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Developer Tools · head to head

ConfigCat vs Cortex

ConfigCat logo

ConfigCat

Developer Tools

Feature flag service priced per flag and environment with unlimited seats and unlimited monthly active users

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cortex logo

Cortex

Developer Tools

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ConfigCat has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: ConfigCat there is no experimentation or statistical analysis engine, so teams wanting real A/B tests with significance testing must buy and integrate a separate analytics or experimentation product.; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: ConfigCat covers Feature flags and configuration, Cortex covers Service catalogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ConfigCat and Cortex actually diverge.

Attributes where ConfigCat and Cortex differ
AttributeConfigCatCortex
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month by feature flag and environment countquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, API, iOS, Android, Node.js, .NET, Java, Python, GoWeb, API

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Developer Tools).

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 ConfigCat

  • Feature flags and configuration
  • Percentage rollouts
  • Targeting rules and segments
  • Unlimited seats
  • Global CDN delivery
  • Audit log
  • Public API and webhooks
  • SDKs across languages

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.

ConfigCat

  • A consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-MAU flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worthnot Cortex
  • A team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seatnot Cortex
  • Decoupling deployment from release with percentage rollouts and a kill switch, without buying an experimentation platformnot Cortex
  • A small team that needs ten flags permanently and can run indefinitely on the free tiernot 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 ConfigCat
  • An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot ConfigCat
  • Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot ConfigCat
  • Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot ConfigCat

Where each one falls short

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

ConfigCat

  • There is no experimentation or statistical analysis engine, so teams wanting real A/B tests with significance testing must buy and integrate a separate analytics or experimentation product.
  • Pricing by flag count punishes exactly the hygiene you want: the Pro tier caps at 100 flags, so teams that do not aggressively retire stale flags are pushed to the 325 dollar Smart tier for housekeeping reasons rather than growth.
  • The free tier allows only 2 environments, which does not cover the common development, staging and production split, so almost any real deployment starts on a paid plan.
  • It is a smaller vendor than the category incumbents, so enterprise procurement teams will find less depth in compliance attestations, contractual terms and reference architecture than LaunchDarkly offers.
  • Flag evaluation relies on SDK-side caching of a CDN-delivered config, which is fast but means propagation of a change is eventually consistent rather than instant, something to understand before relying on it as an emergency kill switch.

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

ConfigCat

Free
  • Forever FreeFree
    • 10 feature flags
    • 2 environments and 2 products
    • 2 segments
  • Pro$110/month
    • 100 feature flags
    • 3 environments and 3 products
    • Unlimited seats and MAUs
  • Smart$325/month
    • Unlimited feature flags
    • Unlimited environments, products and segments
    • Unlimited seats and MAUs
  • Enterprise$900/month
    • Everything in Smart
    • Enterprise support and controls
    • Unlimited everything on flag counts

Cortex

On request
  • Cortex$undefined/year
    • Service catalogue and ownership mapping
    • Scorecards and initiatives
    • Self-service templates

Which should you pick?

Choose ConfigCat if

  • You need feature flags and configuration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API, iOS, Android, Node.js, .NET, Java, Python, Go.
  • You also want percentage rollouts.
ConfigCat review

Choose Cortex if

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

Questions people ask

Is ConfigCat or Cortex better?
Neither clearly leads. ConfigCat starts at Free and Cortex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ConfigCat or Cortex?
ConfigCat has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ConfigCat and On request for Cortex.
Does ConfigCat or Cortex run on more platforms?
ConfigCat runs on Web, API, iOS, Android, Node.js, .NET, Java, Python, Go. Cortex runs on Web, API.
Can I use ConfigCat for free?
Yes. ConfigCat has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cortex starts at On request.
What is ConfigCat best used for?
ConfigCat is most often used for a consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-mau flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worth, a team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seat, decoupling deployment from release with percentage rollouts and a kill switch, without buying an experimentation platform, a small team that needs ten flags permanently and can run indefinitely on the free tier. Of those, a consumer or mobile app with millions of users where per-mau flag pricing would cost more than the flags are worth and a team that wants every engineer, product manager and support agent to have a login without paying per seat are not what Cortex is typically brought in for.
What can ConfigCat do that Cortex cannot?
ConfigCat covers Feature flags and configuration, Percentage rollouts, Targeting rules and segments, Unlimited seats. Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ConfigCat: How is ConfigCat priced?

By feature flag, environment and product count. Seats, monthly active users and flag reads are unlimited on every plan.

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.

ConfigCat: Is the free tier usable?

For small projects yes, but at 10 flags and 2 environments it will not cover a dev, staging and production setup.

Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

ConfigCat: Can it run A/B tests?

It can split traffic, but there is no statistics engine. You need a separate analytics tool to decide a winner.

Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

ConfigCat: How fast does a flag change take effect?

SDKs poll and cache, so changes propagate on the polling interval rather than instantly.

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.

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