Side-by-side comparison · Databases & Backend

Clerk vs Convex

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Clerk

4.4

From $20/mo

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Convex

4.1

From $25/developer/mo

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Comparing 2 tools. Add one more if you like.

At a glance

Clerk4.4

Best overallEasiest to use

Pick it if: Anyone building a web or mobile app who needs user accounts and logins without writing them from scratch.

Convex4.1

Pick it if: People building collaborative or real-time apps with Claude Code who want the backend to just work.

Overview

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
In one line	Ready-made sign-up, login and user accounts you can add to an app in minutes.	A backend that keeps every screen of your app in sync the moment the data changes.
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starting price	$20/mo	$25/developer/mo
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Works with Claude Code	Yes	Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Overall rating	4.4Winner	4.1
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.	4.5	3.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.	4.5	4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.	4.5	4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.	4.0	4.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.	4.5	4.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Access & platform
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Mobile app	No	No
Desktop app	No	No
Browser extension	No	No
API access	Yes	Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace	Yes	Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO	Yes	Yes
Connects to other apps	Yes	Yes
Open source or self-hosted	No	Yes
AI abilities
Works with your files	No	Yes
Understands images	–	No
Makes images	No	No
Makes video	No	No
Writes code	No	No
Runs agents or automations	–	Yes
Learns your brand or style	–	No
Works in many languages	Yes	–
Capabilities score	6/ 17	8/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Plans	Hobby Free New apps and side projects.	Free and Starter Free, then pay as you go Side projects and small teams getting started.
	ProOur pick $20/mo billed yearly, or $25 monthly Apps with paying customers.	ProfessionalOur pick $25/developer/mo Products with real users.
	Business $250/mo billed yearly, or $300 monthly Growing companies that need compliance paperwork.	Business and Enterprise From $2,500/mo Larger companies with compliance and scale needs.
	Enterprise Custom Large companies with strict security needs.
Which plan to pick	Build on Hobby. It's enough until you have customers who care about the Clerk branding or need multi-factor login, then move to Pro. Business only matters when a customer asks for a SOC 2 report.	Start on Free. Move to Professional when you launch, mainly for daily backups and the bigger limits. Business is a big jump aimed at teams of 50 or more, so most readers will never need it.

Key features

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Standout features	Prebuilt screens Every login method Organisations Bot and fraud protection Clerk Billing	Reactive database Everything in TypeScript Scheduled functions and workflows File storage, search and vector search Official MCP server and AI docs Open source and self-hostable

Pros and cons

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Pros	Fastest way to add polished logins to an app 50,000 free monthly users per app Covers social, passwordless, passkeys and SMS Team accounts and billing built in AI coding tools know it well	Live updates built in rather than bolted on One language for the whole app, so AI coding tools make fewer mistakes Scheduled tasks and crash-safe workflows included Open source with a self-hosting option Fair pricing for small teams
Cons	Removing branding and multi-factor login need Pro Enterprise SSO connections cost $75 a month each after the first Your user accounts live with Clerk, so moving away takes work SMS codes cost extra per message	Not SQL, and no easy exit to another database Built for developers; there's no friendly data editor for non-technical staff Per-developer pricing penalises bigger teams Smaller community than Supabase or Firebase

Who each one is for

Attribute	Clerk	Convex
Best for	Adding sign-up and login to an app Google, Apple and passwordless sign-in Apps where customers have team accounts Charging subscriptions inside your app	Collaborative and multiplayer apps Live dashboards Apps built mostly by Claude Code Chat and AI agent backends
You'll find it used by	Indie builders Startups SaaS companies Developers	Developers Startups Claude Code users Indie hackers

Questions people ask

Which is better, Clerk or Convex?

Clerk scores highest overall in our ratings (Clerk 4.4/5 and Convex 4.1/5). Clerk is best for adding sign-up and login to an app and Google, Apple and passwordless sign-in. Convex is best for collaborative and multiplayer apps and live dashboards.

Which is cheaper, Clerk or Convex?

Clerk: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Convex: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $25/developer/mo.

Which is easier to use, Clerk or Convex?

Clerk rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Anyone building a web or mobile app who needs user accounts and logins without writing them from scratch.

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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