What is the main difference between WorkOS and Clerk?

WorkOS is strongest at enterprise SSO, directory sync and the IT-admin onboarding around them, with AuthKit for full user management. Clerk is a user management service built around prebuilt components inside your app. Both handle organizations, enterprise SSO and SCIM for B2B SaaS.

Can I use WorkOS SSO with my existing auth?

Yes. WorkOS offers a standalone SSO API for adding enterprise SSO to an existing auth stack, separate from AuthKit. That lets you keep your current sign-in and add SAML or OIDC for enterprise customers. Clerk's enterprise connections are part of Clerk's own user management.

Does WorkOS support user impersonation?

Yes, through AuthKit. A WorkOS team member starts it from the WorkOS Dashboard after an Admin enables it for the environment. A reason is required, the session expires after 60 minutes, and the access token carries an act claim with the impersonator's email. WorkOS documents it as a Dashboard flow, not an API you call from your own tool.

Is WorkOS or Clerk cheaper?

It depends on your shape. WorkOS lists AuthKit user management as free up to one million active users and prices SSO and directory sync per connection. Clerk bills on monthly retained users with a free allowance per app, meters SSO connections on paid plans and sells B2B features as add-ons. Model your own users and enterprise connections on both pricing pages.

Does Devora integrate with WorkOS AuthKit?

Only through a limited, app-owned bridge. AuthKit doesn't document programmatic session creation for an arbitrary user, so Devora can't turn an approval into an AuthKit session. Your app creates and owns its own support session instead. Clerk, by contrast, is a supported Devora route through actor tokens.

WorkOS vs Clerk for B2B SaaS: SSO, Users and Support

WorkOS vs Clerk is mostly a question of where your hardest requirements sit. WorkOS is strongest at the enterprise side of B2B: SSO, directory sync, a hosted Admin Portal for your customers’ IT teams and audit logs, with AuthKit for full user management. Clerk is strongest inside your app: prebuilt sign-in, profile and organization components, fast setup for JavaScript frameworks, and enterprise SSO and SCIM built into the same product.

Both work for multi-tenant SaaS. The differences show up in UI, pricing shape, and how your support team gets into a customer’s account. This comparison covers each, including the native impersonation that each one offers.

What is the difference between WorkOS and Clerk?

WorkOS is a set of hosted products, listed on its pricing page (opens in a new tab): AuthKit for user management, Enterprise SSO, Directory Sync, Admin Portal, Audit Logs, role-based access control and more. You can adopt them together through AuthKit, or use the standalone SSO API (opens in a new tab) to add enterprise SSO to an auth stack you already have.

Clerk is a hosted auth and user management service. Your users live in Clerk, and your app uses Clerk’s components, SDKs and Backend API.

The pricing models reflect those strengths. WorkOS lists AuthKit as free (opens in a new tab) for the first one million active users, and prices SSO and Directory Sync per connection with volume discounts. Clerk bills on monthly retained users (opens in a new tab) with a free allowance per application, meters SSO connections on paid plans, and sells B2B and administration features as add-ons. A product with many users and a few enterprise customers prices out very differently from one with fewer users and many SSO connections, so model both.

How do developer experience and UI compare?

The biggest day-to-day difference is where the sign-in UI lives.

AuthKit is a hosted, customizable sign-in UI (opens in a new tab) that sits outside your application code. Your app redirects the user to AuthKit, then exchanges the returned authorization code for the user and session. WorkOS ships AuthKit libraries for Next.js, React, React Router, Remix, TanStack Start and Astro, and backend SDKs for Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Java, PHP, .NET, Elixir and Laravel, plus iOS and Android, according to the WorkOS SDK list (opens in a new tab). For in-app admin screens, Widgets are React components for common enterprise workflows, such as managing an organization’s users, as the WorkOS Widgets docs (opens in a new tab) describe.

Clerk puts components inside your app. Sign-in, user profiles, the organization switcher and organization settings are drop-in components. Clerk has official SDKs (opens in a new tab) for Next.js, React, Expo, TanStack React Start, React Router, Astro, Vue, Nuxt, Express, Fastify, iOS and Android, plus backend SDKs for Go, Python, Ruby, Java, PHP and C#.

If you want auth fully out of your codebase, AuthKit’s redirect model is simple. If you want sign-in and account management to feel native to your app, Clerk’s components get you there faster.

How do organizations and roles compare?

Both treat organizations as first-class, which is what multi-tenant apps need.

In WorkOS, an organization is both a group of users that the customer’s IT team controls and a workspace where members collaborate. There is no limit on how many organizations (opens in a new tab) you create. Users join through memberships, and besides environment-level roles, each organization can define its own custom roles.

In Clerk, users can belong to several organizations (opens in a new tab), and the Active Organization in each session decides their role and permissions. Roles and permissions are defined once per application. Members join through invitations, verified email domains or enterprise connections. Unlimited members, custom roles and verified domains sit in Clerk’s B2B Authentication add-on.

Which is better for enterprise SSO and SCIM?

SSO and directory sync are core WorkOS products. Clerk added generally available Directory Sync and self-serve setup during 2026.

WorkOS handles SSO with SAML and OIDC, and Directory Sync connects (opens in a new tab) to directories and HR systems such as Microsoft Active Directory, Okta, Workday and Google Workspace. The Admin Portal is a hosted UI where your customers’ IT contacts verify domains and configure SSO and Directory Sync themselves. You can send them a setup link from the Dashboard or open the portal from your app through the API, per the Admin Portal docs (opens in a new tab). WorkOS Audit Logs record notable actions (opens in a new tab) taken in your application, such as who changed what, and let you export them.

