Sign-in provider comparison
HonkIO Auth vs Auth0
Both run hosted sign-in on your own domain, and both can keep user data in Canada. They differ in how they price, which sign-in methods they offer and how far they go beyond passwordless.
The short version
The differences most teams ask about first.
- Both can keep user data in Canada: Auth0 through its Canada (CA) tenant locality, and HonkIO Auth for every app, in Montréal.
- Auth0's Free plan goes up to 25,000 monthly active users. HonkIO Auth's Free plan covers 250 users per app, and its paid plans are flat monthly fees in CAD.
- Auth0 has separate B2C and B2B plans up to Enterprise, and private cloud in over 60 regions. HonkIO Auth is passwordless only, with no passwords, social login or enterprise single sign-on.
Side by side
Auth0's column comes from its public pages, checked in October 2026. HonkIO Auth's column comes from its own docs.
| Feature | HonkIO Auth | Auth0 |
|---|---|---|
Where user data is stored Auth0 public cloud regions: United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Japan and Canada. | Canada (Montréal) | The region you choose, Canada included |
Prices listed in | CAD | $, no currency code shown |
Free plan Auth0's Free plan includes passwordless and passkeys, 1 custom domain (credit card verification required) and 5 organizations. | 250 users per app | Up to 25,000 MAUs |
First paid plan Auth0 Essentials prices are for 500 MAUs. Professional starts at $240 (B2C) or $800 (B2B); Enterprise is by quote. | Pro, $49 CAD a month | Essentials, from $35 a month (B2C) or $150 (B2B) |
Who counts toward the bill | Users who come back on a later day | Monthly active users, in bands |
Sign-in on your own domain Auth0-managed certificates renew automatically; self-managed certificates need Enterprise. | Every plan, required | Yes, with a card on file on Free |
Passkeys | Every plan | Included on Free |
Two-step verification (MFA) | Pro and Business | Pro MFA from Essentials |
Organizations and roles Auth0 Essentials and Professional: 10 organizations (B2C) or unlimited (B2B). | Business | 5 on Free, more on paid plans |
Pricing
How each one bills, in its own terms.
HonkIO Auth is priced per app, per month, in CAD, and paid from the same prepaid balance as HonkIO's SMS and email: Free at $0 with 250 users, Pro at $49 with 2,500 users and then 2.5¢ each, and Business at $249 with 10,000 users and then 2¢ each. A user counts in a month only if they sign in on a day after the day they signed up, and likely bots never count. Sign-in emails and texts cost HonkIO's normal message rates, and passkey sign-ins are free.
Auth0 prices by plan and by monthly active user band, with separate B2C and B2B prices. Essentials starts at $35 a month (B2C) or $150 (B2B) for 500 MAUs, Professional at $240 (B2C) or $800 (B2B) for 500 MAUs, and Enterprise is by quote. Yearly billing is 11 times the monthly price. Auth0's pricing page shows prices with a $ sign and no currency code.
Auth0's Free plan is $0 for up to 25,000 MAUs, with passwordless, passkeys, one custom domain and 5 organizations.
The two count users differently, so compare them with your own sign-in numbers rather than the headline prices.
Where user data lives
Stored, processed and who handles it.
HonkIO Auth stores your users' data in Canada: the database and cache are in Montréal, and sign-in emails go through AWS in Montréal (ca-central-1). Requests are processed on US-hosted infrastructure (Railway, US East), and Cloudflare ends TLS for sign-in hostnames as a processor without storing the traffic. So HonkIO says the data is stored in Canada, not that it never leaves Canada.
An Auth0 tenant has a locality, which sets the region where tenant data is hosted. The public cloud offers the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Japan and Canada; Auth0 announced its Canada public cloud environment in its July 2025 product update. Private cloud is offered in over 60 regions, Canada (Calgary included) among them.
When Auth0 is the better fit
Pick the one that matches what you need, not the longer feature list.
- You sell to businesses and want many organizations: Auth0's B2B Essentials and Professional plans include unlimited organizations.
- You expect many active users and want them free: Auth0's Free plan goes up to 25,000 MAUs.
- You want a private cloud deployment, which Auth0 offers in over 60 regions.
- You want organizations on a free plan: Auth0 includes 5 on Free, while HonkIO Auth has organizations on Business.
When HonkIO Auth fits
- You want user data stored in Canada, in Montréal, for every app on every plan.
- You want passwordless sign-in only: email codes or links and passkeys on every plan, and text-message codes from your own Canadian number on Pro and Business.
- You want flat monthly fees in CAD, paid from the same prepaid balance as HonkIO's SMS and email, with users counted only when they come back on a later day.
- You want sign-in on your own domain on every plan, test apps included, and a hosted page in English and French.
- You want abuse protection on every plan: a self-hosted bot check with no third-party CAPTCHA, SMS pumping detection and a daily text spending limit.
Trying HonkIO Auth
Standard OpenID Connect, so any OIDC library works.
HonkIO Auth uses the OpenID Connect authorization code flow with PKCE, so your app talks to it through an OIDC library you may already use, such as openid-client, Auth.js, Authlib or Socialite. Test apps are free, get every feature and send nothing.
Questions
- Can Auth0 store user data in Canada?
- Yes. As of October 2026, Auth0's public cloud includes a Canada (CA) tenant locality, which sets the region where tenant data is hosted. HonkIO Auth stores user data in Canada for every app, and processes requests on US-hosted infrastructure.
- Is HonkIO Auth cheaper than Auth0?
- It depends on your numbers. Auth0's Free plan covers more users (up to 25,000 MAUs, against 250 on HonkIO Auth's Free plan). HonkIO Auth's paid plans are flat fees in CAD, $49 a month for 2,500 users on Pro, and count only users who come back on a later day.
- Do both offer passkeys?
- Yes. As of October 2026, Auth0's Free plan includes passwordless and passkeys. On HonkIO Auth, passkeys are on every plan and passkey sign-ins are free.
- Can I move from Auth0 to HonkIO Auth?
- HonkIO Auth is standard OpenID Connect, so an app that signs in through an OIDC library mostly needs a new issuer, client ID and secret. Code written against a provider's own SDK needs replacing. Plan how existing users will sign in: HonkIO Auth has no passwords, so they use an email code or link, a passkey or, on Pro and Business, a text code.
- Does HonkIO Auth support passwords or social login?
- No. HonkIO Auth is passwordless only, and has no social login and no enterprise single sign-on (SAML) or SCIM. If you need those, it isn't the right fit today.
Sources
What this page says about other providers comes from their public pages, checked in October 2026. If something has changed, tell us at support@honkio.ca and we will correct it.
Related
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HonkIO Auth compared with Auth0, Clerk, Amazon Cognito, Firebase Authentication and Stytch on data location, plans and sign-in methods.
- HonkIO Auth
Hosted passwordless sign-in on your own domain, over standard OpenID Connect, with your users' data stored in Canada.
- HonkIO Auth vs Amazon Cognito
HonkIO Auth and Amazon Cognito side by side: Canadian regions, per-user and per-app pricing, passkeys, texts and custom domains.
- HonkIO Auth vs Clerk
HonkIO Auth and Clerk side by side: where user data is stored, free and paid plans, passkeys, texts and organizations.
Try it in test mode first
Test keys work right after sign-up, with no card and no charges.