# Enterprise Authentication Pricing in 2026: What Each Platform Actually Charges

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/articles/enterprise-authentication-pricing-2026/
Last updated: 2026-08-06
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Enterprise authentication pricing looks simple until you try to compare two vendors, at which point it becomes clear they are not charging for the same thing. This is a snapshot of what five platforms actually publish as of August 2026, with the pricing modeled at three connection counts so the comparison is concrete rather than a list of starting prices.

## The three pricing shapes

**Per-connection**, [WorkOS](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/workos/) and [SSOJet](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/ssojet/), charges for each enterprise customer organization connected via SSO, independent of how many end users that organization has. This tracks your enterprise sales motion directly: sign a customer, add a connection, pay for it.

**Per-monthly-active-user with connections as an add-on**, [Auth0](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/auth0/), charges primarily for total active users across your product, with a handful of enterprise SSO connections bundled into each plan and additional connections billed on top up to a cap, above which it moves to custom Enterprise pricing.

**Flat platform tiers**, [FusionAuth](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/fusionauth/) and [Keycloak](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/open-source/keycloak/), charge a monthly platform fee (FusionAuth's cloud tiers) or nothing at all in license cost (Keycloak's self-hosted Community edition), with connection count mostly decoupled from price up to a tier's stated limit.

## Published rates as of August 2026

**WorkOS**, published, tiered by cumulative connection count: $125/connection for connections 1 to 15, $100/connection for 16 to 30, $80/connection for 31 to 50, $65/connection for 51 to 100, $50/connection for 101 to 200, custom above 200. AuthKit (core auth, separate from SSO connections) is free to 1 million MAU, then $2,500/month per additional million.

**SSOJet**, published, roughly flat: Business tier starts at $99/month for 2 connections, working out to about $49.50 per connection across the 2 to 200-connection range, with an Enterprise tier above that at custom pricing including dedicated private-cloud deployment and multi-region data residency.

**Auth0**, published for its retail tiers, custom above them: Essentials at $150/month (500 MAU) includes 3 enterprise connections; Professional at $800/month (500 MAU) includes 5; additional connections on either plan run $100/month each up to a cap of 30 connections total, beyond which pricing is custom Enterprise.

**FusionAuth**, published, flat cloud tiers: Community edition is free and self-hosted with unlimited connections; Starter cloud begins around $162/month; Essentials and Enterprise cloud tiers begin around $2,970/month, with Essentials capped at 5 connectors and Enterprise offering unlimited.

**Keycloak**, free and open source under Apache 2.0, self-hosted, no license cost regardless of connection count. Commercial support is available separately through Red Hat's build or third parties.

## What it actually costs at 10, 50, and 200 connections

| Connections | WorkOS | SSOJet | Auth0 | FusionAuth | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $1,250/mo | ~$495/mo | ~$1,300/mo (Professional, 5 included + 5 add-on) | $162-$2,970/mo flat, depending on tier | $0 license (self-hosted) |
| 50 | ~$4,975/mo | ~$2,475/mo | Exceeds the 30-connection retail cap; custom Enterprise pricing | $2,970/mo flat (if within tier's connector limit) | $0 license (self-hosted) |
| 200 | ~$13,225/mo | Enterprise tier likely applies; custom pricing | Custom Enterprise pricing | Enterprise tier, custom above stated limits | $0 license (self-hosted) |

These figures come directly from each vendor's published pricing page as of August 2026 and exclude volume negotiation, which is common at the higher end for all five. FusionAuth and Keycloak's flat and zero-license models mean the connection count mostly doesn't change the sticker price, so their operational cost (headcount to run Keycloak, or the jump between FusionAuth's tiers) matters more than the table alone shows.

## Why it matters

The vendor that looks cheapest at 10 connections is not necessarily the cheapest at 200: SSOJet's flat rate scales linearly while WorkOS's discount ladder means its effective per-connection cost drops as volume grows, and Auth0's retail plans stop being an option entirely above 30 connections regardless of price. Modeling your actual 12-to-24-month connection count, not your current one, is the difference between a pricing decision that holds up and one you have to revisit mid-contract.

Self-hosted options change the shape of the question rather than answering it: Keycloak's zero license cost is real, but it substitutes engineering time for a subscription fee, which is a genuine trade only for teams that can staff it. Run your own numbers with the [TCO calculator](https://startwithidentity.com/tools/tco-calculator/), which handles the differing billing units directly.

## Bottom line

There is no single cheapest enterprise authentication platform, only a cheapest platform at a specific connection count and user volume. Per-connection pricing rewards a slow, steady enterprise sales motion; per-MAU pricing rewards a large existing user base with modest enterprise needs; flat and self-hosted models reward teams willing to trade cash for either a bigger upfront commitment or operational ownership. Match the billing shape to how your business actually grows before comparing the numbers on the page.