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Developer Tools · head to head

OpsLevel vs PHP

OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
PHP logo

PHP

Web Development

A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only PHP has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.; PHP distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpsLevel and PHP actually diverge.

Attributes where OpsLevel and PHP differ
AttributeOpsLevelPHP
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteopen-source
Free tierNoYes
CategoryDeveloper ToolsWeb Development

Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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 OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

Only in PHP

Nothing recorded that OpsLevel does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot PHP
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot PHP
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot PHP
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot PHP

PHP

  • Server-side web developmentnot OpsLevel
  • Content management systemsnot OpsLevel
  • API backendsnot OpsLevel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.

PHP

  • Distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare
  • PHP 8.2 lost active support on 31 Dec 2024 and enters full end of life on 31 Dec 2026, with only security fixes since, per php.net/supported-versions.php (Aug 2026)

Pricing, plan by plan

OpsLevel

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

PHP

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the PHP review.

Which should you pick?

Choose OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Choose PHP if

  • You want to start without paying.
PHP review

Questions people ask

Is OpsLevel or PHP better?
Neither clearly leads. OpsLevel starts at On request and PHP at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpsLevel or PHP?
PHP has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for OpsLevel and Free for PHP.
Does OpsLevel or PHP run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use PHP for free?
Yes. PHP has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. OpsLevel starts at On request.
What is OpsLevel best used for?
OpsLevel is most often used for a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit, driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress, giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform team, an organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning team. Of those, a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit and driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress are not what PHP is typically brought in for.
What can OpsLevel do that PHP cannot?
OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

PHP: Is PHP free to use?

Yes, PHP is completely free and open-source software under the PHP Foundation governance. There are no licensing fees or paid tiers.

Source
OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

PHP: Does the PHP Foundation offer paid support?

The PHP Foundation accepts voluntary donations to support long-term development, but donations are optional and not required to use PHP.

Source
OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

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