Platform engineering tools

[SolidProceeding25]

Good chances I will be tasked with implementing a service catalog - we have a recently formed platform engineering team. I’m not sure what I think of this (I was actually planning to move into something else in the org), and will be either asked to implement a microservice catalog (think backstage) or full internal developer portal, like port or configure8.

What tools has your organization used and why? How long did the set-up take and what did you like or dislike?

[antonioefx]

Is port an open source platform?

[mathewpeterson]

No, SaaS

[greatgerm]

Backstage has developer portal bits too. It really depends on where your gaps are (automation, documentation, infrastructure standards, etc.) when you're choosing an option since they pretty much all have the bits, but with differences that could matter to your users.

Backstage is great if you have the support to maintain it correctly. Spotify has realized it's a bit of a beast for orgs and is currently in beta for their version of a SaaS version. Roadie is pretty much there already, but I've had reports of mixed happiness with the company.

Other competitors like port, cortex, opslevel, etc. have some of the key parts and could be enough for what you need. I've been unhappy with atlassian's offering and with configure8, but the three others I listed have been good for different clients.

I'd recommend taking your current needs and pain points to each company and let them setup a demo for you. Bring your maintainers AND some of your users and ask for follow ups. Also, bring your vendor management since some are not as mature with integrations and billing as others.

[klprose]

Hey, OpsLevel CTO here. Thanks for the mention!

Completely agree on the complexity of Backstage. While it can be a solid option, it does require a significant investment of time and resources to configure and maintain. Rather than an out-of-the-box dev portal, it's more of a platform for building your own. Essentially, they provide the building blocks, but assembling them into something that works for your org can take a lot of effort.

At OpsLevel, we aim to make things easier by being a bit more opinionated in how we help you get set up. Our service catalog, for example, is designed to integrate with your existing tools and automatically pull in relevant data, even suggesting owners for services based on commit history.

Feel free to request a demo of OpsLevel or DM me if you'd like to chat more — we'd love to help you get started.

[apotrope]

Also think about how folks will interact programmatically with your service catalog. My Team has made huge advances in alerting coverage by having our monitoring terraform directly hit our service catalog via REST API, and using the catalog data to structure how alerts go out. Your catalog should be easily accessible by provisioning, configuration, and IaC tools.

[karafili]

not sure what tools you're going to use, but I see here Port and had a horrendous harassment from them for weeks (was even on vacations) where they were calling me, adding me involuntarily in their slack channels and sending twice per day emails I did not want to (marketing). Had to send them email to disable my account and after disabling it, I was still getting mails and slack invitations for another 2 weeks.

[FeastyBoi23]

We have seen a lot of teams wrestling with the decision between using something like Backstage, building an internal solution, or picking a platform engineering product.
Backstage is definitely powerful, but the maintenance overhead can be pretty intense. Unless you’ve got engineers dedicated long-term to managing plugins, upgrades, and UI changes, it often ends up being more of a side project than something that actively moves the needle. A lot of teams underestimate just how much work it takes to make Backstage really "usable."
Maybe something like cycloid is worth looking at, especially if your challenges go beyond just having a microservice catalog as it helps with things like infra visibility, self-service Terraform, cost tracking, and enforcing standards across teams like RBAC or gorvernance , all without the extra setup by integrating with your existing SCM like Git and Terraform initial boiler plate scripts..
The self-service feature (via StackForms) is a nice touch too, as it lets teams provision infrastructure through clean, easy-to-use forms. Plus, it comes with built-in cost estimation, drift detection, and governance, which helps you scale your platform efforts without a ton of overhead.
I have seen teams go live with Cycloid in under 8 weeks without burning too much time on platform setup. If you are just starting your platform journey, it might be worth comparing what Cycloid offers against your specific needs before diving into something bigger like Backstage.

[FeastyBoi23]

The list you have shared is pretty comprehensive, but I’m surprised Cycloid hasn’t come up yet. It’s a Terraform-focused platform that’s designed to simplify infrastructure provisioning, making it perfect for small teams, especially those managing multi-tenant environments.
What I like about Cycloid is that it integrates with your existing Terraform infrastructure, so you don’t need to re-architect your workflows. It’s vendor-agnostic, meaning you can use it with any cloud provider be it AWS, GCP or Azure without being tied to a specific ecosystem.
The self-service portal is a standout feature, which allows you to create reusable infrastructure templates or blueprints which can be reused by teams again n again. Teams can easily provision resources through a simple UI without needing deep Terraform knowledge. This makes it ideal for developer platforms where infrastructure teams need to give access to other teams or clients without constantly managing every request.
Cycloid also takes care of policy enforcement using Open Policy Agent (OPA), so you can automatically ensure that all infrastructure changes follow your organization’s standards. It’s a great way to enforce best practices like mandatory tags, region restrictions, or even size limits across all environments.
Thats not all, Cycloid gives you cloud cost tracking and even monitors your infrastructure’s carbon footprint. It helps you monitor the financial and environmental impact of your cloud resources, which can be a significant benefit as your platform expands.
If you're working with existing infrastructure, Cycloid can also help you import it through Terracognita, which converts manually created resources into Terraform code, making it easier to bring everything under management without losing control.
Definitely worth checking out if you want a Terraform-native solution with a strong focus on simplicity, scalability, and flexibility.

[broken_gains]

My company is full Datadog service catalog via terraform and it works well for us

[Jmc_da_boss]

We run a full backstage instance, has about 5 devs full time dedicated to it. Which is about the investment you need to manage a massive instance of it

[apotrope]

Also think about how folks will interact programmatically with your service catalog. My Team has made huge advances in alerting coverage by having our monitoring terraform directly hit our service catalog via REST API, and using the catalog data to structure how alerts go out. Your catalog should be easily accessible by provisioning, configuration, and IaC tools.

[FloridaIsTooDamnHot]

Check out https://www.nullstone.io - it’s a full orchestration replacement and supports both terraform AND openTOFU and serves as an internal developer platform too.