StacksFree Verdict: 9/10. If you want to know how to add authentication to your app with Kinde free tier, the numbers lead: 10,500 monthly active users at $0 forever with no credit card required [1] — one of the most generous free auth tiers we track, held back only by hosted-page branding and a single webhook.
How This Guide Was Built
This guide is based on official documentation, pricing pages, and community reports — we did not run the tool hands-on. Facts were verified on September 2, 2026 against Kinde’s official pricing page and Kinde’s documentation. Kinde’s free tier was raised from the commonly cited 7,500 MAU; the change date is unverified, and numbers may shift, so recheck before you commit.
What Does Kinde’s Free Tier Include?
Kinde’s free tier includes 10,500 monthly active users at $0 forever with no credit card required, per the official pricing page [1]. It covers email, SMS and social login, MFA, B2B organizations, a custom domain, workflows, attack protection, M2M apps, 2 custom roles, 10 feature flags, and 2 environments.
The official pricing page states: “Every plan includes a free tier of 10,500 monthly active users (MAU).” That free tier was raised from the commonly cited 7,500 MAU, though the change date is unverified — treat 7,500 as outdated. Here is the full free-plan contents list from the pricing page:
- Email, SMS, and social login
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- B2B organization management, with 5 monthly active organizations included free (organizations with a single active user are not counted)
- Custom domain on hosted auth pages
- Custom UI for building your own sign-in flows
- Workflows and actions
- Attack protection
- Machine-to-machine (M2M) applications
- 2 custom roles with 10 permissions
- 10 feature flags
- 5 custom properties
- 1 webhook
- 2 environments (production and development)
For a running snapshot of what we track on this tool, see our Kinde tool page.
Do Paid Users Count Toward Kinde’s 10,500 MAU?
No — users on paid subscriptions are not counted toward your MAU, and when you bill customers through Kinde the MAU count stays free, with a 0.7% per-transaction fee as the billing add-on, according to Kinde’s pricing page. Organizations with a single active user are also not counted.
Why this matters: a small paying base won’t push you off the free tier. You can grow revenue from real customers while keeping your MAU at zero, which makes the free plan viable well past the typical hobbyist stage.
What Are Kinde’s Free Tier Limitations?
The main free-tier limits are Kinde branding on hosted auth pages, BYO SMS provider API keys, 1 webhook, 2 custom roles with 10 permissions, 5 custom properties, and 2 environments; branding removal and custom SMS providers are Pro features, per the official pricing page.
For contrast, the paid tiers are Pro at $25/month, Plus at $75/month, and Scale at $250/month, each also starting with 10,500 free MAU per the pricing page. Pro overage is $0.0175 per extra MAU. There is no verified overage price for the free plan, so plan to upgrade before you exceed the limit rather than expecting a metered bill.
How Do I Add Authentication to My App with Kinde’s Free Tier?
Per Kinde’s official BYO-code quickstart, you create an account and application at kinde.com, install the SDK or starter kit from the app’s Quick start page, register your callback URL, and copy your KINDE_DOMAIN, KINDE_CLIENT_ID, and KINDE_CLIENT_SECRET into a local .env file, then run the app and confirm the new user in the dashboard.
Follow these four steps from the official quickstart:
- Create your account and application. Go to kinde.com, sign up, and create a new application. Pick your stack (for example, Next.js) so Kinde shows the right setup instructions.
- Install the SDK or starter kit. From your app’s Quick start page in the Kinde dashboard, copy the install command for the SDK or starter kit that matches your framework.
- Register your callback and redirect URLs. Add your local development URLs, such as
http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback, in the Kinde dashboard so the auth flow knows where to send users after login. - Copy your environment variables and run. Create a local
.envfile with the values from your Kinde app settings:
# .env — local only, never commit this file
KINDE_DOMAIN=https://<your-app>.kinde.com
KINDE_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
KINDE_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret>Run your app, click Sign up, complete the flow, and then confirm the new user appears in the Kinde dashboard under Users. The full walkthrough lives in the official documentation, and you can find live details on our Kinde directory page.
Is Kinde’s Free Tier Right for Your First App?
Kinde’s free tier is a strong default for a first app because 10,500 MAU at $0 removes the upgrade pressure while you find product-market fit; choose Pro at $25 per month only when you need to remove branding or scale beyond the free MAU, per the official pricing page.
The main trade-off is branding on hosted pages, which matters if you demo your app to investors or early users. If you build custom sign-in pages, the free tier’s custom UI support sidesteps that limitation entirely. For comparison, you can check Clerk’s free tier or our Auth0 free tier guide to see how other auth providers structure their free plans. Kinde’s 10,500 MAU at $0 is hard to beat for a solo founder shipping a first version.
FAQ
FAQ answers to the questions indie hackers ask most about Kinde’s free tier, each based on the official pricing page and docs: whether the plan is truly free, whether paid customers count toward MAU, and whether you can remove Kinde branding without upgrading.
Is Kinde’s free plan really $0 forever?
Yes. Kinde’s pricing page lists a $0-forever free plan with 10,500 monthly active users and no credit card required, and states “Every plan includes a free tier of 10,500 monthly active users (MAU)”. The free tier was recently raised from 7,500 MAU, though the change date is unverified. You can sign up and start building without entering payment details.
Can I remove Kinde branding on the free plan?
No. Removing Kinde branding from the hosted auth pages is a Pro feature, so the free tier keeps the badge on those pages, per the official pricing page. Free does include custom UI, so building your own sign-in pages is the workaround if the badge bothers you. That route gives you full control over the look and feel without upgrading.
Do paying customers count toward my 10,500 MAU?
No. Users on paid subscriptions are not counted toward monthly active users, so a growing paid base does not push you off the free tier; when you bill customers through Kinde, MAU is free and you pay only the 0.7% per-transaction billing add-on, per the pricing page. This makes the free plan viable even after you start generating revenue.
Sources
[1] Kinde Pricing — https://kinde.com/pricing/