How Huntr Migrated 250K Users to Clerk: A Scalable Auth Solution for Startups

This customer testimonial from Huntr.co⁠ — an AI-powered job search SaaS — details how and why they migrated over 250,000 users from their previous authentication provider to Clerk's developer-first authentication platform. The move was driven by a need for developer-first tools, transparent pricing, and responsive support that could scale with their product and team.

Background

In 2023, our team at Huntr hit a crossroads. We had built significant momentum, supporting over 250,000 job seekers on our resume builder⁠ and AI-powered job search management platform. Then came the notification. Our authentication provider at the time informed us of a pending $50,000 price increase as we graduated from their startup plan.

As a fast-growing, bootstrapped SaaS company, that kind of jump was simply untenable. We were actively hiring and investing in growth and absorbing such a significant hit to our cash flow wasn't an option.

We realized we needed a new provider, an auth solution that wouldn't penalize our growth, understood the pace of a startup, and felt invested in our success. That's when we discovered Clerk.

Why Huntr chose Clerk for scalable authentication

We successfully migrated 250,000 user accounts to Clerk. Looking back, it's undeniably one of the best infrastructure decisions we've ever made.

Challenges with our previous auth provider

While our prior authentication provider served us reliably in our early days, challenges emerged as we scaled. Both technically and strategically, the relationship began to feel strained. Support became more distant, processes slowed down, and their pricing structure felt rigid. Critically, it seemed their focus had shifted firmly towards enterprise clients, leaving startups like ours feeling misaligned.

How Clerk supports startups - A true partnership

From our very first interaction, Clerk felt different. They weren't just another vendor; they acted like a partner invested in our success. Clerk's co-founder, Braden, personally engaged with us, taking the time to understand our specific use case. He immediately provided actionable support and pointed us to the exact documentation we needed.

The migration itself was remarkably smooth, largely thanks to Clerk's incredible support team. What we anticipated would be a major undertaking turned out to be far more manageable. Furthermore, Clerk's pricing was transparent and genuinely startup-friendly. They offered a long-term plan that gave us confidence, eliminating the anxiety of potential price shocks as our user base continued to grow.

How Clerk earned Huntr's trust through support and transparency

Beyond the features and pricing, Clerk earned our trust through their accountability. A minor billing error occurred on their end early in our relationship. Instead of deflecting or delaying, they took immediate ownership, corrected the mistake, and issued a prompt refund without any hassle. This level of integrity solidified our confidence in them as a partner.

Scaling with confidence: Clerk's long-term impact at Huntr

We've now been powered by Clerk for over a year. They've been instrumental in helping us scale efficiently, stay lean, and maintain the development velocity crucial for a startup. In a world increasingly driven by AI, where Huntr is focused on building infrastructure to help job seekers land jobs faster, the last thing we need is to worry about our authentication stack. Clerk handles it seamlessly.

If you're a startup founder evaluating your authentication options, Clerk truly understands the startup journey. They provide the speed, flexibility, fairness, and partnership that growing companies need.

TL;DR

• Huntr migrated 250K user accounts from a legacy auth provider to Clerk
• Their previous provider introduced rigid pricing and slow support
• Clerk offered transparent pricing, fast dev support, and smoother developer workflows
• The switch helped Huntr scale efficiently without auth-related bottlenecks