OAuth vs Clerk

The security dance everyone hates but can't live without meets authentication made easy, so you can stop worrying about passwords and start building actual features. Here's our take.

OAuth

Nice Pick

The security dance everyone hates but can't live without. Delegating access without sharing passwords, because trust is a token.

Pros

• Eliminates password sharing for third-party apps
• Standardized across major platforms like Google and Facebook
• Granular scopes for fine-grained access control

Cons

• Implementation complexity leads to frequent security flaws
• Token management can be a debugging nightmare

Clerk

Authentication made easy, so you can stop worrying about passwords and start building actual features.

Pros

• Beautiful UI components
• Easy setup
• Session management
• Organizations
• Pre-built UI components that look good out of the box
• Handles complex security like MFA and social logins without the headache
• Seamless integration with popular frameworks like Next.js and React

Cons

• Pricier
• Vendor lock-in
• Less customizable
• Can get pricey as your user base grows
• Limited customization options for advanced use cases

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. OAuth is a authentication while Clerk is a hosting & deployment. We picked OAuth based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

OAuth wins

Based on overall popularity. OAuth is more widely used, but Clerk excels in its own space.