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Developer Tools · head to head

Cortex vs Omada Identity

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
Omada Identity logo

Omada Identity

Cybersecurity

Identity governance and administration focused on access certification and compliance evidence

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; Omada Identity pricing is per managed identity, so organisations with large numbers of contractors, service accounts or seasonal staff pay governance fees on identities nobody is really governing.
  • They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Omada Identity covers Access certification.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cortex and Omada Identity actually diverge.

Attributes where Cortex and Omada Identity differ
AttributeCortexOmada Identity
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Omada Identity

  • Access certification
  • Joiner mover leaver
  • Role modelling
  • Segregation of duties
  • Access request
  • Connectors

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

Omada Identity

  • An organisation whose auditors flagged that access recertification is run on spreadsheets and cannot be evidencednot Cortex
  • A company with high staff turnover where leavers keep access to systems weeks after their last daynot Cortex
  • A regulated firm needing documented segregation of duties across finance and ERP entitlementsnot Cortex
  • A business that abandoned a previous multi-year IGA implementation and needs something that reaches production this yearnot 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.

Omada Identity

  • Pricing is per managed identity, so organisations with large numbers of contractors, service accounts or seasonal staff pay governance fees on identities nobody is really governing.
  • It governs access but provides no single sign-on, multi-factor authentication or privileged session management, so it is always a second or third identity subscription rather than a consolidation.
  • The fast-deployment promise depends on accepting its standard process model; organisations with genuinely unusual entitlement structures end up in custom work and the timeline advantage disappears.
  • Connector coverage is strong for mainstream enterprise systems and thin for bespoke or industry-specific applications, and each custom connector is a project with ongoing maintenance.
  • Data quality in the HR system determines whether joiner mover leaver automation works, so companies with messy HR records find the tool exposes that problem rather than solving it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cortex

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

Omada Identity

On request
  • Omada Identity Cloud$undefined/year
    • Priced per managed identity per year
    • SaaS on Microsoft Azure with regional deployment options
    • Implementation delivered on a defined methodology, quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Cortex if

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

Choose Omada Identity if

  • You need access certification.
  • You also want joiner mover leaver.
Omada Identity review

Questions people ask

Is Cortex or Omada Identity better?
Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Omada Identity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cortex or Omada Identity?
Cortex starts at On request and Omada Identity at On request.
Does Cortex or Omada Identity run on more platforms?
Cortex runs on Web, API. Omada Identity runs on Web.
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 Omada Identity is typically brought in for.
What can Cortex do that Omada Identity cannot?
Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Omada Identity covers Access certification, Joiner mover leaver, Role modelling, Segregation of duties.

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.

Omada Identity: Does it provide single sign-on?

No. Omada is governance only. You still need Entra ID, Okta or equivalent for authentication.

Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

Omada Identity: How is it licensed?

Per managed identity per year. Count contractors and service accounts before you compare quotes, because they usually count.

Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

Omada Identity: How long does deployment take?

Months rather than years is the positioning, and it is achievable if you accept the standard process model. Heavy customisation returns you to traditional IGA timelines.

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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