Clerk supports SAML, OIDC and EASIE connections, metered per connection on paid plans. Directory Sync (SCIM) has been generally available since April 16, 2026 (opens in a new tab). Customers’ IT admins can configure SSO and, since September 30, 2026, Directory Sync from a Security tab (opens in a new tab) in the <OrganizationProfile /> component, inside your app. Clerk’s Admin Logs record (opens in a new tab) your own team’s Dashboard and API configuration changes on the Business and Enterprise plans; they are not a log of your customers’ actions.

How does user impersonation work in WorkOS and Clerk?

This is where the two differ most for a support team. User impersonation means a staff member signs in as a customer to reproduce a problem, while the system records who is really acting.

WorkOS offers impersonation in AuthKit (opens in a new tab), started from the WorkOS Dashboard. It is off by default, and someone with the Admin role must enable it per environment. The person impersonating opens the user, chooses Impersonate User, and must enter a reason, which WorkOS records on the session.created event. If the user belongs to several organizations, they also pick one. Sessions expire after 60 minutes. Your app sees an impersonator field in the authentication response and an act claim with the impersonator’s email in the access token. You can deep-link to the Dashboard dialog (opens in a new tab) from your admin tool, but the person clicking still needs Dashboard access. To end a session early, revoke it through the sessions revoke API (opens in a new tab).

Clerk offers impersonation from the Dashboard’s Users page (opens in a new tab), and through actor tokens your backend creates with the Backend API. An actor token returns a one-time sign-in URL, so you can build impersonation into your own admin tool and decide who may use it. The session token carries an act claim naming the impersonator. The session lasts 30 minutes by default, with a 10-minute inactivity timeout. Clerk’s pricing lists (opens in a new tab) 5 impersonations per month on every plan, with unlimited impersonations in the Enhanced Administration add-on.

The practical difference: WorkOS records a reason for every session but keeps the starting point in its Dashboard. Clerk lets your own tool start it, with a usage limit unless you pay for the add-on. Neither decides which customers an agent may open, requires approval, or makes the session read-only. For more, see WorkOS AuthKit impersonation for support and Clerk user impersonation for support.

WorkOS vs Clerk at a glance

Area	WorkOS	Clerk
Core strength	Enterprise SSO, directory sync and IT-admin onboarding	In-app auth and user management components
Sign-in UI	Hosted AuthKit, outside your app	Prebuilt components inside your app
Use with existing auth	Standalone SSO API	Clerk acts as your user store
Pricing basis	AuthKit by active users; SSO and Directory Sync per connection	Monthly retained users; SSO metered per connection; add-ons
Organizations	Unlimited; environment and org-level roles	Active Organization per session; app-level roles
Customer IT setup	Hosted Admin Portal	Security tab in `<OrganizationProfile />`
Logs	Audit Logs product for events in your app	Application Logs for Clerk auth events; Admin Logs for your team’s changes
Impersonation start	WorkOS Dashboard only	Dashboard or actor tokens from your tool
Impersonation record	Required reason on `session.created`; `act` claim	`act` claim
Session limit	60 minutes	30 minutes by default, set per token

Which should you choose?

Choose WorkOS when enterprise onboarding is the hard part. Choose Clerk when in-app UI and support access started from your own tools matter more.

Choose WorkOS when

Enterprise SSO and directory sync are the deal-blockers, and you expect many connections across varied identity providers.
You want customers’ IT teams onboarding themselves through a hosted portal.
You want to keep your existing sign-in and add SSO alongside it.
You need customer-facing audit logs, or a very large user base on AuthKit.

Choose Clerk when

You want sign-in, profile and organization screens embedded in your app with little code.
Your stack is a JavaScript framework Clerk supports officially.
Your support team needs to start impersonation from your own admin tool.
Your enterprise needs are standard SSO and SCIM, configured inside your app.

If you are comparing other hosted platforms, see Clerk vs Auth0.

How Devora fits with WorkOS and Clerk

Devora is not an auth provider. It adds the support workflow around impersonation (opens in a new tab): access requests with a reason, approval by an approver or admin in your organization, read-only or read-and-write scope, a time limit and access history, with optional recording and a backend scope guard (opens in a new tab). Your app still owns authentication, tenant authorization and revocation.

The two providers sit at different points (opens in a new tab):

Clerk is supported. Your backend creates a Clerk actor token carrying Devora’s verified context in the actor object, as the Devora Clerk guide (opens in a new tab) shows. Your frontend completes Clerk’s ticket sign-in, and your backend reads the act claim and passes the context to Devora’s guard.
WorkOS is a limited, app-owned bridge. AuthKit’s public documentation does not describe an API for another product to create an AuthKit session for a chosen user. After a Devora approval, your app exchanges a one-time handoff (opens in a new tab) for its own support session, which stores the WorkOS user ID and Devora’s context. It is your application’s session, not an AuthKit session, and WorkOS’s Dashboard impersonation stays a separate flow, as the Devora WorkOS guide (opens in a new tab) explains.

If native impersonation covers your needs, keep it. The build vs buy guide helps you decide what to add. If you want approvals, scoped access and access history on top of Clerk, or your WorkOS app can own a support session, create a Devora account and try one staging session.

WorkOS vs Clerk for B2B SaaS: enterprise SSO, user management and support