Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Diligent
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Diligent
Cybersecurity
Board management and enterprise GRC platform assembled from Galvanize, Steele and Diligent Boards
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Diligent the platform is an assembly of acquisitions, with the analytics engine from ACL, risk from Rsam, ethics and third-party diligence from Steele and the board portal from Diligent itself, so cross-module reporting and consistent user experience should be tested in a proof of concept rather than assumed.
- They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Diligent covers Diligent Boards.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Diligent actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Cortex
- Service catalogue
- Scorecards
- Initiatives
- Self-service templates
- Query language
- Eng intelligence
- Integrations layer
- On-call and ownership mapping
Only in Diligent
- Diligent Boards
- Entity management
- Audit and analytics
- Risk management
- Third-party risk
- Ethics and compliance
- ESG and sustainability
- Market intelligence
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cortex
- A platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a Kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of servicesnot Diligent
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Diligent
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Diligent
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Diligent
Diligent
- A listed company that wants board papers, entity records and the audit committee reporting pack produced from one governance systemnot Cortex
- An internal audit function moving from sampling to full-population transaction testing using the ACL heritage analytics enginenot Cortex
- A regulated firm consolidating a whistleblower hotline, third-party due diligence and policy attestation after an enforcement findingnot Cortex
- A group needing sustainability disclosure data collected with the same audit trail and controls as financial reportingnot Cortex
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Diligent
- The platform is an assembly of acquisitions, with the analytics engine from ACL, risk from Rsam, ethics and third-party diligence from Steele and the board portal from Diligent itself, so cross-module reporting and consistent user experience should be tested in a proof of concept rather than assumed.
- Pricing is unpublished and consistently at the top of the market, and organisations that need only one capability, a board portal or an audit analytics tool, generally pay less and get more from a specialist.
- Renewal leverage is weak once the board portal is embedded, because directors are the least willing user group to be migrated and that dependency is well understood by the vendor at renewal time.
- The analytics engine expects real data skills, and audit teams without an analytics-capable member typically use a fraction of what they licensed while paying for all of it.
- Module-by-module implementation means the promised single view of governance and risk usually arrives years after the first purchase, if the later modules are ever funded.
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Diligent
On request- Diligent One Platform$undefined/year
- Quoted by module and user count
- Board portal seats priced separately from GRC modules
- Annual subscription, commonly multi-year
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Choose Diligent if
- You need diligent boards.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- You also want entity management.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Diligent better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Diligent at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Diligent?
- Cortex starts at On request and Diligent at On request.
- Does Cortex or Diligent run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. Diligent runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- What is Cortex best used for?
- Cortex is most often used for a platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of services, an organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitions, enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident review, replacing a self-hosted backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgraded. Of those, a platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of services and an organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitions are not what Diligent is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Diligent cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Diligent covers Diligent Boards, Entity management, Audit and analytics, Risk management.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Diligent: Is Diligent One the same product as Galvanize?
It contains it. Diligent bought Galvanize, the ACL and Rsam merger, for around one billion dollars in April 2021, and its audit analytics and risk modules are that heritage rebranded into Diligent One.
Cortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Diligent: What does Diligent cost?
Not published. It is quoted by module and user, and board portal seats are priced differently from GRC seats. Expect an annual or multi-year enterprise agreement.
Cortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Diligent: Can you buy just the board portal?
Yes, Diligent Boards is sold on its own and is the most common entry point. The GRC modules are separate purchases.
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.
Diligent: Does it replace a SOC 2 automation tool?
No. Diligent is aimed at enterprise audit, risk and governance, not at automated evidence collection for security certifications.
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