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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Descope Pricing–The Complete Guide |
| 3 | +date: "2025-08-08" |
| 4 | +description: "Discover Descope’s pricing tiers, real-world cost examples, hidden fees, and how it stacks vs Auth0/Okta in CIAM pricing." |
| 5 | +cover: "descope-pricing–the-complete-guide.png" |
| 6 | +category: "programming" |
| 7 | +author: "Mostafa Ibrahim" |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +Descope is a modern [customer identity and access management (CIAM)](https://supertokens.com/blog/pillars-of-a-ciam-strategy-secure-scale-and-personalize-customer-access) platform built for product-led growth. It offers visual no-code/low-code flows, SSO, MFA, multi-tenancy, bot protection, and fraud detection—all designed to reduce authentication friction, without sacrificing security. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +Its pricing model follows a transparent freemium-to-enterprise path. Teams can start for free, then scale usage linearly with predictable overages. For developers building B2C or B2B apps, Descope offers strong defaults and built-in security—all wrapped in a visual builder that simplifies identity workflows. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +In this guide, we’ll break down Descope’s pricing structure, show real-world usage examples, highlight hidden costs, and compare it to other CIAM providers like Auth0, Okta, and SuperTokens—so you can evaluate with clarity. |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +## What Is Descope and How Does It Price? |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +Descope offers a visual-first approach to authentication, combining drag-and-drop workflows with full-featured SDKs for deeper control. It supports SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and session management out of the box, with built-in fraud and bot protection. Designed for both B2C and B2B use cases, it simplifies complex identity flows without limiting flexibility. |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +Its pricing model combines fixed tiers with predictable overages. Each plan includes a fixed allowance of monthly active users (MAUs), tenants, and SSO connections. If you exceed any limit, you pay overage fees—but you’re not forced into the next tier unless you need specific features. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +That keeps pricing linear and transparent—but there are **critical feature gates** that may impact which tier you need. |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +Here’s how the model works in practice: |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +### Free Forever |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +Descope’s free tier is generous—7,500 MAUs, 10 tenants, 3 SSO connections, and 1 federated app. It includes core CIAM features like: |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +- All authentication methods (passwordless, OTP, OAuth, etc.) |
| 31 | +- Secure session handling, MFA, RBAC |
| 32 | +- Admin widgets, connectors, 1K M2M keys |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +But it’s strictly for testing or MVPs. You’ll hit hard limits quickly: |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +- No SCIM or bot protection |
| 37 | +- Only five test users—not viable for staging environments |
| 38 | +- SLA capped at 99% |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +### Pro |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +The Pro tier is $249/month (billed annually), and adds more breathing room: 10K MAUs, 35 tenants, 5 SSO, and 2 federated apps. |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +It unlocks: |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +- Custom domains |
| 47 | +- Self-service SSO setup |
| 48 | +- CI/CD support and localization |
| 49 | +- 99.99% SLA and compliance reports |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +Overages are charged at $0.05 per MAU, $1 per tenant, $50 per SSO connection, and $250 per federated app—applied only when you exceed plan limits. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +However, be aware that this plan **still lacks bot protection, SCIM, and support for anonymous users**. If you need any of those, you’ll be bumped to Growth—even if you don’t exceed your MAU limits. |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +### Growth |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +The Growth tier is $799/month (billed annually), and is designed for apps in active growth. The Growth tier expands to 25K MAUs, 100 tenants, and 10 SSO connections—with the same overage pricing as Pro. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +This is where key enterprise features kick in: |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +- Bot/fraud protection |
