WorkOS

WorkOS

WorkOS is a developer platform that adds enterprise-readiness features such as single sign-on, SCIM directory sync, audit logs and user management to an application through a small set of APIs. Founded in 2018, WorkOS is the auth layer many AI companies ship on top of, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor and Perplexity, so they can sell to large enterprises without rebuilding SSO. WorkOS is infrastructure, not an AI model, but its AuthKit product and newer agent-identity work extend the same login and permission system to AI agents acting on a user's behalf.

Production credibility: Founded 2018 by Michael Grinich; headquartered in San Francisco. Raised approximately $198M total, including an $80M Series B (2022, led by Greenoaks) and a $100M Series C announced March 2026 led by Meritech and Sapphire, at a reported $2B valuation. Reached roughly $30M ARR and crossed 1,000+ paying customers. Named customers include OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Cursor, Perplexity, Replit, Vercel, Sierra, Baseten, Temporal, Clay and Gamma. Acquired Modulz (2022) and others to expand the platform.

Key Features

• Single sign-on supporting SAML and OIDC across major enterprise identity providers
• Directory Sync (SCIM) for automated user provisioning and deprovisioning
• AuthKit hosted authentication UI, free up to one million monthly active users
• Audit Logs and fine-grained authorization for enterprise compliance
• Admin Portal that lets enterprise customers self-configure SSO and SCIM
• Agent-identity capabilities for authenticating AI agents acting on a user's behalf
• Per-connection pricing for SSO rather than per-seat licensing
• SDKs for Node, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP and other languages

Ideal Use Case

AI startups use WorkOS to add enterprise SSO, SCIM and audit logs so they can close large customers, and increasingly to give AI agents scoped identity and permissions when acting for a user.

How WorkOS differentiates

WorkOS competes most directly with Auth0 and Clerk. Auth0 is a broad identity platform that can do nearly everything but is often priced and scoped for full consumer identity; WorkOS targets the specific enterprise checklist B2B sellers hit at deal time, with SSO and SCIM priced per connection rather than per user. Clerk overlaps on developer-friendly login and pre-built UI, but WorkOS leans toward the enterprise and agent side, and its AuthKit competes on the free-up-to-1M-users tier. The trade-off: WorkOS is less of a turnkey consumer-auth UI than Clerk, and teams sometimes pair it with another auth front end.

FAQ

Q: What is WorkOS used for? A: WorkOS adds enterprise-readiness features (SSO, SCIM directory sync, audit logs, user management) to an app via APIs, so a company can sell to large enterprises without building those features from scratch.

Q: How do AI companies use WorkOS? A: AI companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor and Perplexity use WorkOS for enterprise SSO and directory sync so their products meet enterprise security requirements. WorkOS also extends identity and scoped permissions to AI agents acting on a user's behalf.

Q: WorkOS vs Auth0: what is the difference? A: Auth0 is a broad identity platform covering full consumer and enterprise identity. WorkOS focuses on the enterprise checklist (SSO, SCIM, audit logs) with per-connection pricing aimed at B2B sellers. Teams often pick WorkOS to unblock enterprise deals quickly and Auth0 when they need a single platform for all consumer auth.

Q: Who founded WorkOS? A: WorkOS was founded in 2018 by Michael Grinich, who is the CEO. The company is based in San Francisco.

Q: How much has WorkOS raised? A: WorkOS has raised approximately $198M, including an $80M Series B in 2022 and a $100M Series C in March 2026 led by Meritech and Sapphire, at a reported $2B valuation.

tl;dr

WorkOS is the enterprise-readiness layer many AI companies use to add SSO, SCIM and audit logs through a few APIs, with customers including OpenAI, Anthropic and Cursor. It is auth infrastructure rather than an AI product, and now extends identity to AI agents via AuthKit and agent-identity features.

Related

Looking for more options? Browse the Developer Tools directory or read our best AI coding tools listicle. WorkOS is also tracked on Crunchbase.