Developer Tools · head to head
Cortex vs Stytch
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
Stytch
Cybersecurity
Identity platform with passwordless auth, passkeys and bot detection.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only Stytch 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.; Stytch free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cortex and Stytch actually diverge.
Identical on both: platforms (Web, API), 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 Stytch
Nothing recorded that Cortex does not also cover.
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 Stytch
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Stytch
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Stytch
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Stytch
Stytch
- Applications prioritising passwordless and passkey authenticationnot Cortex
- SaaS platforms requiring AI agent authentication and machine-to-machine flowsnot Cortex
- Companies with emerging identity needs such as bot detection and device intelligencenot Cortex
- Organisations building with Next.js and React requiring modern auth patternsnot Cortex
- Applications needing transparent pricing without surprise tiers or feature gatingnot 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.
Stytch
- Free tier limited to 10,000 monthly active users; scaling beyond this requires custom pricing negotiation
- Fraud prevention capabilities billed at $0.005 per fingerprint for usage exceeding 10,000 free checks
- Additional SSO or SCIM connections beyond the 5 included in free tier cost $125 each
- Brand customisation and email removal require one-time payment of $99
- HIPAA and advanced fraud protection only available in Enterprise tier
- No native UI builder; requires custom frontend development for fully-branded auth flows
Pricing, plan by plan
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Stytch
Free- FreeFree
- 10,000 monthly active users and AI agents
- Unlimited organisations
- 5 SSO or SCIM connections
- Scaled$undefined/variable
- Usage-based pricing for users exceeding 10,000
- All free tier features
- Volume discounts available
- Enterprise$undefined/variable
- Custom pricing
- Discounted volume rates
- Enterprise support SLA
Which should you pick?
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Questions people ask
- Is Cortex or Stytch better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cortex starts at On request and Stytch at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cortex or Stytch?
- Stytch has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cortex and Free for Stytch.
- Does Cortex or Stytch run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, API, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Stytch for free?
- Yes. Stytch 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 Stytch is typically brought in for.
- What can Cortex do that Stytch cannot?
- Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.
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.
Stytch: What is included in Stytch's free tier?
The free tier includes 10,000 monthly active users (human and AI agents), unlimited organisations, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, and 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens with full authentication features.
SourceCortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Stytch: Does Stytch support AI agent authentication?
Yes. Stytch provides native AI agent authentication and authorisation, with support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for authenticating AI agents accessing external systems.
SourceCortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Stytch: What fraud prevention features does Stytch offer?
Stytch includes bot detection with 99.99% accuracy, device fingerprinting, invisible CAPTCHA, and zero-day device intelligence built into all tiers.
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.
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