Backstage vs OpsLevel
Zero of fourteen models named Backstage first on the direct prompt; zero named OpsLevel. Both were named by all fourteen models and Backstage carries 67 labels and OpsLevel 41, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category 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 October 2026 Edition, Backstage and OpsLevel were named in the same answer ninety-four times, of the 197 answers naming Backstage and the 112 naming OpsLevel. In those answers OpsLevel took the first choice nine times and Backstage twenty-five.
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 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| 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
Neither was the first choice, one was named
11 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
3 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
Backstage23%#2 of 7OpsLevel2%#3 of 7Backstage23%#2 of 9OpsLevel8%#4 of 9Backstage22%#2 of 9OpsLevel3%#7 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.
“Strongly Avoid ... Backstage is a framework, not a finished product. Many organizations treat it as such and end up disappointed.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“At 500 people, avoid self-hosting raw Backstage unless you have a dedicated, well-funded Developer Experience team.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · hard negative
“Why Not Backstage for Mid-Sized Companies? ... it's generally not ideal for mid-sized B2B companies” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Backstage - an open-source developer portal framework created by Spotify that acts as a central interface for services, documentation, and engineering workflows.” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Compare a self-managed Backstage option, a managed Backstage option such as Roadie, and configurable commercial portals such as Port and Cortex.” GPT-6 Luna · scale prompt · first choice
“Backstage is often treated as the portal framework standard and a starting point for teams that want full control” Perplexity Sonar · comparative 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 eight in this category shown.
“Most proprietary portals (Port.io, OpsLevel, Atlassian Compass, etc.) carry vendor lock-in risks” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Commercial tools like Cortex and OpsLevel often require 6+ months to implement.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · scale prompt · soft negative
“OpsLevel - Limited Flexibility ... Rigid data model” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“OpsLevel: The best option if you want a quick, service-catalog-first setup with straightforward ownership and maturity tracking.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“you likely want a managed SaaS portal (Port, OpsLevel, or Cortex)” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Top Recommendation: Port or OpsLevel” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
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.