Head to head
Descope vs FusionAuth
Both platforms are scored with the same methodology and the same category rubric. Nothing on this page is influenced by advertising.
42/100 | 49/100Higher score | |
|---|---|---|
| Category rank | #10 | #6 |
| Confidence | Medium confidence | High confidence |
| External Reputation | 77 | 74 |
| AI Authority | 6 | 30 |
| Web Authority | 16 | 23 |
| Expert Assessment | 69 | 62 |
| TOP10 User Score | — | — |
| Pricing | $249/month (Pro, billed annually) · free tier: Free Forever at $0: 7,500 MAUs, 10 monthly active tenants, 3 SSO connections, 1 federated app (OIDC), 5 test users, 10,000 M2M exchanges, 2,000 MACs, 2,000 MATKs, all auth methods, RBAC, MFA, no watermark, community support, 99% SLA, 1-week audit retention | Starter from $162/mo (billed annually, at the page default of 1,000 MAUs), community-forum support only, basic hosting included · free tier: Community — free, unlimited, self-hosted with core authentication features and community support (forums, Slack, GitHub); passkeys/WebAuthn and biometrics reportedly require registering a free Community licence |
| Pricing model | Subscription with usage-based overages | Subscription (MAU-based tiers; free self-hosted Community edition) |
| Best for | B2B SaaS teams that need to become enterprise-ready quickly with multi-tenancy, self-service SAML/OIDC SSO, SCIM and RBAC/FGA, plus startups on the Hello World program or small projects that fit inside the 7,500-MAU free tier and want passkeys by default. | Engineering-led B2C or mid-market B2B SaaS teams that need data sovereignty or on-prem CIAM, are comfortable with OAuth2/OIDC concepts, and want an API-first platform they can start free and later move to managed hosting without switching vendors. |
| Avoid if | You need SCIM, fine-grained authorization, bot protection, HIPAA BAA, EU data residency or FedRAMP High on a small budget (all Growth-tier at $799/mo+), have many small tenants or many configured SSO connections, require month-to-month terms or self-hosted deployment, or need a deep independent review paper trail for procurement. | You lack dedicated engineering capacity for identity work, require a truly open-source core, need 24x7 support or an SLA on a small budget, need cheap SCIM provisioning, or require FedRAMP or Zanzibar-style fine-grained authorization. |
| Markets | SMB, Startups, Mid-Market, Enterprise, B2B SaaS, B2C apps, Public sector | SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise, Developers, Startups |
| Founded | 2022 | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
A higher TOP SCORE means more of the evidence favours that platform on this methodology — it is not a recommendation, and it does not account for your specific requirements. Advertisers are never declared the winner of a comparison.