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Developer Tools · head to head

Cortex vs OVHcloud

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
OVHcloud logo

OVHcloud

Cloud

Advanced cloud services for businesses

From
€3.5/month
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.; OVHcloud public Cloud pricing table lists a scheduled price change with a column labeled Price on April 1, 2026, showing current rates are promotional and set to change on that date
  • They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, OVHcloud covers Public Cloud.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cortex and OVHcloud actually diverge.

Attributes where Cortex and OVHcloud differ
AttributeCortexOVHcloud
Starting priceOn request€3.5/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, Windows, Api, Cli
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud
FoundedUnknown1999

Identical on both: 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 OVHcloud

  • Public Cloud
  • Private Cloud
  • Bare Metal Servers
  • Managed Kubernetes
  • Object Storage
  • Block Storage
  • Load Balancers
  • Databases

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

OVHcloud

  • Managed Kubernetes container orchestration for cloud-native applicationsnot Cortex
  • Virtual machine instances with customizable CPU, RAM, and IOPSnot Cortex
  • Object storage with S3-compatible API for scalable data archivalnot Cortex
  • Managed databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and ClickHousenot Cortex
  • Private network connectivity with vRack for multi-AZ isolationnot 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.

OVHcloud

  • Public Cloud pricing table lists a scheduled price change with a column labeled Price on April 1, 2026, showing current rates are promotional and set to change on that date
  • Free network traffic and free Object Storage API calls exclude the Asia-Pacific region

Pricing, plan by plan

Cortex

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

OVHcloud

€3.5/month
  • Public Cloud Starter$3.5/month
    • 1 vCPU
    • 1 GB RAM
    • 10 GB storage
  • Bare Metal$49/month
    • Dedicated hardware
    • High performance
    • Full control

Which should you pick?

Choose Cortex if

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

Choose OVHcloud if

  • You need public cloud.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
  • You also want private cloud.
OVHcloud review

Questions people ask

Is Cortex or OVHcloud better?
Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and OVHcloud at €3.5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cortex or OVHcloud?
Cortex starts at On request and OVHcloud at €3.5/month.
Does Cortex or OVHcloud run on more platforms?
Cortex runs on Web, API. OVHcloud runs on Linux, Windows, Api, Cli.
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 OVHcloud is typically brought in for.
What can Cortex do that OVHcloud cannot?
Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. OVHcloud covers Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Bare Metal Servers, Managed Kubernetes.

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.

OVHcloud: How does OVHcloud charge for cloud services?

OVHcloud offers pay-as-you-go pricing for compute, storage, and bandwidth. Specific per-unit costs are accessed through the pricing calculator on the vendor site.

Source
Cortex: Is pricing published?

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

OVHcloud: Are there savings plans for OVHcloud services?

OVHcloud mentions savings plan options on its services pages, but pricing discounts and commitment terms are not detailed on the homepage.

Source
Cortex: Can it self-host?

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

OVHcloud: What is the cost of OVHcloud zero inter-AZ fees?

OVHcloud advertises zero inter-AZ (availability zone) fees for data transfers within its network. Monthly subscription rates for individual services are not published on the vendor homepage.

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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