Clerk or Sendora — pick the trade-off, not the marketing.
Clerk nailed modern auth DX — React-grade components, free to 10K MAU, polished UI. It's also auth-only. Every downstream use of `clerkUser` (CRM, lifecycle messaging, support inbox, analytics) is a separate vendor with a separate sync. Sendora ships the same auth surface (email/pass + magic link + email OTP + passkeys + TOTP MFA + 7 social providers + OIDC + SAML + SCIM) and 21 other modules sharing the same `user_id` natively. If you'd pair Clerk with Customer.io + Mixpanel + Zendesk anyway, Sendora collapses 4 vendors into 1.
Modern developer-first auth. React-grade DX. Free to 10K MAU. You wire CRM / messaging / support yourself.
Same modern auth surface (passkeys / MFA / social / SSO / SCIM) where identity is wired to your product data, not your `clerkUser`.
Side-by-side
| Capability | Clerk | Sendora |
|---|---|---|
| Email/password + magic link + email OTP | ✅ | ✅ |
| Passkeys / WebAuthn — web + iOS + Android | ✅ web focus | ✅ native on all three |
| TOTP MFA + recovery codes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Social providers | ✅ 20+ | ✅ 7 (Google, GitHub, Apple, MS, LinkedIn, FB, Discord) |
| OIDC + SAML SSO | ✅ Enterprise plan | ✅ Business+ |
| SCIM 2.0 provisioning | ✅ Enterprise plan | ✅ Business+ — Users + Groups CRUD |
| Bulk hash import (bcrypt / scrypt / argon2) | Limited | ✅ auto-detect via hash prefix |
| Polished prebuilt React components | ✅ <SignIn /> / <UserButton /> etc. | ✅ `@sendoracloud/sdk-react` ships `<SignIn />` / `<SignUp />` / `<ForgotPassword />` / `<UserButton />` / `<SignedIn>` / `<SignedOut>` (Wave 65) |
| B2B Organizations + invites | ✅ dedicated B2B module | Org-scoped tenants + Members invite, less B2B-polish |
| Anon → identified device-takeover | ❌ — DIY | ✅ built-in + SDK listener + webhook |
| HttpOnly-cookie SSR (Next.js / Remix / SvelteKit) | ✅ | ✅ `@sendoracloud/sdk-web-ssr` |
| Lifecycle messaging in same tenant | ❌ — pair with Customer.io | ✅ Automation + Email + Push + SMS |
| Pricing | Free → 10K MAU; Pro $25/mo + $0.02/MAU above; Enterprise quoted | Bundled — no MAU markup at any tier |
Why teams switch to Sendora
- You'd pair Clerk with Customer.io + Mixpanel + Zendesk anyway — Sendora collapses 4 vendors into 1.
- Auth events (`auth.signed_up`, `auth.device_takeover`) feed real-time into the same tenant's Automation + Analytics + Audiences.
- Bulk hash import means moving off Clerk is a script, not a forced reset for your users.
When Clerk is the right call
- You need Clerk's deeper B2B Organizations module + invite flows — Sendora is org-scoped but less polished on B2B-specific tooling.
- You need 20+ social providers; Sendora ships 7.
- You're under 10K MAU + don't need the rest of Sendora — Clerk's free tier is hard to beat as a pure auth choice.
- Clerk's components have years of polish — Sendora's `@sendoracloud/sdk-react` 0.1 is the minimum component surface. Functional parity, not aesthetic parity yet.
Common questions
Does Sendora have a drop-in <SignIn /> component like Clerk?
Yes — `@sendoracloud/sdk-react` (shipped Wave 65) provides `<SignIn />`, `<SignUp />`, `<ForgotPassword />`, `<UserButton />`, `<SignedIn>` / `<SignedOut>` gates. Same drop-in mount as Clerk. Email/password + social providers (Google, GitHub, Apple, …) + MFA challenge + magic link all wire through the same `@sendoracloud/sdk-web` SDK underneath. Zero CSS dependency — styles auto-inject. Clerk's components have more polish (years of design iteration), but the functional parity is there.
Clerk's free tier is 10K MAU. Sendora's?
Sendora's Free plan is event-based (10K events/month across all 22 modules) rather than MAU-based — different tradeoff. If your auth surface is mostly idle (MAU but few events), Clerk's tier is roomier. If you also fire push + email + analytics events, Sendora's lower-friction at small scale and bundles much more above.
Migration off Clerk — what about social provider tokens?
Clerk session tokens don't migrate (different signing keys). Bulk hash import covers email/password users. Social-login users sign in via the same provider on Sendora — their Sendora user_id is created on first signin and linked by email.
Authentication
Identity that's already wired to your product — not a black-box you bolt CRM plugins onto.
Auth0 gives you logins. Clerk gives you logins. Sendora gives you logins that already know what the user did in your app, what they consented to, which experiment they're in, which audience they belong to, and how to message them across every channel — because identity, events, profiles, messaging, and support all share one tenant. Auth0 + Mixpanel + Customer.io + Zendesk + Intercom in one bill, one SDK, one user_id.
Switch from Clerk. Keep your weekend.
Free plan covers real product use, no credit card. Bulk hash import for auth, CSV import for profiles, schema-validated event import for analytics — Data Sync module handles the migration in a day.