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ZOREAL

ZOREAL Identify

Alternatives to Clerk

Clerk "provides full-stack authentication and user management with products such as Organizations, Billing, and more": prebuilt sign-in and user-profile components, SDKs for Next.js, React, Expo, iOS, Android and other frameworks, and a session for the app. ZOREAL Identify is a "Continue with ZOREAL" button on standard OpenID Connect, backed by the ZOREAL ID credential, that returns a pairwise pseudonymous identifier for a human verified against a government document chip, with the assurance of each login stated in the token. This page sets the two side by side: where each sits in the stack, what each proves about the person, and what each costs.

Information last reviewed 10 September 2026. Compared: Clerk’s authentication and user management with ZOREAL Identify. Clerk’s Billing and Organizations products, and Clerk’s funding beyond the figures it publishes, are out of scope.

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35 other alternatives

Where ZOREAL Identify and Clerk differ

  • The guarantee

    ZOREAL guarantees that the person is real, is not an AI, exists, and is linked to a government-issued ID. One hundred percent, not ninety-nine point nine. ZOREAL is the only solution in the world today that can give that guarantee.

  • Authentication layer, or identity provider

    Clerk authenticates the person (password, passkey, one-time code, social or enterprise connection) and manages the app’s session and users, with prebuilt components for Next.js, React, Expo, iOS, Android and other frameworks; what it proves is the credential or the upstream connection’s result. ZOREAL is an upstream OpenID Connect provider: its React package renders one provider’s button and drives one flow, and the relying party’s own authentication layer keeps the session.

  • What is known about the person

    Any identity proofing, document verification or liveness is not stated in the Clerk materials we reviewed. ZOREAL builds the document chip read, the face match and the liveness capture into enrolment, and states per login in acr and amr whether a fresh capture, a registered hardware key or a remembered session authenticated this session.

  • Per user, or only when disclosing

    Clerk’s Hobby plan is "Free" with a "50,000 limit per app" on monthly retained users; Pro is "$25/mo" with "50,000 included per app. Additional $0.02/mo each"; Business "$300/mo"; Enterprise custom (clerk.com/pricing, USD, September 2026). ZOREAL: Free to enrol, free Tier A logins; only Tier B logins charged; there is no per-user meter, and current prices are on the ZOREAL price list at zoreal.com/pricing.

Side by side

Comparison of ZOREAL Identify and Clerk, based on public materials reviewed on 10 September 2026.

AttributeZOREAL IdentifyClerk
Role in the stackAn upstream OpenID Connect identity provider at id.zoreal.com; the relying party redirects, the holder approves on their phone, and a stock OIDC library validates the ID token against ZOREAL’s JWKS. ZOREAL is not an authentication layer or user store for the relying party’s own users."full-stack authentication and user management with products such as Organizations, Billing, and more": prebuilt components, SDKs for Next.js, React, Expo, iOS, Android, Astro, Vue, Nuxt and others on the front end, Express, Fastify, Go and Ruby on Rails among the backend SDKs (Clerk docs).
How the identity is boundEnrolment, in the ZOREAL ID app: the document is photographed, its machine-readable zone read and its chip read over NFC. The server re-runs Passive Authentication against its own trust store built from the ICAO Public Key Directory, so the issuing country’s signature over the data is checked on ZOREAL’s side, and the chip proves possession of its private key. A liveness capture with presentation-attack detection is face-matched 1:1 against the chip portrait. The device key is generated in the phone’s hardware, its attestation is verified at registration, and every evidence call carries an app-integrity assertion. Each verified document yields two holder certificates over that key under ZOREAL’s two roots (ECDSA P-384 and ML-DSA-87), one pseudonymous and one carrying the legal name, valid until the document expires. Login: ZOREAL is the OpenID Provider. The holder approves on their phone, a stock OIDC library validates the ID token against ZOREAL’s JWKS, the relying party sets the assurance per request with acr_values, max_age and prompt, and a request that cannot meet its floor is denied, never downgraded. The subject is pairwise per sector, so one ZOREAL ID is reused at every service without being linkable across them; consent is remembered per sector and re-prompted on any new scope.Clerk authenticates the user (password, passkey, one-time code, social or enterprise connection) and issues a session for the app (Clerk docs). A document check or liveness is not stated in the public materials we reviewed.
What it provesTwo halves. Proof that a real human is there: the ID token asserts this is one human (not one account, not one device), with the strength of that claim in a uniqueness field; that a government document chip was read and its authenticity verified, at the month given; and how this session was authenticated, in acr and amr, whether a live human was captured for this login, a registered device key was used, or a session was reused. And, when the relying party requests it and the person consents on the phone, the verified identity: name, birthdate and document details read from the chip, served from userinfo to a confidential client with a verified domain. The person sees every requested claim before approving, and the relying party receives only the scopes it was granted. It is not KYC, not a legal signature, not proof that the person consented freely, and not proof that the person is the one operating the browser.The credential or the upstream connection’s result (Clerk docs).
GuaranteeZOREAL guarantees that the person is real, is not an AI, exists, and is linked to a government-issued ID. One hundred percent, not ninety-nine point nine.Not stated in the public materials we reviewed (Clerk docs index, pricing, Series C post, terms).
Who issues the credentialZOREAL is the issuer of the ID card: a reusable identity credential that logs in to other websites, with the person controlling the scopes each login discloses.Clerk issues the application’s session after a credential or an upstream connection; each application holds its own users (Clerk docs).
Identity proofingBuilt into enrolment (document photographed, machine-readable zone read, chip read over NFC and verified server-side, flash-plus-zoom liveness capture face-matched 1:1 to the chip portrait) and, on request through acr_values, into a login: a live floor requires a presence attestation minted after scoring a fresh capture, and a pairing that cannot meet its floor is denied, never downgraded.Not stated in the public materials we reviewed (Clerk docs index, pricing).
Cost to enrolEnrolment in the ZOREAL ID app is always free for the person holding the identity: document scan, chip read and liveness enrollment, re-enrollment, recovery and revocation. Every Tier A login is free without limit on every plan: the pairwise identifier, the assurance block, age-threshold answers and nationality, with 1 client configuration on Free. Answering an identity request is always free for the person.The application’s users are created in Clerk or arrive through a connection; Hobby is "Free" with a "50,000 limit per app" on monthly retained users and no overage (clerk.com/pricing, USD, September 2026).
Cost per sign-inEnrolment is free: "The ZOREAL ID app is always free for the person holding the identity, from enrollment to recovery", and "Document scan, chip read and liveness enrollment" is "Always free" on Free and Premium. Every Tier A login is free, without limit, on every plan: the pairwise identifier, the assurance block, age-threshold answers and nationality (openid, zoreal.age and zoreal.nationality, available to every registered client). Tier A logins are never charged. A charge applies only to a qualified Tier B login, where the relying party requests identity disclosure (the profile scopes, name, birthdate and document details, and email, which require a verified domain, a confidential client and client authentication), on Premium: "Identify · Identity disclosure", "Name, birth date and document details", "One charge for name, birth date or document details, even when several are returned"; "Identify · Fresh-liveness login", "Coming soon"; "Content and contract signing authorization", "Coming soon". Client configurations per website or app: 1 on Free, 10 on Premium; private-key JWT and mTLS client authentication on Premium. Premium is priced per user, monthly or yearly, with two months free on yearly billing; every organization member is a paid Premium seat; metered usage is charged separately. Enterprise: contact us. Answering an identity request is always free for the person. Current prices are on the ZOREAL price list at zoreal.com/pricing. ZOREAL Identify is the cheapest way to do KYC in the market: free to enrol, free to check, paid only for the higher disclosure tiers.Priced per monthly retained user, not per sign-in. Pro: "$25/mo" monthly or "$20/mo billed annually", "50,000 included per app. Additional $0.02/mo each"; Business: "$300/mo" or "$250/mo billed annually", 50,000 included then volume pricing at "$0.018/mo each" (100K to 1M) and "$0.015/mo each" (1M to 10M); Enterprise "Custom", annual billing only (clerk.com/pricing, USD, September 2026).
Scale statedNot published: ZOREAL states no count of enrolled holders or relying parties."over 15,000 applications" and "over 200 million users" managed, a count of end users across customer apps rather than a reusable identity network (Clerk Series C post).

