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Developer Tools · head to head

Cortex vs Endor Labs

Cortex logo

Cortex

Developer Tools

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

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Endor Labs logo

Endor Labs

Cybersecurity

Security and AI agent governance for code and supply chain

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Endor Labs has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Endor Labs pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates
  • They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cortex and Endor Labs actually diverge.

Attributes where Cortex and Endor Labs differ
AttributeCortexEndor Labs
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteSeat-based per contributing developer with volume discounts
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, CLI, IDE
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2021

Identical on both: 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 Endor Labs

  • AI coding agent governance
  • SAST scanning
  • Secrets detection
  • Reachability analysis
  • Open source dependency scanning
  • Package firewall
  • MCP server integration

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 Endor Labs
  • An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Endor Labs
  • Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Endor Labs
  • Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Endor Labs

Endor Labs

  • Securing AI coding agent outputs before deploymentnot Cortex
  • Reducing SAST false positives with reachability analysisnot Cortex
  • Managing open source supply chain risknot Cortex
  • Enforcing security policies in CI/CD pipelinesnot 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.

Endor Labs

  • Pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates
  • Developer tier lacks UI and historical scan data
  • Free tier limited to local scanning only
  • Seat-based model may become expensive for large teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Cortex

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

Endor Labs

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Local scanning
    • Read-only vulnerability data
    • No UI, policies, or scan history

Which should you pick?

Choose Cortex if

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

Choose Endor Labs if

  • You need ai coding agent governance.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI, IDE.
  • You also want sast scanning.
Endor Labs review

Questions people ask

Is Cortex or Endor Labs better?
Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Endor Labs at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cortex or Endor Labs?
Endor Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Endor Labs.
Does Cortex or Endor Labs run on more platforms?
Cortex runs on Web, API. Endor Labs runs on Web, CLI, IDE.
Can I use Endor Labs for free?
Yes. Endor Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cortex starts at On request.
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 Endor Labs is typically brought in for.
What can Cortex do that Endor Labs cannot?
Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance, SAST scanning, Secrets detection, Reachability analysis.

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.

Endor Labs: What is the difference between Endor Labs Developer and paid tiers?

Developer tier is free and provides local scanning via MCP server with read-only vulnerability access and no UI. Paid tiers (Core and Pro) add team features like policy enforcement, enterprise integrations, reporting, and scan history.

Source
Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

Endor Labs: How does Endor Labs define seats for pricing?

Seats are calculated per contributing developer (those with commits in monitored repositories within the last 90 days). Volume discounts apply as team size grows.

Source
Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

Endor Labs: Does Endor Labs support on-premises deployment?

The platform is cloud-based SaaS by default. Enterprise customers should contact sales to discuss custom deployment options.

Source
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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