Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs ProtonVPN
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
ProtonVPN
Cybersecurity
High-speed Swiss VPN that safeguards your privacy
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only ProtonVPN 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.; ProtonVPN free plan limited to one device at a time
- They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, ProtonVPN covers No-logs policy.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and ProtonVPN actually diverge.
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 ProtonVPN
- No-logs policy
- Secure Core
- Kill Switch
- DNS leak protection
- Tor over VPN
- Split tunneling
- NetShield ad-blocker
- VPN Accelerator
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 ProtonVPN
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot ProtonVPN
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot ProtonVPN
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN
- Privacy-focused browsing without subscription costnot Cortex
- Multi-device protection with Plus plan supporting 10 devicesnot Cortex
- Integrated access to Proton email and cloud services via Unlimited plannot 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.
ProtonVPN
- Free plan limited to one device at a time
- Free plan restricted to 10 countries with random selection
- Pricing amounts not clearly published; shown as variable
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
ProtonVPN
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the ProtonVPN review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Choose ProtonVPN if
- You need no-logs policy.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
- You also want secure core.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or ProtonVPN better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and ProtonVPN at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or ProtonVPN?
- ProtonVPN has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for ProtonVPN.
- Does Cortex or ProtonVPN run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. ProtonVPN runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
- Can I use ProtonVPN for free?
- Yes. ProtonVPN 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 ProtonVPN is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that ProtonVPN cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. ProtonVPN covers No-logs policy, Secure Core, Kill Switch, DNS leak protection.
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.
Cortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Cortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
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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- ProtonVPN vs Spacelift
- ProtonVPN vs Atlantis
- ProtonVPN vs Depot
- ProtonVPN vs Nix
- ProtonVPN vs SonarQube
- ProtonVPN vs Keycloak
- ProtonVPN vs Ona (formerly Gitpod)
- ProtonVPN vs Vite
- ProtonVPN vs Bazel
- ProtonVPN vs Dagger
- ProtonVPN vs Deep Code
- ProtonVPN vs Deno
- ProtonVPN vs Fig
- ProtonVPN vs Frappe
- ProtonVPN vs Git
- ProtonVPN vs Surfshark
- ProtonVPN vs Norton 360
- ProtonVPN vs Bitdefender Total Security
- ProtonVPN vs LastPass
- ProtonVPN vs 1Password
- ProtonVPN vs Avast One
- ProtonVPN vs IVPN
- ProtonVPN vs Mullvad VPN
- ProtonVPN vs Private Internet Access
- ProtonVPN vs Windscribe
- ProtonVPN vs CyberGhost VPN
- ProtonVPN vs Cosign
- ProtonVPN vs Dahua Technology
- ProtonVPN vs Descope
- ProtonVPN vs Drata
- ProtonVPN vs DTiQ
- ProtonVPN vs ExpressVPN