Descope
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) software
Customer identity and access management (CIAM) software
Identity and access management (IAM) software
Passwordless authentication software
Single sign-on (SSO) solutions
Identity management software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$249 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Information technology and software
- Retail and wholesale
- Media and communications
What is Descope
Descope is a customer identity and access management (CIAM) platform that provides authentication, authorization, and user management for consumer-facing and B2B applications. It supports passwordless login methods, MFA, and SSO, and is typically implemented by product and engineering teams via SDKs/APIs and admin consoles. The product emphasizes configurable authentication flows and embedded UI components to reduce custom identity development work.
Broad passwordless authentication options
Descope supports multiple passwordless methods such as passkeys (WebAuthn/FIDO2), magic links/OTPs, and social login, alongside traditional credentials. This helps teams tailor sign-in to different user populations and device contexts. It also allows combining methods into step-up flows for higher-risk actions.
Configurable auth flows and UI
The platform provides prebuilt and embeddable authentication screens and configurable flows that can be adapted without rebuilding the entire login experience. This can reduce time spent maintaining custom authentication UI across web and mobile clients. It also supports programmatic control through APIs/SDKs for teams that need deeper integration.
CIAM features for applications
Descope includes CIAM-oriented capabilities such as user lifecycle management, session handling, and integrations commonly used in application stacks. It supports SSO patterns used in B2B SaaS (for example, federating to enterprise identity providers) in addition to consumer login methods. This makes it suitable for products that need both end-user authentication and enterprise customer SSO.
Not a full workforce IAM suite
Descope is primarily designed for customer and application identity rather than internal workforce identity administration. Organizations looking for device management, endpoint policy enforcement, or broad IT administration features typically need separate tools. This can limit its fit for IT-led, employee-centric IAM programs.
Advanced deployments require expertise
Complex requirements such as custom token claims, fine-grained authorization models, multi-tenant B2B hierarchies, and step-up policies can require careful design and engineering effort. Teams may need to invest time in identity architecture and testing to avoid account linking and session edge cases. This is common in CIAM implementations where authentication is tightly coupled to product UX.
Vendor dependency for core auth
Using a hosted CIAM service centralizes critical login and session infrastructure with a third party. This can introduce constraints around data residency, outage blast radius, and migration complexity if requirements change. Buyers often need to validate contractual SLAs, compliance posture, and export/migration paths before standardizing.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | $0 | Includes 7,500 Monthly Active Users (MAUs), 10 Monthly active tenants, 3 SSO connections, 1 Federated app (OIDC), 5 Test users, 1,000 M2M access keys, 2,000 Monthly active consents (MACs), 2,000 Monthly active tokens (MATKs). "Start for free and scale as you go.". |
| Pro | Starts at $249 /mo (billed annually) | Includes 10,000 MAUs, 35 Monthly active tenants, 5 SSO connections, 2 Federated apps (SAML / OIDC), 100 Test users, 2,500 M2M access keys, 5,000 MACs, 5,000 MATKs. Adds features: Custom Domain, Google One Tap, Custom OIDC Provider, SSO for third-party apps, Self-service SSO setup, CI/CD integration, Localization, Web and Slack support, Compliance reports, 99.99% SLA. Overages (per official table): MAU $0.05, tenant $1, SSO connection $50, federated app $250, MAC $0.05, MATK $0.01. |
| Growth | Starts at $799 /mo (billed annually) | Includes 25,000 MAUs, 100 Monthly active tenants, 10 SSO connections, 2 Federated apps (SAML / OIDC), 500 Test users, 5,000 M2M access keys, 10,000 MACs, 10,000 MATKs. Adds: Bot protection, 1M Anonymous users, Zero-downtime SSO migration, SCIM provisioning, Fine-grained authorization, External audit connectors, Multi-region data residency, FedRAMP High deployments. Overages (per official table): MAU $0.05, tenant $1, SSO connection $50, federated app $250, MAC $0.05, MATK $0.01. |
| Enterprise | Contact Us (custom pricing) | Everything in Growth plus tiered discounts, premium support add-on, dedicated customer success engineer, custom deployments, unlimited test users, unlimited anonymous users. Custom contracts, SLAs and deployment options. |
Additional seller-provided notes:
- Descope advertises a "Hello World Startup Plan" where qualifying early-stage startups can apply to receive the Pro tier free for one year (startup program as stated on Descope's site).
- The official pricing page explicitly lists the base monthly prices, included allowances, and specific overage unit rates in the in-depth comparison table.
Seller details
Descope, Inc.
Los Altos, CA, USA
2022
Private
https://www.descope.com/
https://x.com/descope
https://www.linkedin.com/company/descope/