| 62 | +- Anonymous users (up to 1M) |
| 63 | +- SCIM provisioning |
| 64 | +- Multi-region data residency |
| 65 | +- Fine-grained authorization |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | +If you're scaling authentication complexity or need to pass security audits, this is effectively the **first enterprise-grade tier** — even though it’s priced for mid-size teams. |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +### Enterprise |
| 70 | + |
| 71 | +Descope’s Enterprise tier moves into custom contracts. The core features stay the same, but limits are lifted—including unlimited test users, unlimited anonymous users, and access to a dedicated CS engineer. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +Value here comes from: |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +- Tiered discounts (negotiated at scale) |
| 76 | +- Custom SLAs and deployment options |
| 77 | +- Premium support add-ons |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +For teams with complex security, compliance, or scale requirements, Enterprise offers the flexibility to tailor Descope to their environment. |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +## A Breakdown of Descope Pricing Tiers |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +[Descope’s pricing](https://www.descope.com/pricing) is structured around four core tiers—Free, Pro, Growth, and Enterprise—each offering progressively more scale, security, and customization. The key differences aren’t just in MAU limits, but in which features unlock at each stage. Below is a quick summary to help you evaluate the right fit based on usage and requirements. |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +|**Tier**|**Included Usage**|**Key Feature Unlocks**|**Best For**| |
| 86 | +|-|-|-|-| |
| 87 | +|**Free**|7.5K MAUs <br> 10 tenants <br> 3 SSO|MFA, RBAC, drag-and-drop flows, 1 federated app|Prototyping and MVPs| |
| 88 | +|**Pro**|10K MAUs <br> 35 tenants <br> 5 SSO|Custom domain, CI/CD, localization, 99.99% SLA|First SaaS launch| |
| 89 | +|**Growth**|25K MAUs <br> 100 tenants <br> 10 SSO|SCIM, bot protection, anonymous users, multi-region|Scaling apps with compliance needs| |
| 90 | +|**Enterprise**|Custom scale <br> Unlimited tenants/users|Dedicated CS engineer, premium support, tiered discounts|Large organizations with custom requirements| |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +## What Does Descope Actually Cost? (Real-World Examples) |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +Descope’s pricing looks simple on the surface—but real-world usage scenarios reveal how overages and feature gates can shape your total cost. Below are a few common patterns. |
| 95 | + |
| 96 | +### Free-to-Pro: The Early-Stage Bump |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +A prototype app with 7,500 MAUs fits within the Free tier, but the moment you exceed that, you’ll need to upgrade. |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +Then let’s say you also add three more SSO connections, bringing the total to six. Since the Pro plan includes five SSO connections, you’ll pay overage for just one. So the cost jumps to: |
| 101 | + |
| 102 | +- $249/month for the Pro plan |
| 103 | +- +$50 for the extra SSO |
| 104 | +- Total: $299/month |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +### Growth Tier Overages |
| 107 | + |
| 108 | +At 25,000 MAUs, you’re covered by the Growth plan. But if your app grows to 30,000 MAUs, here’s the breakdown: |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +- $799/month for the Growth plan |
| 111 | +- 5,000 extra MAUs × $0.05 = $250 |
| 112 | +- Total: $1,049/month |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +Tenants, SSO, and federated apps follow similar overage logic—all charged per unit. |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +### Enterprise Scale |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +If your usage goes well beyond Growth limits, such as 100 tenants, regional compliance needs, or support guarantees, you’ll need a custom Enterprise contract. |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +Exact pricing depends on negotiation, but includes: |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +- Tiered discounts |
| 123 | +- Premium support options |
| 124 | +- Custom deployment setups |
| 125 | + |
| 126 | +These examples show how costs can stay predictable with usage-based overages, but feature thresholds may still push you into higher tiers earlier than expected. |
| 127 | + |
| 128 | +## Hidden Costs to Watch Out For |
| 129 | + |