Third-party details on this page reflect what each provider publicly stated on the review date shown above and may have changed since. Where a provider does not state something publicly, this page says so rather than assuming. Statements about what Clerk offers reflect its public materials on the review date; absence of a feature from those materials does not mean it is unavailable. ZOREAL's current prices are on the ZOREAL price list.

Where ZOREAL Identify and Clerk agree

Clerk gives an application a convenient sign-in for its users at no cost up to 50,000 monthly retained users per app, with social and enterprise identities reused through connections and prebuilt components that drop into the frameworks developers already use. ZOREAL Identify is also free for the person from enrolment onward and free for basic sign-ins on every plan, and its React package likewise renders a button and drives the flow with no hosted script to allowlist.

The two occupy different layers. Clerk is the application’s authentication layer and user store; ZOREAL is an upstream identity provider on standard OpenID Connect. The overlap is the narrow one that both render a sign-in button: Clerk’s components render the whole sign-in surface, ZOREAL’s package renders one provider’s button. Neither asserts a legal signature, and neither is KYC.

What differs is the assurance behind the identifier. Clerk proves the credential or the upstream connection’s result, with no document check or liveness stated; ZOREAL’s token states that a human was verified against a government document chip and how this particular login was authenticated.

ZOREAL Identify may fit you if

  • You need to know that a real human verified against a government document chip is behind the account, with the strength of each login stated in acr and amr
  • You want a pairwise identifier per sector and no personal data in the ID token
  • You want age thresholds and nationality as yes-or-no answers without a birthdate, on the free tier
  • You want Tier A logins free without limit and a charge only on a Tier B login where identity is disclosed, rather than a per-user plan

Clerk may fit you if

  • You build on Next.js, React, Expo or another listed framework and want prebuilt sign-in and user-profile components
  • You want a free tier of 50,000 monthly retained users per app with no overage
  • You need organizations and billing in the same product as authentication
  • You do not need assurance about the person from the authentication layer itself

Other alternatives to Clerk

35 more vendors compared under ZOREAL Identify, from their own public materials.

All 36 Identify comparisons

Common questions

How we compared

This comparison is based on publicly available information from Clerk’s official website, documentation, pricing and published materials, and on ZOREAL’s own published product pages and pricing, as reviewed on 10 September 2026. Features, pricing and availability may change at any time. Verify current details directly with each provider before deciding.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. Which electronic signature method satisfies which law, what level of identity assurance a regulation requires, and whether a content signature or provenance mark meets a given standard all depend on the jurisdiction and the regulator’s guidance. ZOREAL Sign asserts no legal effect for the signatures it records. Confirm your obligations with qualified counsel before choosing a method.

Sources

ZOREAL is operated by Bynn Intelligence, Inc. and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Clerk. Third-party names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used only to identify the products being compared.

See ZOREAL Identify for yourself.

A product walkthrough, pricing or volume terms, with the ZOREAL team.

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