Last updated June 10th 2024
  Backstage logo

What is Backstage In 2025? Insights & Overview

An open source platform for unified, standardized management of backend services and tools.

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What is Backstage?

An open source platform for unified, standardized management of backend services and tools.

Backstage, an open-source platform developed by Spotify, centralizes management of developer services and infrastructure. It features a software catalog for managing all components, a scaffolder for creating service components, Techdocs for technical documentation, a search tool for locating information, and Kubernetes monitoring for real-time insights. By consolidating services, documentation, and infrastructure tools into a unified frontend, Backstage promotes efficient and organized infrastructure management.

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Possible Internal Developer Portal Use Cases for Backstage

Platform Orchestration

Platform orchestration is indispensable for maintaining scalability, reliability, and efficiency within complex platform architectures. It automates deployment and management tasks, diminishes manual labor, and ensures consistent operations across the platform. As a vital use case in platform engineering, platform orchestration manages and coordinates the deployment, scaling, and lifecycle of services and applications on the platform.

Container Visualization

Container visualization tools in platform engineering provide a graphical depiction of the cluster (e.g., Kubernetes cluster) and its resources. These tools help platform engineering teams gain insights into the cluster's health, resource allocation, and application deployments, making it easier to understand and manage the complex interactions within container environments. By visualizing the container environment, platform engineers can make informed decisions and effectively operate and maintain their platforms.

Internal Developer Portal (IDP)

An internal developer portal (IDP), often referred to as an internal API portal or developer hub, acts as a central resource for developers within an organization. It provides a self-service environment for developers to discover and utilize internal APIs, tools, documentation, and resources for application and integration development. This portal centralizes knowledge and resources, encourages best practices, and nurtures a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

Service Catalog

In platform engineering, a service catalog is essential for enhancing collaboration, promoting reuse, and streamlining the consumption of services and APIs. It offers a comprehensive overview of platform services, enabling software developers to discover, understand, and use these services efficiently.

Platform as a Product

The concept of "Platform as a Product" focuses on considering the platform itself as a product, delivering value to its developer users. It involves applying product management principles to the platform's development and management. Adopting this mindset enables platform engineering teams to create platforms that provide value, drive innovation, and cultivate a robust ecosystem. This approach ensures that the platform is developer-friendly and evolves with changing needs and technological advances.

Backstage Alternatives

We’ve listed the products and solutions that are commonly to Backstage below.

  Port logo

An internal developer portal for building a service/software catalog and enabling self-service.

  Cortex logo

Cortex is an Internal Developer Portal (IDP) designed to streamline and enhance the efficiency of engineering teams.

  Humanitec logo

An enterprise-grade platform for building standardized configurations and workflows.

  Harness logo

Harness IDP streamlines software management, automates service onboarding, centralizes documentation, and integrates with plugins.

  Configure8 logo

An internal developer portal for accelerating velocity and achieving high standards.

  Cycloid logo

A sustainable engineering platform for empowering people and boosting software delivery.