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Developer Tools · head to head

Cortex vs Neon

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
Neon logo

Neon

Cloud

Serverless Postgres for modern developers

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Neon 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.; Neon compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
  • They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cortex and Neon actually diverge.

Attributes where Cortex and Neon differ
AttributeCortexNeon
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APICloud
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
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 Neon

  • Serverless PostgreSQL
  • Database Branching
  • Autoscaling
  • Bottomless Storage
  • Point-in-time Recovery
  • Connection Pooling
  • Read Replicas
  • Instant Cloning

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

Neon

  • Serverless applicationsnot Cortex
  • Development databasesnot Cortex
  • Preview environmentsnot Cortex
  • Testingnot 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.

Neon

  • Compute pricing at $0.106-$0.222/CU-hour means costs scale directly with workload, unlike fixed-price alternatives
  • Separation of compute and storage may add complexity to cost prediction compared to all-in-one plans

Pricing, plan by plan

Cortex

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

Neon

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100 CU-hours/month
    • 0.5 GB storage
    • 1 project
  • Launch$15/month
    • Pay-as-you-go compute
    • $0.35/GB storage
    • Multiple projects
  • Scale$31/month
    • Higher compute rates
    • 99.95% SLA
    • HIPAA compliance

Which should you pick?

Choose Cortex if

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

Choose Neon if

  • You need serverless postgresql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud.
  • You also want database branching.
Neon review

Questions people ask

Is Cortex or Neon better?
Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Neon at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cortex or Neon?
Neon has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Neon.
Does Cortex or Neon run on more platforms?
Cortex runs on Web, API. Neon runs on Cloud.
Can I use Neon for free?
Yes. Neon 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 Neon is typically brought in for.
What can Cortex do that Neon cannot?
Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Neon covers Serverless PostgreSQL, Database Branching, Autoscaling, Bottomless Storage.

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.

Neon: What is Neon and what makes it different?

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL database that separates compute and storage, enabling automatic scaling and instant database branching. After acquisition by Databricks in May 2025, pricing has been significantly reduced.

Source
Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

Neon: Does Neon offer a free tier?

Yes, Neon's free tier includes 100 compute units per month and 0.5 GB of storage. This is suitable for development and small projects.

Source
Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

Neon: What are the paid plans and pricing for Neon?

Neon offers consumption-based pricing on Launch ($0.106/CU-hour, approximately $15/month) and Scale ($0.222/CU-hour, approximately $31/month) plans with separate storage billing at $0.35/GB-month. No monthly minimum required.

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.

Neon: What features does Neon provide?

Neon includes git-like branching for database copies, point-in-time recovery, data anonymization for testing, managed authentication, serverless functions, and object storage that branches with projects.

Source
Neon: What compliance and reliability guarantees does Neon provide?

Neon's Scale tier offers 99.95% uptime SLA, HIPAA compliance, SOC2 certification, and private networking via PrivateLink at no extra cost.

Source
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