Best authentication services for web apps (worth paying for?)

We asked 10 models: Which authentication services are actually worth paying for? Each named its own top 10.

Asked 4 ways: List request · Buyer asking for advice · Search query · Worth paying for?. Share of voice pools every wording.

Agreement between models: 59%
Same model, run twice: 81%
Different picks: 31

When agreement between models is well below a model's agreement with itself, the split reflects real differences in taste rather than randomness.

The consensus

Each cell is the position that model gave the pick; blank means it left the pick off. Click a row for each model's reasoning.

#	Pick	Listed by	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
1	Okta	10/10	1	1	4	1	1	1	1	3	1	1
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#1) Mature, widely integrated identity platform with strong SSO, MFA, and lifecycle management. GPT-6 Luna (#1) Mature identity platform with broad integrations, strong lifecycle management, and reliable single sign-on. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#1) Enterprise identity benchmark; justifies cost at scale. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#1) Best-in-class workforce SSO and lifecycle management for mid-to-large orgs. GLM-5.3 (#1) Market-leading identity platform; broad app integrations and strong adaptive MFA. Kimi K3 (#1) Industry leader with deep integrations and reliable SSO/MFA. Mistral Large 4 (#1) Enterprise gold standard, huge app catalog, reliable SSO. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#1) Enterprise SSO standard with extensive app catalog and adaptive MFA MiniMax M3 (#3) Gold standard SSO/MFA for enterprises, premium pricing justified. Gemini 4 Argon (#4) The undisputed enterprise standard for workforce identity, deep integrations, and ironclad compliance.
2	Auth0	10/10	2	3	3	2	3	3	3	2	3	3
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#2) Developer-friendly customer identity with flexible APIs and broad SDK support. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#2) Fastest path to solid user auth for developers. MiniMax M3 (#2) Best developer DX, flexible, worth the cost for serious apps. GPT-6 Luna (#3) Developer-friendly customer authentication with flexible customization and extensive identity protocols. Gemini 4 Argon (#3) Extremely flexible and mature customer identity platform, despite steep pricing at scale. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#3) Developer-first CIAM that handles social login, federation, and B2B complexity. GLM-5.3 (#3) Developer favorite; fast custom auth implementation with flexible extensibility. Kimi K3 (#3) Excellent developer experience, flexible identity management. Mistral Large 4 (#3) Best developer experience, flexible, scales cleanly. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#3) Developer-first CIAM with extensible flows and high customization
3	Microsoft Entra ID	10/10	3	2	6	3	4	2	2	6	2	4
GPT-6 Luna (#2) Excellent value for Microsoft-centric organizations, with robust MFA, conditional access, and identity governance. GLM-5.3 (#2) Best value for Microsoft shops; tight integration and mature conditional access. Kimi K3 (#2) Best for Microsoft ecosystems; conditional access is strong. Mistral Large 4 (#2) Essential if you're already in Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#3) Essential if you run Microsoft 365 or Azure; deep conditional access integration. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#3) Ubiquitous in M365 shops, deep directory integration. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#4) Ubiquitous cloud identity for Microsoft-centric shops; Conditional Access is powerful. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#4) Deep Microsoft 365 integration with Identity Protection and PIM Gemini 4 Argon (#6) Unbeatable value and seamless integration for organizations already committed to Microsoft ecosystems. MiniMax M3 (#6) Conditional access and identity governance, solid if Microsoft-centric.
4	Duo Security	9/10	5	5		5	2	4	4	5	8	5
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#2) Dead-simple MFA with strong device trust; ideal for mixed environments. GLM-5.3 (#4) Simple, reliable MFA and remote access protection at fair pricing. Kimi K3 (#4) Top-tier MFA with user-friendly deployment. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#5) Simple, reliable MFA that is easy to roll out and well trusted. GPT-6 Luna (#5) Straightforward, dependable MFA that is easy to deploy across diverse environments. MiniMax M3 (#5) Reliable, user-friendly MFA with strong admin features. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#5) Phishing-resistant MFA and device trust for zero trust access Mistral Large 4 (#8) Best-in-class MFA, simple to deploy, Cisco backing helps.
