When picking an authentication and identity platform, pricing and features are usually the biggest factors. Developers in the Logto community often compare it with Kinde.
Both platforms provide strong authentication and generous free tiers, but they take very different approaches:
- Kinde uses a traditional MAU/MAO-based model, with more features bundled into each plan.
- Logto keeps the token usage cost lower and lets you unlock advanced features through modular add-ons.
Kinde and Logto’s pricing structure overview#
Kinde pricing tiers#
- Free: $0 - Perfect for personal projects and small applications
- Pro: $25/month - Growing businesses with basic commercial needs
- Plus: $75/month - Advanced features for scaling companies
- Scale: $250/month - Enterprise-ready with comprehensive B2B features
- Enterprise: Custom pricing - Large organizations with complex requirements
Logto pricing tiers#
- Free: $0 - Individual developers and small projects
- Pro: $24/month - Professional applications with moderate usage
- Enterprise: Custom pricing - Large-scale deployments with dedicated support, for example private instance, multi-region support
Kinde and Logto free tier comparison#
Kinde free plan#
- Monthly Active Users (MAU): 10,500 included
- Organizations: 5 included free
- Applications: Unlimited
- Custom roles: 2 roles, 10 permissions
- Feature flags: 10 included
- Environments: 2 (production and development)
- Webhooks: 1 included
- Enterprise SSO: 1 connection included
- M2M tokens: 2,000 included
Key strengths: Decent MAU limit, includes basic B2B features, multiple environments
Logto free plan#
- MAU: Up to 50,000
- Tokens: 50,000 included
- Applications: 3 total
- M2M apps: 1 included
- Social connectors: 3 included
- Audit log retention: 3 days
- Webhooks: 1 included
- Environment: Free production and dev tenants
Key strengths: Higher MAU limit, more tokens included, good for high-traffic applications with simple needs.
- Logto relies on flexible add-ons, giving you more granular control and lower usage costs.
- Kinde bundles features with quotas but still charges on the traditional MAU (monthly active users) and MAO (monthly active organizations) model.
Kinde and Logto mid-tier comparison (Pro plans)#
Kinde Pro ($25/month)#
- MAU: 10,500 free, then $0.0175 per extra MAU
- Key features:
- Unlimited organizations (50 free MAO)
- Unlimited custom roles and permissions
- Unlimited feature flags and properties
- Remove Kinde branding
- API keys included
- BYO SMS provider
Logto Pro ($24/month)#
- MAU: Unlimited, with up to 50K free MAU from included tokens
- Tokens: 50,000 included, $0.08 per 100 extra
- Key features:
- Organizations: $48/month (Add-on)
- Global RBAC: $32/month (Add-on)
- MFA: $48/month (Add-on)
- Advanced security bundle: $48/month (Add-on)
- Enterprise SSO: $48 per connector (Add-on)
- Each extra M2M app: $8 (Add-on)
- SAML apps: $96 each (Add-on)
- Custom UI
- Flexible connectors for email and SMS (like Kinde’s BYO SMS)
- Custom JWT
Kinde and Logto feature analysis#
Authentication methods#
Both platforms offer:
- Email/password authentication
- Passwordless email and SMS
- Social logins (Google, GitHub, etc.)
- Multi-factor authentication
- Enterprise SSO (SAML, OIDC)
Kinde advantages:
- Device flow for IoT/CLI apps
- MFA options in base plans
Logto advantages:
- Magic links included
- More diverse MFA options
- Cross-app sign-in for flexible architecture
B2B and multi-tenancy features#
Both Kinde and Logto provide a solid set of organization features.
Kinde includes B2B features across all paid tiers:
- Organization management
- Per-organization branding and settings
- Domain allowlists and auto-join
- Organization-specific MFA policies
- Custom domains per organization (Scale tier)
Logto treats organizations as a $48/month add-on:
- Unlimited organizations, org permissions, org roles
- Organization management and Organization-level RBAC
- Organization-level branding and sign-in experience
- Automatic JIT provisioning: join organizations by email domain or SSO
- Organization-level MFA
Developer experience#
Kinde
- Comprehensive workflow system with JavaScript triggers
- GitHub integration for custom pages
- Preview mode for testing (Plus tier and above)
Logto
- Custom token claims
- Personal access tokens
- Impersonation
- Over 30+ frameworks and integrations on the authentication and authorization
- Account API for custom user portals
Security features#
Kinde includes basic security across all tiers but no advanced customization:
- DDoS and brute force protection
- Brute force password protection
- Account enumeration protection
- Bot protection by Cloudflare
Logto includes foundational security features for free,
- Suspend users
- Invitation-only sign up
- Password policy
- DoS protection included
- CSRF protection, rotate signing keys etc.
