In the B2B CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management) space, it can be hard to compare the full cost of technology choices before you invest. You need to measure them side by side.

This article explains how Kinde offers the best value for money compared to WorkOS using a common scenario to compare the two.

Scenario: Your company sells a B2B product to 150 organisations where most of the customers require single sign on (SSO) to their own enterprise directory for roughly 10,000 users total.

Let’s compare Kinde and WorkOS.

Kinde offers a clear and scalable B2B pricing model, which charges for monthly active users (MAU) and monthly active organizations (MAO). With this model, you only pay for the users and organizations that authenticate within your billing month. Enterprise connections to the customer’s identity provider (IdP) are free, so go ahead and make as many as you need to suit their identity and security requirements. See Kinde’s pricing page for more details.

• 150 Organizations (50 included, 100 = $43.00 MAO)
• 75 Enterprise connections (included)
• 10k users (included)
• Custom domain (included)

Kinde Scale plan for $250 per month + $43.00

A significant feature of the Kinde Scale plan is that enterprise connections are included at no additional cost, regardless of the number of connections.It is also important to note that a custom domain, which is crucial for brand consistency, is also included in all paid plans at no additional cost.

Total cost of Kinde $293.00 USD per month

Kinde Scale plan base price also includes additional B2B features.

• Comprehensive design customizations with a custom domain, custom sign in pages, and custom designs via code to ensure that the entire experience in on brand.
• Customize auth tokens, enrich the auth flow with data from third party providers, or provide custom logic using workflows.

A prominent competitor in the B2B CIAM space, WorkOS, offers a different pricing structure, primarily focusing on charging for enterprise connections.

Their pricing for Single Sign-On Enterprise SAML & OIDC authentication with any identity provider is volume-based, with the cost per connection decreasing as the number of connections increases. See WorkOS’s pricing page for more details.

• 150 Organizations (Included)
• 75 Enterprise connections ($88.00 each)
• 10k users (included)
• Custom domain ($99.00)

For a company with 75 enterprise connections, the price is $88 per connection per month including their volume discount for usage. This means users are paying a premium for each connection per month, plus a fee for a custom domain to align with your brand.

The total monthly price for WorkOS is $6,699.00 USD.

To provide a clear overview, the table below summarizes the monthly costs for both providers based on the needs of a small enterprise with 150 customer organizations and 75 enterprise connections.

The choice between these two pricing models highlights a key difference in pricing philosophy.

Kinde’s platform approach bundles key B2B identity features into a single solution, with pricing that scales based on organizations and users.

In contrast, WorkOS’s model segments services, leading to a much higher cost as more enterprise features are added. For a small enterprise working in the B2B space, the significant cost difference could be a decisive factor in selecting a CIAM solution that not only meets their technical requirements but also aligns with their budget.