Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Rollup
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Rollup
Web Development
JavaScript module bundler built for libraries
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only Rollup 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.; Rollup slower than the Go and Rust bundlers that followed it, since it is written in JavaScript
- They diverge on capability: Cortex covers Service catalogue, Rollup covers Tree shaking.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Rollup 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 Rollup
- Tree shaking
- Clean output
- Multiple output formats
- Plugin API
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 Rollup
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Rollup
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Rollup
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Rollup
Rollup
- Publishing a JavaScript library in several module formatsnot Cortex
- Builds where output size and cleanliness matter more than build speednot Cortex
- Producing ES module output for consumers who will bundle it themselvesnot 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.
Rollup
- Slower than the Go and Rust bundlers that followed it, since it is written in JavaScript
- Application concerns like dev servers and hot reloading are not its job, so app builds need Vite on top
- Configuration for non-trivial applications gets verbose compared with tools that assume more
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Rollup
Free- RollupFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Choose Rollup if
- You need tree shaking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want clean output.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Rollup better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Rollup at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Rollup?
- Rollup has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Rollup.
- Does Cortex or Rollup run on more platforms?
- Cortex runs on Web, API. Rollup runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use Rollup for free?
- Yes. Rollup 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 Rollup is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Rollup cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates. Rollup covers Tree shaking, Clean output, Multiple output formats, Plugin API.
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.
Rollup: Is Rollup free?
Yes, open source under the MIT licence.
Cortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Rollup: Rollup or webpack?
Rollup is the usual choice for libraries thanks to cleaner output and better tree shaking. webpack remains stronger for complex applications with heavy asset handling.
Cortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Rollup: Do I need Rollup if I use Vite?
Not directly. Vite uses Rollup for production builds, so you already benefit from it.
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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- Rollup vs Bootstrap
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