5	Ping Identity	8/10	4	6		6	5	5	5		4	6
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#4) Strong choice for large enterprises needing advanced federation and adaptive authentication. Mistral Large 4 (#4) Strong for complex hybrid and legacy enterprise environments. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#5) Enterprise-grade federation and hybrid-cloud IAM; excels in complex architectures. GLM-5.3 (#5) Enterprise-grade SSO and federation trusted by large regulated organizations. Kimi K3 (#5) Strong enterprise features and compliance support. GPT-6 Luna (#6) Powerful enterprise federation and access management for complex hybrid environments. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#6) Best for complex hybrid and federated enterprise setups. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#6) Strong hybrid cloud support and fine-grained authorization policies
6	1Password	5/10	9	4			7			1		2
MiniMax M3 (#1) Excellent password management with great family/team sharing value. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#2) Best-in-class UX with advanced admin controls and breach monitoring GPT-6 Luna (#4) Best-in-class workforce password management with practical SSO and secure access features. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#7) Consumer-to-business vault with passkey support and great shared-secrets UX. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#9) Excellent password and secrets management with good passkey and SSO support.
7	JumpCloud	7/10	6	8				6	7	9	5	8
Mistral Large 4 (#5) Great for SMBs wanting directory plus device management bundled. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#6) Cloud directory covering SSO, MFA, and device management for mid-sized IT teams. GLM-5.3 (#6) Great all-in-one directory and device trust for cloud-first SMBs. Kimi K3 (#7) Great for cloud-forward SMBs needing device and identity management. GPT-6 Luna (#8) Useful unified directory and authentication for organizations managing mixed devices and platforms. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#8) Unified identity + device management for cross-platform fleets MiniMax M3 (#9) All-in-one directory service, good SMB alternative to Okta.
8	OneLogin	6/10	7			4	10	7	6		7
Qwen 3.8 Flash (#4) Strong SSO and governance for mid-market teams. Kimi K3 (#6) Cost-effective with solid SSO and directory features. GLM-5.3 (#7) Clean SSO and MFA experience; good mid-market fit. Mistral Large 4 (#7) Decent mid-market option, though losing ground to Okta.
9	Amazon Cognito	6/10		10	9	8		9	8		9
Qwen 3.8 Flash (#8) Cheap AWS-native auth, scales without ops burden. Gemini 4 Argon (#9) Rough developer experience, but dirt cheap at massive scale inside AWS environments. GLM-5.3 (#9) Cheap, scalable auth for AWS-hosted consumer apps, despite rough edges. Mistral Large 4 (#9) Cheap and native if your stack is already AWS-heavy. GPT-6 Luna (#10) Cost-effective customer identity for AWS applications, especially when teams can manage its complexity.
10	Clerk	2/10			1				10
Gemini 4 Argon (#1) Unmatched developer experience, drop-in UI components, and fair pricing for modern web apps.
11	Bitwarden	2/10								4		7
MiniMax M3 (#4) Affordable, secure, open-source—best bang-for-buck password manager. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#7) Open-source transparency with self-host option and low cost
12	Google Cloud Identity	3/10		7				10			6
Mistral Large 4 (#6) Solid free tier, seamless with Workspace, good value. GPT-6 Luna (#7) Strong fit for Google Workspace organizations needing centralized access and context-aware controls.
13	WorkOS	1/10			2
Gemini 4 Argon (#2) Worth every penny for adding enterprise SAML SSO and directory sync in hours.
14	YubiKey	2/10					6					9
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#6) Hardware-bound FIDO2/WebAuthn; the gold standard for phishing-resistant MFA. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#9) Hardware security keys eliminating phishing and credential theft
15	Stytch	1/10			5
Gemini 4 Argon (#5) Excellent API-first platform specializing in passwordless authentication, passkeys, and B2B organization management.