| 130 | +Descope’s pricing is transparent, but certain feature gates and overage rules can lead to unexpected costs or early plan upgrades. |
| 131 | + |
| 132 | +### Overage Charges |
| 133 | + |
| 134 | +Descope uses predictable per-unit overage pricing once you exceed your plan limits—but costs can add up quickly with MAUs, tenants, SSO, or federated apps. Free tier users aren’t eligible for overages and must upgrade to continue scaling. |
| 135 | + |
| 136 | +### Tenant Limits |
| 137 | + |
| 138 | +The Free tier caps out at 10 tenants—a limit you’ll hit quickly in multi-tenant SaaS apps or B2B scenarios. Since overages aren’t supported on Free, adding even one more tenant triggers a mandatory upgrade to a paid plan. |
| 139 | + |
| 140 | +### Feature Gating |
| 141 | + |
| 142 | +Bot protection, SCIM provisioning, and anonymous user tracking only become available in the Growth tier and above—even if your MAUs are still within lower-tier limits. That means you might pay for Growth sooner than your MAU usage warrants—simply to unlock critical features. |
| 143 | + |
| 144 | +## How Descope Pricing Compares to Auth0 and Okta |
| 145 | + |
| 146 | +Descope positions itself as a flexible CIAM option for both B2C and B2B apps—but how does it stack up against competitors like Auth0 and Okta? Below is a breakdown of how the three differ in freemium offerings, pricing behavior, and when critical features become available. |
| 147 | + |
| 148 | +### Freemium Model: Descope vs Auth0 vs Okta |
| 149 | + |
| 150 | +Descope offers more production-level features for free than Auth0 or Okta, despite Auth0’s higher MAU ceiling. |
| 151 | + |
| 152 | +- **Descope** offers a true free tier with **7,500 MAUs**, including MFA, SSO, federated login, and role-based access—enough to power a real app, not just a demo. |
| 153 | +- **Auth0** advertises a free tier with **25,000 MAUs**, but it lacks core production-ready features like MFA, SCIM, and RBAC unless you upgrade. You’ll also hit limits on orgs, environments, and API usage. |
| 154 | +- **Okta** doesn’t offer a free tier—only a **time-limited free trial**—which makes early testing or experimentation harder without a budget. |
| 155 | + |
| 156 | +### Pricing Structure: Linear vs Tiered Cliffs |
| 157 | + |
| 158 | +Descope’s linear overage approach gives more flexibility and fewer surprises as your app scales. |
| 159 | + |
| 160 | +- **Descope** uses a **tiered model with usage-based overages**: Each plan includes defined usage limits, and overages are charged per unit — $0.05/MAU, $1/tenant, $50/SSO, etc. No hard gating. |
| 161 | +- **Auth0 and Okta** both follow a **tiered cliff model**: Once you exceed a threshold (e.g., MAUs, orgs, flows), you’re pushed into the next pricing tier — often with a large jump in cost. |
| 162 | +- This makes budgeting more predictable with Descope, since costs scale gradually with usage instead of jumping sharply between tiers. |
| 163 | + |
| 164 | +### Feature Availability: Earlier Unlocks in Descope |
| 165 | + |
| 166 | +Descope makes core identity features available earlier, with less friction. Competitors push many of these behind sales walls or enterprise upgrades. |
| 167 | + |
| 168 | +- **SCIM provisioning**, **bot protection**, and **anonymous users** are available in Descope’s **Growth plan ($799/mo)**, giving teams access to advanced features, without locking them into an enterprise contract. |
| 169 | +- **Auth0** locks SCIM and enhanced protection features behind their **Enterprise tier**, making critical identity capabilities inaccessible unless you engage in custom pricing and sales conversations. |
| 170 | +- **Okta** gates key CIAM features like API access management and machine-to-machine tokens behind their **Enterprise plan**, which typically requires going through sales to unlock. |
| 171 | + |
| 172 | +## Why Teams Choose SuperTokens Over Descope |
| 173 | + |
| 174 | + |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | +While Descope offers a polished CIAM experience with visual workflows and generous free limits, some teams prefer more control, flexibility, and cost predictability. That’s where [SuperTokens](https://supertokens.com/) stands out. |
| 177 | + |
| 178 | +### Open-Source and Self-Hosting Flexibility |
| 179 | + |
| 180 | +SuperTokens gives you full control over your identity stack. You can self-host everything, deploy to your own infrastructure, and inspect the source code — no black boxes, no vendor lock-in. For teams with compliance or latency requirements, this level of control is non-negotiable. |
| 181 | + |
| 182 | +### No Overages, No Surprises |
| 183 | + |
| 184 | +Pricing is based on **monthly active users only**. There are no extra charges for tenants, SSO connections, or federated apps—and no need to track feature usage to avoid unexpected costs. That simplicity makes budgeting easier, especially at scale. |
