Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Exa
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Exa starts at $7/mo; Cortex prices on request.
- Where Exa falls short: usage-based pricing can be unpredictable without volume discounts upfront.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Exa actually diverge.
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 Exa
Nothing recorded that Cortex does not also cover.
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 Exa
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Exa
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Exa
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Exa
Exa
- Web search and research APIsnot Cortex
- Content extraction and analysisnot Cortex
- Real-time monitoring and alertsnot 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
Exa
- Usage-based pricing can be unpredictable without volume discounts upfront
- Enterprise customers need to contact sales for custom volume discount plans
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- CortexOn request
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Exa
Free- Free TierFree
- $20 in free credits (approximately 2,800 searches)
- $10 in monthly credits after first month
- Search$7
- Standard search functionality
- Deep Search$12
- In-depth search results
- Contents$1/per 1000 pages
- Content extraction
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Exa better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Exa at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Exa?
- Exa has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Exa.
- Does Cortex or Exa run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. Exa runs on Web.
- Can I use Exa for free?
- Yes. Exa 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 Exa is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Exa cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.
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.
Exa: How much does Exa API cost?
Exa uses pay-as-you-go pricing with no subscription or minimum spend required. Search costs USD$7 per 1000 requests, Deep Search costs USD$12-15 per 1000 requests, and Contents costs USD$1 per 1000 pages. Users load credits and are charged at these published rates.
SourceCortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Exa: Is there a free tier for Exa?
Yes, new accounts receive USD$20 in free credits (approximately 2,800 searches) plus USD$10 in additional credits every month. This allows developers to test the API before committing to paid usage.
SourceCortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Exa: What other costs are associated with Exa?
Beyond the main API costs, Exa charges USD$1 per 1000 results beyond the first 10 returned, USD$1 per 1000 pages for AI summaries, and USD$0.10 per Agent Compute Unit for autonomous agent usage. Contact enrichment features cost USD$0.02 per email and USD$0.07 per phone number.
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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- Exa vs OpsLevel
- Exa vs Earthly
- Exa vs Spacelift
- Exa vs Atlantis
- Exa vs Depot
- Exa vs Envoy
- Exa vs Istio
- Exa vs Nix
- Exa vs SonarQube
- Exa vs Ona (formerly Gitpod)
- Exa vs Tilt
- Exa vs Vim
- Exa vs WarpBuild
- Exa vs Webpack
- Exa vs Avo
- Exa vs Azure DevOps
- Exa vs Stripe Dashboard
- Exa vs Geckoboard
- Exa vs Baremetrics
- Exa vs Amazon QuickSight
- Exa vs Klipfolio
- Exa vs ThoughtSpot
- Exa vs Pigment
- Exa vs Cyfe
- Exa vs Deepnote
- Exa vs Evidence
- Exa vs Grow
- Exa vs Lightdash
- Exa vs NetBase Quid
- Exa vs Phocas
- Exa vs Preset
- Exa vs ProfitWell
- Exa vs Quantum Metric
- Exa vs Quid