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Developer Tools · head to head

Cortex vs Logto

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
Logto logo

Logto

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity and authentication infrastructure for apps and APIs

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Logto 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.; Logto advanced features like RBAC, organizations, MFA, and enterprise SSO are billed as separate paid add-ons rather than included in Pro.
  • They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cortex and Logto actually diverge.

Attributes where Cortex and Logto differ
AttributeCortexLogto
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: platforms (Web, API), 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 Logto

  • Prebuilt sign-in UI
  • Social connectors
  • Role-based access control
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Machine-to-machine apps
  • Audit logs

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

Logto

  • Adding sign-in to a new SaaS productnot Cortex
  • Implementing SSO for B2B customersnot Cortex
  • Securing internal APIs with M2M tokensnot Cortex
  • Adding RBAC and organizations to a multi-tenant appnot 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.

Logto

  • Advanced features like RBAC, organizations, MFA, and enterprise SSO are billed as separate paid add-ons rather than included in Pro.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published and requires contacting sales.
  • Token-based billing can make cost forecasting harder than flat per-MAU pricing for high-traffic apps.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cortex

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

Logto

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 50,000 MAU
    • 50K tokens included
    • 3 applications
  • Pro$24/month
    • Unlimited MAU and applications
    • 3 included API resources
    • Passkey sign-in

Which should you pick?

Choose Cortex if

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

Choose Logto if

  • You need prebuilt sign-in ui.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want social connectors.
Logto review

Questions people ask

Is Cortex or Logto better?
Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Logto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cortex or Logto?
Logto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Logto.
Does Cortex or Logto run on more platforms?
Cortex runs on Web, API. Logto runs on web, api.
Can I use Logto for free?
Yes. Logto 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 Logto is typically brought in for.
What can Cortex do that Logto cannot?
Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI, Social connectors, Role-based access control, Multi-factor authentication.

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.

Logto: What does Logto cost?

Logto offers a Free plan at $0/month, a Pro plan starting at $24/month with 50K free tokens included, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan. Extra add-ons like RBAC or MFA are billed separately on Pro.

Source
Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

Logto: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

Yes. The Free plan supports up to 50,000 monthly active users, 3 total applications, 1 machine-to-machine app, 3 social connectors, 1 webhook, and 3-day audit log retention.

Source
Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

Logto: How is usage metered?

Logto uses token-based billing: only access tokens issued for authentication and authorization activity are counted, rather than charging purely per MAU.

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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