Authentication · Updated 2026
Quick Verdict
Choose Okta if you are an enterprise managing internal employee and customer identities at scale. Choose WorkOS if you are a B2B SaaS company building enterprise-ready authentication features to sell to other businesses.
Okta is a comprehensive, cloud-native Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform designed to serve as an organization's central identity hub for both workforce and customer-facing applications. WorkOS is a developer-focused platform that provides the specific enterprise features (like SSO and Directory Sync) that B2B SaaS applications need to implement for their own customers. Their pricing models reflect this core difference: Okta charges per user, scaling with your organization's size, while WorkOS uses a flat monthly fee, scaling with the number of your customer organizations.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Aspect | Okta | WorkOS |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Per-user subscription ($2/user/mo) | Flat monthly platform fee ($99/mo) |
| Ease of Use | Comprehensive admin console, can be complex | Developer-centric APIs and clear documentation for integration |
| Scalability | Highly scalable for managing millions of user identities | Scalable for onboarding many customer organizations, not individual end-users |
| Integrations | Vast marketplace of thousands of pre-built app integrations | Focused integrations for major identity providers (e.g., Okta, Azure AD) via standards |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Best For | Enterprises managing internal & customer identity at scale | B2B SaaS companies adding enterprise auth features to their product |
Choose Okta if...
Okta is the better choice for medium-to-large enterprises that need a single, powerful solution to manage authentication, authorization, and user lifecycle for thousands of employees and external users. It excels in complex, hybrid environments requiring deep integration with legacy systems, detailed governance policies, and a vast marketplace of pre-built application connectors.
Choose WorkOS if...
WorkOS is the better choice for B2B SaaS development teams that need to quickly add enterprise SSO, MFA, and SCIM provisioning to their own application to meet security compliance demands from their largest customers. Its flat-rate pricing and API-first design make it cost-effective and straightforward to implement without becoming an identity provider for your own internal organization.
Product Details
Okta
A cloud-based identity and access management platform that provides secure authentication, authorization, and user management for applications.
Pricing
$2/user/mo
Best For
Medium to large enterprises and organizations needing a scalable, cloud-native solution to manage employee and customer identities across a vast application ecosystem.
Key Features
Pros
- + Extensive integration network and app catalog
- + User-friendly admin and end-user experience
- + Strong security with adaptive risk-based policies
Cons
- - Can become expensive at scale for large user bases
- - Some advanced features require higher-tier plans
- - Implementation and customization can be complex
WorkOS
Provides enterprise-ready infrastructure like Single Sign-On (SSO), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and directory sync for B2B SaaS applications.
Pricing
$99/mo
Best For
B2B SaaS companies that need to sell to enterprise customers and require secure, compliant authentication and user provisioning integrations.
Key Features
Pros
- + Drastically reduces development time for enterprise integrations
- + Clean, well-documented API and developer experience
- + Handles the complexity of multiple identity provider protocols
Cons
- - Pricing can become significant at high user volumes
- - Primarily focused on B2B use cases, less ideal for B2C
- - Some advanced features require higher-tier plans