16 lower-scoring picks are not shown; every ballot below lists them in full.

Most divisive

Picks most models listed, at very different positions

1Password#1 for MiniMax M3 #9 for Claude Haiku 5.5
Duo Security#2 for DeepSeek V4 Pro #8 for Mistral Large 4
OneLogin#4 for Qwen 3.8 Flash #10 for DeepSeek V4 Pro

Hot takes

Picks that appear on only one ballot

WorkOS at #2, only Gemini 4 Argon
Stytch at #5, only Gemini 4 Argon
Descope at #7, only Gemini 4 Argon
LastPass at #7, only MiniMax M3
Google Identity Platform at #8, only Claude Haiku 5.5
Supabase Auth at #8, only Gemini 4 Argon
Entrust at #8, only DeepSeek V4 Pro
CyberArk at #8, only GLM-5.3
Dashlane at #8, only MiniMax M3
Cisco Secure Access at #9, only GPT-6 Luna
PingOne at #9, only Qwen 3.8 Flash
Google Workspace at #10, only Claude Haiku 5.5

Every ballot

Hover a pick to find it on the other ballots. Marked picks appear on no other ballot.

Claude Haiku 5.5

Okta
Auth0
Microsoft Entra ID
Ping Identity
Duo Security
JumpCloud
OneLogin
Google Identity Platform
1Password
Google Workspace

92% with consensus · 86% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

Okta
Microsoft Entra ID
Auth0
1Password
Duo Security
Ping Identity
Google Cloud Identity
JumpCloud
Cisco Secure Access
Amazon Cognito

84% with consensus · 95% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

Clerk
WorkOS
Auth0
Okta
Stytch
Microsoft Entra ID
Descope
Supabase Auth
Amazon Cognito
Firebase Authentication

31% with consensus · 86% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

Okta
Auth0
Microsoft Entra ID
OneLogin
Duo Security
Ping Identity
ForgeRock
Amazon Cognito
PingOne
Keycloak

86% with consensus · 78% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

Okta
Duo Security
Auth0
Microsoft Entra ID
Ping Identity
YubiKey
1Password
Entrust
FusionAuth
OneLogin

80% with consensus · 80% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

Okta
Microsoft Entra ID
Auth0
Duo Security
Ping Identity
JumpCloud
OneLogin
CyberArk
Amazon Cognito
Google Cloud Identity

88% with consensus · 87% self-consistent

Kimi K3

Okta
Microsoft Entra ID
Auth0
Duo Security
Ping Identity
OneLogin
JumpCloud
Amazon Cognito
FusionAuth
Clerk

88% with consensus · 68% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

1Password
Auth0
Okta
Bitwarden
Duo Security
Microsoft Entra ID
LastPass
Dashlane
JumpCloud
Cloudflare Access

53% with consensus · 73% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

Okta
Microsoft Entra ID
Auth0
Ping Identity
JumpCloud
Google Cloud Identity
OneLogin
Duo Security
Amazon Cognito
AWS IAM Identity Center

80% with consensus · 87% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Okta
1Password
Auth0
Microsoft Entra ID
Duo Security
Ping Identity
Bitwarden
JumpCloud
YubiKey
ForgeRock

79% with consensus · 72% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 28 (lightest) to 96 (darkest)

	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
Claude Haiku 5.5		79	28	86	76	86	85	49	84	75
GPT-6 Luna	79		29	76	75	86	86	51	84	84
Gemini 4 Argon	28	29		30	28	30	31	28	30	28
Qwen 3.8 Flash	86	76	30		72	81	83	47	76	72
DeepSeek V4 Pro	76	75	28	72		77	78	43	70	76
GLM-5.3	86	86	30	81	77		96	41	90	74
Kimi K3	85	86	31	83	78	96		41	88	74
MiniMax M3	49	51	28	47	43	41	41		36	65
Mistral Large 4	84	84	30	76	70	90	88	36		69
Nemotron 3 Ultra	75	84	28	72	76	74	74	65	69