Is Chartio or Cortex better?

Neither clearly leads. Chartio starts at On request and Cortex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Chartio or Cortex?

Chartio starts at On request and Cortex at On request.

Does Chartio or Cortex run on more platforms?

Chartio runs on Web. Cortex runs on Web, API.

What is Chartio best used for?

Chartio is most often used for drag and drop chart building over sql databases, shared business dashboards for non-technical teams, exploring warehouse data without writing sql. Of those, drag and drop chart building over sql databases and shared business dashboards for non-technical teams are not what Cortex is typically brought in for.

What can Chartio do that Cortex cannot?

Chartio covers Visual Query Builder, Interactive Dashboards, Data Blending, Collaboration. Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.

Business Intelligence · head to head

Chartio vs Cortex

Chartio

Business Intelligence

Cloud-based data exploration (discontinued)

From: On request
Free plan: No

Visit Chartio Full review

Cortex

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services

From: On request
Free plan: No

Visit Cortex Full review

The short version

Chartio is free; Cortex prices on request.
Only Chartio lists interactive Dashboards; only Cortex lists service catalogue.
Where Chartio falls short: product was discontinued and sunset on March 1, 2022 after company acquisition by Atlassian.
Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chartio and Cortex actually diverge.

Attributes where Chartio and Cortex differ
Attribute	Chartio	Cortex
Platforms	Web	Web, API
Category	Business Intelligence	Developer Tools

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No).

Not yet recorded: pricing model for Chartio, founded for Cortex.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chartio

Visual Query Builder
Interactive Dashboards
Data Blending
Collaboration
Embedding
PostgreSQL
MySQL
Redshift

Only in Cortex

Service catalogue
Scorecards
Initiatives
Self-service templates
Query language
Eng intelligence
Integrations layer
On-call and ownership mapping

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chartio

Drag and drop chart building over SQL databasesnot Cortex
Shared business dashboards for non-technical teamsnot Cortex
Exploring warehouse data without writing SQLnot Cortex

Cortex

A platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a Kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of servicesnot Chartio
An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Chartio
Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Chartio
Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Chartio

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chartio

Product was discontinued and sunset on March 1, 2022 after company acquisition by Atlassian
No current pricing available as service no longer operates
Users were migrated to alternative Atlassian solutions

Cortex

Pricing is quote only, so a platform team cannot build a business case or compare against the true cost of self-hosted Backstage without entering a sales cycle first
The catalogue is only as accurate as the metadata you supply, so an organisation with inconsistent repository conventions spends its first quarter cleaning data before any scorecard means anything
Scorecards create political friction: publishing a per-team grade turns an engineering standard into a performance metric, and teams will game the rules rather than fix the underlying issue
It is closed source and hosted, so organisations with strict data residency or air-gap requirements have limited options compared with running Backstage themselves
Value scales with organisation size, so a company with fifty engineers and thirty services will find the catalogue tells them nothing they did not already know while still paying an enterprise contract

Pricing, plan by plan

Chartio

On request

DiscontinuedFree
- Service ended March 2022

Cortex

On request

CortexOn request
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates

Which should you pick?

Choose Chartio if

You need visual query builder.
You also want interactive dashboards.

Chartio review

Choose Cortex if

You need service catalogue.
You work on Web, API.
You also want scorecards.

Cortex review

Questions people ask

Is Chartio or Cortex better?: Neither clearly leads. Chartio starts at On request and Cortex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chartio or Cortex?: Chartio starts at On request and Cortex at On request.
Does Chartio or Cortex run on more platforms?: Chartio runs on Web. Cortex runs on Web, API.
What is Chartio best used for?: Chartio is most often used for drag and drop chart building over sql databases, shared business dashboards for non-technical teams, exploring warehouse data without writing sql. Of those, drag and drop chart building over sql databases and shared business dashboards for non-technical teams are not what Cortex is typically brought in for.
What can Chartio do that Cortex cannot?: Chartio covers Visual Query Builder, Interactive Dashboards, Data Blending, Collaboration. Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chartio: Is Chartio still available?

No, Chartio was discontinued on March 1, 2022. The product was acquired by Atlassian and the service was shut down. Users were offered migration to alternative solutions.

Source

Cortex: How is Cortex different from Backstage?

Backstage is an open source framework you build and staff. Cortex is a hosted product with scorecards and initiatives out of the box and no platform team required to keep it running.

Chartio: What should I use instead of Chartio after its discontinuation?

Atlassian, which acquired Chartio, recommends users migrate to other data visualization and business intelligence tools within the Atlassian ecosystem or compatible alternatives.

Source

Cortex: Is pricing published?

No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.

Chartio: Can I still access Chartio's pricing information?

No, historical pricing is not relevant as Chartio ceased operations in March 2022. Any archived pricing information would not reflect current market options.

Source

Cortex: Can it self-host?

It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.

Cortex: What is the main adoption risk?

Bad or missing service metadata. The catalogue and every scorecard on top of it inherit whatever quality your repositories already have.

Chartio vs Cortex

Chartio

Cortex

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Chartio

Only in Cortex

What people use each for

Chartio

Cortex

Where each one falls short

Chartio

Cortex

Pricing, plan by plan

Chartio

Cortex

Which should you pick?

Choose Chartio if

Choose Cortex if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Chartio

More on Cortex

Keep looking

Other head to heads