Backstage vs OpsLevel
Zero of fourteen models named Backstage first on the direct prompt; one named OpsLevel. Both were named by all fourteen models and Backstage carries 72 labels and OpsLevel 42, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the internal developer portals page.
By framing
BackstageFirst choices, of fourteen modelsOpsLevel
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Backstage and OpsLevel were named in the same answer 110 times, of the 218 answers naming Backstage and the 124 naming OpsLevel. In those answers OpsLevel took the first choice four times and Backstage twenty-seven.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | | |
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Backstage OpsLevel first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Backstage on the left and OpsLevel on the right.The direct prompt
OpsLevel first, Backstage an alternative
1 of 14 modelsBackstage was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
9 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
Backstage11%#2 of 7OpsLevel2%#5 of 7Backstage24%#2 of 9OpsLevel0%#9 of 9What the models said about Backstage
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“it is arguably the biggest trap for companies without a dedicated "Platform Team" of at least 3–5 senior engineers” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Backstage unless you have a dedicated platform engineering team and >1,000 developers” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Self-Hosting Backstage unless you have 2+ dedicated platform engineers” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · hard negative
“The Best Overall Choice (Zero Monetary Cost): Backstage ... the de facto industry standard for open-source developer portals” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Many teams start with Backstage for its flexibility but later discover they need more managed solutions” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“the best choice is usually open-source Backstage — if you can afford some engineering time” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about OpsLevel
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Proprietary Closed‑Source Portals (e.g., Port.io, OpsLevel, Atlassian Compass) | *Vendor lock‑in.*” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · soft negative
“proprietary portals (Port.io, OpsLevel, Atlassian Compass, etc.) carry vendor lock-in risks” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“Proprietary SaaS IDPs with Rigid Lock-In (Port, Cortex, OpsLevel)... Data Model Lock-In” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“I'd recommend Cortex or OpsLevel” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“OpsLevel if automated cataloging, service ownership, and enforcing engineering standards are the main goals.” GPT-6 Luna · direct prompt · alternative
“When to choose OpsLevel: If automated catalog discovery and "maturity" tracking are your biggest pain points” Grok 4.20 · paraphrase prompt · alternative
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.