bundles advanced security as a $48 add-on:
- Captcha, brute-force defense, and email blocklists
- Identifier lockout with advanced protections
- Block disposable and sub-addressed (“+”) emails
Total cost scenarios analysis on Kind and Logto#
Startup growth path (0-50K MAU)#
| Growth Stage | MAU | Features needed | Kinde cost | Logto cost | Winner |
|---|
| MVP | 1,000 | Basic auth | Free | Free | Tie |
| Early growth | 15,000 | + Organizations | $104/month (1) | $72/month (2) | 🏆 Logto |
| Scaling up | 50,000 | + MFA, RBAC | $716/month(1) | $196/month (3) | 🏆 Logto |
(1): Kinde Pro: $25 + (MAU - 10,500) × $0.0175
(2): Logto Pro: $24 + $48 (Organizations)
(3): Logto Pro: $24 + $48 (Orgs) + $48 (MFA) + $32 (RBAC) + $48 (Security)
Feature-specific cost breakdown#
| Feature Add-on | Kinde | Logto |
|---|
| Organizations | Charges by MAO. 50 included free$0.50 per extra MAO | $48/month |
| MFA | Included. (Only SMS,Email and Authenticator App) | $48/month (More factors |
| Enterprise SSO | 1 (Pro); Unlimited (Plus) | $48 per connector |
| Advanced security | Not available | $48/month |
| Machine-to-machine | 5,000 tokens included free and $0.001 per extra token | 1 M2M app for free. $8 / app extra |
Key insight
- Kinde is best for feature-rich apps with fewer users, while Logto excels for large user bases and flexible feature use.
- If your app is heavy on features but light on users, Kinde is a good fit. If you’re scaling to many users or need flexible usage, Logto is the stronger choice.
- Kinde fits low-MAU, feature-heavy projects. Logto is built for high-MAU growth and adaptable feature usage.
Kinde and Logto billing and revenue features#
Kinde includes comprehensive billing capabilities:
- Customer billing with 0.5-0.7% transaction fees
- Subscription management
- Customer self-serve portal
- Multiple pricing models (fixed, metered, tiered)
- Plan upgrades/downgrades
- Multi-language pricing tables
Logto focuses purely on authentication and authorization doesn't include billing features.
Kinde and Logto support and compliance#
Support options#
Kinde
- Email support on all paid plans
- In-app chat support (Pro+)
- Kinde Care add-on ($750/month) for priority support
- Community Slack/Discord access
Logto
- Community Discord support
- Email ticket support (48h response on Pro)
- Private Discord/Slack channel on Pro
- Premium support and dedicated engineers on Enterprise
Compliance#
Both platforms offer:
Kinde Scale includes:
- Full compliance reports
- HIPAA/BAA available
Logto Enterprise provides:
- Custom compliance arrangements
- Dedicated resources
Recommendations on Logto vs Kinde#
Choose Kinde if you:#
- Need built-in billing and subscription management
- Want predictable pricing with features included
- Have moderate to low MAU with more feature requirements
Choose Logto if you:#
- Care about long-term growth and longer commitment with the auth provider
- Want to pay only for features you actually use
- Need basic authentication with selective advanced features
- Are cost-sensitive and want to start minimal
- Don't need billing/subscription functionality
Conclusion on Logto vs Kinde#
The choice between Kinde and Logto reflects a fundamental decision about your authentication strategy and technical philosophy.
Logto emerges as the superior choice for modern, standards-compliant applications that prioritize:
- Future-proofing through open standards - OIDC, SAML, OAuth 2.0, and WebAuthn compliance
- Developer autonomy - extensive APIs, custom UI capabilities, and flexible integration options
- Cost efficiency at scale - significantly lower costs for high-MAU applications
- Technical excellence - modern architecture, comprehensive security, and cutting-edge authentication methods
- Community-driven innovation - transparent development, active community, and rapid feature evolution
Kinde provides value for businesses prioritizing:
- Integrated business solutions - built-in billing, subscription management, and revenue features
- Workflow automation - extensive customization through built-in workflow systems
In terms of the pricing deisgn, their philosophies differ:
- Kinde packages features into MAU/MAO-based plans, which makes forecasting straightforward if you’re comfortable with traditional seat-style billing.
- Logto, on the other hand, embraces token-based pricing with flexible add-ons, giving developers finer control over cost and architecture. You only pay for what you actually use, and you can scale features like RBAC or Organizations as your needs evolve.
If you’re building developer-facing products or want to optimize for granular control, transparent costs, and a developer-first experience, Logto is the stronger choice. It combines fairness in billing with powerful customization, making it easier to experiment, grow, and align your infrastructure with real usage.
For teams that value flexibility, transparency, and a product built with developers in mind, Logto stands out as the better long-term partner.
