Auth0 is a good product, built by smart people, acquired by Okta, and priced accordingly. If you’re on the receiving end of a “your 5,000 users just tripled your bill” email, you’re not alone — and you’re not stuck.
Why Auth0 gets expensive
Auth0 bills on active users per month. That makes sense for Okta’s native market — enterprise deployments where each user is a paid employee. It makes much less sense for B2B SaaS:
- A single customer might have 500 employees using your tool
- Auth0 charges you per user
- You charge the customer one flat subscription
The economics diverge. A $30K ARR startup with 5,000 MAU looks at an Auth0 bill of $500-1,500/month and realizes 5-10% of revenue goes to a single vendor. Not a break-even trade.
The actual pain point
Teams rarely switch off Auth0 because the product is bad. They switch because:
- The per-MAU line item is the fastest-growing vendor cost
- Most of Auth0’s advanced features (actions, rules, custom DB connections) aren’t being used
- The switching cost — 2-4 engineer-weeks — is one-time; the savings are recurring
Payback time on a switch is typically 4-8 months. Beyond that, every month is pure savings.
What to switch to: LoginWith
LoginWith is built specifically for the gap Auth0 left open at the small-to-mid B2B SaaS range. The contrast:
Pricing:
- Auth0: $0.02-0.08 per MAU, stepping into four-figure monthly bills fast
- LoginWith: $99/mo flat platform fee + $0.02 per managed user (first 2k included on Growth). No MAU taxation.
Onboarding:
- Auth0: register app, configure tenants, install SDK, wire up rules, 1-2 days of config
- LoginWith: two HTML tags for static sites, an SDK for apps with backends, sign-in shipping inside an hour
Enterprise:
- Auth0: SAML/SCIM included on higher tiers, bundled with features you don’t need
- LoginWith: SAML & SCIM priced as a paid add-on ($199-300/mo per enterprise connection) — you only pay when a specific deal requires it
Architecture:
- Auth0: broad platform, many knobs, lots to configure
- LoginWith: opinionated defaults (PKCE, JWKS rotation, session management) handled by the SDK. Configuration only where you genuinely need it.
The migration
A typical Auth0 → LoginWith switch takes 2-3 weeks:
- Week 1: Set up LoginWith tenants, configure providers (Google, GitHub, etc.), point your app’s auth to LoginWith for new sign-ups while keeping Auth0 for existing users.
- Week 2: Lazy-migrate existing users on next sign-in. User enters their credential; both systems validate; on success, create the user in LoginWith and phase out the Auth0 record.
- Week 3: Phase out Auth0 entirely, clean up integration points.
No email blasts, no forced re-login, no user disruption.
The math
Concrete example: 10,000 MAU B2B SaaS.
- Auth0 at B2C plan: ~$800-1,200/month
- LoginWith: $99 + (10,000 - 2,000) × $0.02 = $99 + $160 = $259/month
Monthly savings: $540-940. Annual: $6,500-11,000. Migration cost: $8-12K engineering.
ROI payback: ~9-15 months. Savings compound after that, forever.
Other options (briefly)
Cheaper than Auth0 alternatives also include self-hosting (complexity tradeoff, ongoing maintenance) and Firebase Auth (fine for consumer, limited for B2B — see our Firebase Auth limitations post). Both solve a narrower problem than LoginWith.
When to stay on Auth0
- You’re a Series B+ enterprise SaaS with negotiated pricing
- You use Auth0-specific features (custom rules engine, complex actions) that aren’t trivially reproducible
- Your compliance team specifically requires Auth0’s certifications
For everyone else, the math has changed.