Backstage vs Cycloid
Backstage
backstage.io
Cycloid
cycloid.ioSide by side
| Figure | Backstage | Cycloid |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $45/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Internal Developer Portals | 8.6 (#2) | 8.6 (#3) |
| Spec score · Internal Developer Platforms | 8.6 (#3) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · Platform Engineering Software | 8.6 (#5) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Deployment | The standalone installation guide creates a locally running app with an in-memory SQLite database and demo content, and says this setup is not production-ready. | The platform is offered as SaaS, dedicated SaaS, self-hosted and hybrid deployment options, with air-gapped operation described for self-hosted deployments. |
| Integrations | Integrations let Backstage read or publish data using providers such as GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, LDAP, and cloud providers. | Cycloid says teams can connect external tools such as Sentry, SonarQube, Notion, Git and cloud providers through plugins. |
| Product | Backstage is an open-source framework for building developer portals. | Cycloid describes itself as an internal developer portal and platform for self-service, infrastructure orchestration and governance. |
| Support | The project lists Discord, FAQs, and community resources for support and discussion. | The pricing page lists open-hours support for Advanced and 24/7 support with an SLA for Enterprise. |
Plans
In their own words
Backstage
Backstage is a free, open-source framework for building and deploying developer portals. Its software catalog records ownership and metadata for services, websites, libraries and data pipelines, for teams managing a small set of services or company catalogs of thousands. Software Templates can fill code skeletons with variables and publish generated projects to destinations such as GitHub or GitLab. TechDocs keeps documentation in a docs-like-code workflow close to code. Integrations can read or publish data through GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, LDAP and cloud providers. Teams can extend a portal with existing open-source plugins or build their own; Backstage Search can index sources such as TechDocs, Confluence and Stack Overflow. Its Kubernetes feature aggregates a service’s deployments through the Kubernetes API. Backstage is self-hosted. The standalone installation guide creates a local demo with an in-memory SQLite database and says this setup is not production-ready. It lists minimum requirements of 20 GB disk and 6 GB memory, with more disk needed as modules and plugins are added. Its threat model describes only rudimentary denial-of-service protection and recommends a protected deployment environment.
Cycloid
Cycloid is an internal developer portal and platform for infrastructure self-service, orchestration, and governance. Developers can request and deploy infrastructure through Blueprints and Forms, using standardized workflows involving Terraform, Ansible, Helm, and Argo CD. Governance features include policy checks, role-based access controls, approvals, and audit trails. Teams can connect tools such as Sentry, SonarQube, Notion, Git, and cloud providers through plugins, and coordinate CI/CD workflows with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or Cycloid's Native Runner. Cloud Cost Management lists AWS, GCP, and Azure, with other providers available for integration if needed. Deployment options include SaaS, dedicated SaaS, self-hosted, and hybrid; air-gapped operation is described for self-hosted deployments. Cycloid says its API is documented in Swagger, and its CLI documentation lists GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows. A free SaaS plan covers up to five users and one workspace. The listed Advanced plan is $45 a month billed annually; pricing notes give a starting point of $29/user/mo annually. Infra Import is beta and excluded from the standard support SLA.