Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Rapid7 InsightVM
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Rapid7 InsightVM
Cybersecurity
Vulnerability management at scale
- From
- $1.62/month
- Free plan
- No
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.; Rapid7 InsightVM insightVM is now sold inside Exposure Command rather than as a standalone product
- They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Rapid7 InsightVM covers Asset discovery.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Rapid7 InsightVM actually diverge.
| Attribute | Cortex | Rapid7 InsightVM |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | On request | $1.62/month |
| Pricing model | quote | usage-based |
| Platforms | Web, API | Web, Cloud, Api |
| Category | Developer Tools | Cybersecurity |
| Founded | Unknown | 2000 |
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 Rapid7 InsightVM
- Asset discovery
- Vulnerability scanning
- Risk prioritization
- Threat intelligence
- Custom policies
- Remediation tracking
- Compliance reporting
- API access
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 Rapid7 InsightVM
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Rapid7 InsightVM
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Rapid7 InsightVM
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Rapid7 InsightVM
Rapid7 InsightVM
- Vulnerability management and risk assessmentnot Cortex
- Web application security scanningnot Cortex
- Cloud infrastructure security monitoringnot 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.
Rapid7 InsightVM
- InsightVM is now sold inside Exposure Command rather than as a standalone product
- Rapid7 states pricing is not publicly listed and is provided by custom quote based on the customer's environment
- Billing counts billable assets including devices, software, identities, cloud compute instances and applications, so the asset count grows faster than a device inventory suggests
- Cloud security, compliance, infrastructure as code scanning and application security testing require the Ultimate package rather than Essentials
- Volume discounts are described as commonly available for larger asset counts, so smaller buyers pay the higher unit rate
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Rapid7 InsightVM
$1.62/month- InsightVM$1.62/month per asset
- Vulnerability risk management
- Unlimited user accounts
- 24/7 technical support
- InsightAppSec$175/month
- Web application security
- Per application pricing
- Unlimited user accounts
- InsightCloudsec$5775/month
- Cloud security
- Up to 500 instances
- Unlimited user accounts
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Choose Rapid7 InsightVM if
- You need asset discovery.
- You work on Web, Cloud, Api.
- You also want vulnerability scanning.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Rapid7 InsightVM better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Rapid7 InsightVM at $1.62/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Rapid7 InsightVM?
- Cortex starts at On request and Rapid7 InsightVM at $1.62/month.
- Does Cortex or Rapid7 InsightVM run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. Rapid7 InsightVM runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
- 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 Rapid7 InsightVM is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Rapid7 InsightVM cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Rapid7 InsightVM covers Asset discovery, Vulnerability scanning, Risk prioritization, Threat intelligence.
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.
Rapid7 InsightVM: What is the starting price for Rapid7 InsightVM?
InsightVM starts at $1.62 per month per asset, with example pricing provided for 500-asset deployments.
SourceCortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Rapid7 InsightVM: How much does InsightAppSec cost?
InsightAppSec starts at $175 per month per application for web application security scanning.
SourceCortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Rapid7 InsightVM: What does InsightCloudsec cover?
InsightCloudsec starts at $5,775 per month for cloud security monitoring of up to 500 instances.
SourceCortex: 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.
Rapid7 InsightVM: Do Rapid7 products include unlimited user accounts?
Yes, all Rapid7 products include unlimited user accounts, 24/7 technical support, single sign-on, and customer-success team access.
SourceRelated pages
More on Rapid7 InsightVM
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