Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Evidence
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Evidence
Business Intelligence
Business intelligence as code for teams and AI agents
- From
- $2500/month
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Evidence starts at $2500/mo; Cortex prices on request.
- Only Cortex lists service catalogue; only Evidence lists analytics Agent.
- Where Evidence falls short: high starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Evidence actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No).
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 Evidence
- Analytics Agent
- Code-based infrastructure
- Development environment
- Visualization tools
- Embedded analytics
- Enterprise security
- Multi-channel access
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 Evidence
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Evidence
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Evidence
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Evidence
Evidence
- Building version-controlled analytics infrastructurenot Cortex
- Enabling AI agents to answer business questionsnot Cortex
- Delivering analytics through multiple channels (web, Slack, ChatGPT)not Cortex
- Embedding white-labeled analytics in productsnot 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
Evidence
- High starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption
- No freemium option for evaluation or learning
- Code-based approach has steeper learning curve than visual tools
- AI credits limited on Team plan; additional credits cost extra
- Requires Git workflow familiarity for effective collaboration
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- CortexOn request
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Evidence
$2500/month- Team$2,500/mo
- Unlimited users
- Monthly billing
- Analytics Agent
- EnterpriseOn request
- All Team features
- SSO/SAML authentication
- SCIM directory sync
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Choose Evidence if
- You need analytics agent.
- You work on Web, Embedded.
- You also want code-based infrastructure.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Evidence better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Evidence at $2500/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Evidence?
- Cortex starts at On request and Evidence at $2500/month.
- Does Cortex or Evidence run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. Evidence runs on Web, Embedded.
- 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 Evidence is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Evidence cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Evidence covers Analytics Agent, Code-based infrastructure, Development environment, Visualization tools.
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.
Evidence: Does Evidence have per-user pricing?
No, Evidence offers one flat price for unlimited users at $2,500/month on the Team plan with a 30-day free trial.
SourceCortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Evidence: How many AI credits come with Team plan?
Team plan includes 20,000 AI credits monthly at $0.01 per additional credit. Enterprise offers custom credit packages.
SourceCortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Evidence: What is included in the Enterprise plan?
Enterprise adds SSO/SAML, SCIM directory sync, row-level access rules, embedding capabilities, and custom deployment options at custom pricing.
SourceCortex: 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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- Evidence vs GitHub
- Evidence vs Backstage
- Evidence vs OpsLevel
- Evidence vs Earthly
- Evidence vs Spacelift
- Evidence vs Atlantis
- Evidence vs Depot
- Evidence vs Envoy
- Evidence vs Istio
- Evidence vs Nix
- Evidence vs SonarQube
- Evidence vs Ona (formerly Gitpod)
- Evidence vs Tilt
- Evidence vs Vim
- Evidence vs WarpBuild
- Evidence vs Webpack
- Evidence vs Avo
- Evidence vs Azure DevOps
- Evidence vs Cube
- Evidence vs Zenlytic
- Evidence vs Hex
- Evidence vs Fabi
- Evidence vs Phocas
- Evidence vs Rill Data
- Evidence vs PostHog
- Evidence vs Mixpanel
- Evidence vs GoodData
- Evidence vs Grow
- Evidence vs Sisense
- Evidence vs MicroStrategy
- Evidence vs SAP BusinessObjects
- Evidence vs Snowplow
- Evidence vs Stripe Dashboard
- Evidence vs TIBCO Spotfire
- Evidence vs Yellowfin
- Evidence vs Zebra BI