Key differences, specifications and fit guidance for Auth0 and Okta, compiled from official documentation and the iThub profiles.
Auth0 is an authentication platform for web and mobile apps, with quickstarts for 30+ languages and frameworks and a free plan priced by monthly active users.
Okta provides workforce single sign-on, multifactor authentication and lifecycle management that connect HR systems and directories to business applications.
Pick Auth0 if you are building login into your own customer-facing apps: it is a drop-in authentication and authorization service with 30+ SDKs and quickstarts, a Free plan for up to 25,000 users and pricing based on user counts. Pick Okta if you need workforce identity: single sign-on for employees and partners, AD, LDAP and HR directories in one control plane, lifecycle automation and 8,000+ pre-built integrations, sold as per-user suites. Okta has owned Auth0 since 2021, so the deciding factor is whose identities you secure, your customers or your staff.
Choose Auth0 ifShortlist Auth0 when your developers are adding sign-up and login to your own web, mobile or SaaS product and need SDKs, social login, passwordless, adaptive MFA and enterprise SSO for B2B customers.
Choose Okta ifShortlist Okta when IT needs one identity for employees and partners across cloud and on-premises applications, with AD, LDAP and HR directories unified and onboarding and offboarding automated.
| Aspect | Auth0 | Okta |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Auth0 is a drop-in authentication and authorization service that developers add to their own applications, with B2C and B2B SaaS login as the main focus. | Okta Workforce Identity gives employees, partners and AI agents one identity and single sign-on access to the business applications they use. |
| Pricing unit | Auth0 prices by users: beyond 25,000 users on the Free plan you pick a paid plan with a custom user count from 1,000 to 100,000 or more. | Workforce Identity is sold as suites priced per user per month and billed annually. Starter begins at $6 and Essentials at $17, while Professional and Enterprise are quoted by sales. |
| Developer integration | Auth0 offers 30+ SDKs and quickstarts for languages and frameworks, and its Management API lets you inspect all the data in your account. | Okta offers 8,000+ pre-built integrations for connecting apps, plus an Integrator Free Plan for developers building authentication and authorization with Okta. |
| Directory and lifecycle | For B2B SaaS, Auth0 provides enterprise SSO and SCIM, multi-tenancy support and fine-grained permissions for both human users and AI agents. | Okta unifies AD, LDAP and HR directories into one central control plane and automates user onboarding, offboarding and profile updates. |
| Login and app coverage | Auth0 supports passwordless, social logins and adaptive MFA for consumer sign-up and sign-in, and can delegate access so agents act on a user's behalf. | Okta extends its security to on-premises apps without changes to the application source code, alongside single sign-on to cloud applications. |
| Hosting model | Auth0 runs as a third-party service on the Auth0 public cloud or in an isolated private deployment. It is not software you install yourself. | Okta runs as a cloud service in which each org is hosted on a subdomain with its own URL. Wikipedia notes that Okta's services are built on Amazon Web Services. |
| Trials and free options | A 22-day trial runs before the Free plan activates automatically, and a startup plan includes 100K monthly external active users free for a year. | Okta offers a 30-day free trial with no commitment, and almost all Okta products can be bought individually or added to any suite. |
From the iThub profiles. “Not recorded” means the profile does not confirm it. Confirm prices and editions with each vendor.
| Attribute | Auth0 | Okta |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $35.00 ↗ | From $6.00 ↗ |
| API | Yes ↗ | Yes ↗ |
| Founded | 2013 | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Bellevue, Washington, USA | San Francisco, California, USA |
| GitHub stars | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Documentation | Official docs ↗ | Official docs ↗ |
Auth0Auth0 was founded in 2013 and provides authentication and customer identity and access management (CIAM) through drop-in login flows, multi-factor authentication, social/enterprise SSO connections, and management APIs. Okta acquired Auth0 in 2021; Auth0 is now marketed as "the Auth0 Platform" for customer-facing identity, positioned alongside Okta's own platform for workforce identity. Evaluators should check current Okta/Auth0 branding and contract terms, since packaging has changed since the acquisition.
The website frames the product around the customer lifecycle. For B2C apps it talks about converting more customers through secure and easy sign up and protecting revenue by stopping fraud without adding unnecessary friction. For B2B SaaS it describes closing deals faster with enterprise grade identity, including enterprise federation, compliance and access controls, and letting customers self-manage their organizations, user roles, and access. The site says you can build in 30+ of your favorite languages and frameworks. It positions the platform for AI agents, B2C apps and platforms, enterprise B2B SaaS, and machine identities and APIs.
OktaOkta was founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, who described their approach as Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS). The company is headquartered in San Francisco. Its workforce products give employees, partners and AI agents a single identity for the applications they use.
Single Sign-On is the core. Okta says it can unify existing directories such as Active Directory, LDAP and HR systems into one central control plane. Lifecycle Management imports identities from HR systems and directories, and lets teams set policies for different groups so access is granted and removed based on dates, inactivity and similar rules. Agent SSO extends the model to AI agents that support Cross App Access.
Auth0 and Okta are both hosted identity services owned by Okta, but they serve different users. Auth0 is a developer platform for adding login, MFA and authorization to customer-facing and B2B SaaS applications, priced by user counts. Okta Workforce Identity gives employees, partners and AI agents single sign-on, unified directories and lifecycle automation, sold as per-user suites billed annually.
Start by naming whose identities you are securing: customers of your product, your own staff, or both. Then list the applications, identity sources and authentication methods involved, estimate active users for each population, and ask the vendor how each population would be licensed and whether one contract can cover both.
Pick one customer-facing app and one internal SaaS app. On each tool, configure sign-up or SSO, MFA, one enterprise federation connection and a user import from your directory. Run the same login, password reset, offboarding and account recovery tests, then compare setup effort, admin tasks and the user counts each pricing model would bill.
Yes. According to Wikipedia, Okta signed a definitive agreement to acquire Auth0 for $6.5 billion in March 2021. Okta's site now presents Okta and Auth0 together as platforms for customers, workforce and non-human identities, with Auth0 focused on login for customer-facing apps and Okta Workforce Identity on employee access.
Auth0 is built for developers adding login to their own customer-facing and B2B SaaS apps, with SDKs, social login, passwordless and adaptive MFA. Okta Workforce Identity is built for IT teams giving employees, partners and AI agents single sign-on, unified directories and automated onboarding and offboarding across business applications.
Auth0 prices by users: past 25,000 users on the Free plan you choose a paid plan with a custom count from 1,000 to 100,000 or more. Okta Workforce Identity is sold as suites per user per month, billed annually, with Starter from $6 and Essentials from $17. Okta's Professional and Enterprise suites are quoted by sales.
No. Both are hosted services. Auth0 runs on the Auth0 public cloud or in an isolated private deployment, and Okta orgs are hosted on subdomains of Okta's cloud service. Neither is offered as software you install on your own servers.
Yes. Okta's pricing page lists Customer Identity solutions that start with an Enterprise base platform for securing customer applications, separate from its Workforce Identity suites. Okta also presents Auth0 as one of its platforms, so if customer login is your main need, ask Okta to compare both options for your use case.
Auth0 has a Free plan for up to 25,000 users, which activates automatically after a 22-day trial. Okta offers a 30-day free trial of its workforce products, and an Integrator Free Plan for developers building authentication and authorization solutions with Okta.
Facts on this page come from these official pages, checked on , and from the iThub profiles. Vendors change plans and features: confirm with them before buying.
