your stack is non-React (PHP, Rails, Django)
Per-MAU pricing adds up past 10k users
Pricing
Free tier & paid plans
10,000 MAUs free
$25/mo Pro (unlimited MAUs + orgs)
Free tier very generous for early-stage
Cost Calculator
Estimate your Clerk cost
Estimated monthly cost
Free tier
Free up to 10,000 MAUs. Pro plan $25/mo unlocks organizations & advanced features.
Estimates only. Verify with official pricing pages before budgeting.
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Often Used Together
Complementary tools that pair well with Clerk
Learning Resources
Docs, videos, tutorials, and courses
Get Started
Repository and installation options
View on GitHub
github.com/clerk/javascript
npm install @clerk/nextjsQuick Start
Copy and adapt to get going fast
import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/nextjs';
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
return (
<ClerkProvider>
<html lang="en"><body>{children}</body></html>
</ClerkProvider>
);
}
// Protect a route
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server';
export default async function Dashboard() {
const { userId } = await auth();
if (!userId) redirect('/sign-in');
return <DashboardContent />;
}Code Examples
Common usage patterns
Read user data in a Server Component
Access the current user server-side with currentUser()
import { currentUser } from '@clerk/nextjs/server';
export default async function ProfilePage() {
const user = await currentUser();
if (!user) redirect('/sign-in');
return (
<div>
<h1>Hello, {user.firstName}!</h1>
<p>Email: {user.emailAddresses[0].emailAddress}</p>
</div>
);
}Protect an API route
Reject unauthenticated requests in a Route Handler
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server';
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
export async function GET() {
const { userId } = await auth();
if (!userId) {
return NextResponse.json({ error: 'Unauthorized' }, { status: 401 });
}
const data = await fetchUserData(userId);
return NextResponse.json(data);
}Organizations & RBAC
Check membership role before performing an action
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server';
export default async function AdminPage() {
const { userId, orgRole } = await auth();
if (!userId || orgRole !== 'org:admin') {
redirect('/dashboard');
}
return <AdminPanel />;
}Community Notes
Real experiences from developers who've used this tool