| 185 | + |
| 186 | +### All Features Included |
| 187 | + |
| 188 | +Unlike Descope, SuperTokens doesn’t gate critical features like MFA, RBAC, or SSO behind paid tiers. Everything is available out of the box, even on self-hosted deployments—so teams don’t have to upgrade just to unlock essentials. |
| 189 | + |
| 190 | +### Superior Support and SLA Options |
| 191 | + |
| 192 | +SuperTokens offers **priority support and SLAs** even at lower tiers — without requiring an enterprise contract. For smaller teams running production apps, this can be the difference between staying blocked or getting a fix in hours. |
| 193 | + |
| 194 | +If you want full ownership of your authentication stack, transparent pricing, and no feature friction, SuperTokens gives you all of that—without waiting for Enterprise. |
| 195 | + |
| 196 | +## Real User Feedback |
| 197 | + |
| 198 | +Descope receives consistently high ratings across G2 and AWS Marketplace, with a 4.8/5 average from 70+ reviews. Teams praise the platform for ease of use, responsive support, and flexibility—especially when compared to traditional CIAM providers. |
| 199 | + |
| 200 | +### Commonly Praised |
| 201 | + |
| 202 | +- **Customer Support**: Frequently called out as a standout. Even free-tier users report real-time help via Slack and Zoom. |
| 203 | +- **Ease of Integration**: Developers highlight fast setup with modern stacks (e.g., Next.js, Nest.js) and flexible UI flows. |
| 204 | +- **Customization**: Visual flow editor and broad authentication method support make it easy to adapt to different app needs. |
| 205 | +- **Startup-Friendly Pricing**: Several users switched from Auth0 or Cognito, citing better cost control and smoother onboarding. |
| 206 | + |
| 207 | +Here’s what real users are saying, based on verified reviews from [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/descope/reviews) and [AWS Marketplace](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/reviews/reviews-list/prodview-sexvssxdo2ykm?page=4). |
| 208 | + |
| 209 | +> “The best thing about Descope is their customer support—they are incredibly helpful and responsive, and even offered to get on Zoom calls to help me debug some of my issues (and I'm on their free tier!)”—*Founding Engineer, G2* |
| 210 | +
|
| 211 | +> “We recently needed to transition off of Amazon Cognito because its capabilities are much too limited. We did extensive research on which IdP solution would meet our needs and be cost effective. We evaluated numerous solutions and Descope was the clear winner.”—*IT, G2* |
| 212 | +
|
| 213 | +### Common Drawbacks |
| 214 | + |
| 215 | +- **Documentation Gaps**: Some users found the docs lacking in edge cases or advanced use cases, though many note it's improving. |
| 216 | +- **Learning Curve for Custom Setups**: Teams with unique architectures mentioned needing support to get up and running. |
| 217 | +- **Feature Maturity**: A few features (e.g., LinkedIn integration, SAML IDP) were still evolving, but users report that the team responds quickly to feedback. |
| 218 | + |
| 219 | +According to user reviews on G2 and AWS Marketplace, here’s what teams are saying: |
| 220 | + |
| 221 | +> “Coming from virtually no experience or knowledge on the subject, it was a pain to really understand all of its aspects, and since our setup is quite unique, we had to spend a lot of time making it work. The support team has gone out of their way to help us.”—*Founder, G2* |
| 222 | +
|
| 223 | +> “Descope does come at a cost. That cost is for convenience… So far we've found the tradeoffs worth it.”—*Verified reviewer, G2* |
| 224 | +
|
| 225 | + ## Conclusion and Final Comparison |
| 226 | + |
| 227 | + Descope offers a strong CIAM platform for modern apps—combining a low-code visual builder with developer tooling, flexible tenant support, and production-ready features like SSO, MFA, and SCIM. Its pricing structure is transparent, and the free tier is generous. But teams should watch for feature gating and overage fees, which can add up quickly at scale. |
| 228 | + |
| 229 | +For B2C and B2B startups that need to ship fast with minimal authentication overhead, Descope is a solid choice—especially for those without the time or resources to build in-house authentication. But for teams that prioritize full control, flexibility, and long-term cost stability, SuperTokens is often the better fit. |
| 230 | + |
| 231 | +Ready to take control of your authentication stack? Explore [SuperTokens](https://supertokens.com/pricing). You can self-host for free or scale easily by using the managed service. Transparent pricing, no feature gates, and no surprises. |
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