Question 1

How is Cortex priced?

Accepted Answer

Cortex uses a per-seat model with pricing that scales based on org size. Pricing is customized. Contact the team for a quote.

Question 2

We're considering building our own internal tool. Why buy Cortex instead?

Accepted Answer

Most internal builds work well for 1 - 6 months, then break under maintenance, edge cases, and team turnover. The features that matter most, including cross-team ownership enforcement, org-level DORA & DRIVE metrics, and AI-powered queries, take years to build well. Cortex delivers them on day one and keeps up with your toolchain as it evolves.

The total cost of a custom build includes initial build time, ongoing maintenance, the opportunity cost of engineers not working on your product, and the features that never get prioritized.

Question 3

What integrations does Cortex support?

Accepted Answer

50+ native integrations including GitHub, GitLab, Jira, PagerDuty, Datadog, New Relic, Snyk, Kubernetes, AWS, and more. The full list is at cortex.io/integrations. Cortex also supports custom data via API, webhooks, and CQL for any data source not covered natively.

Question 4

What does implementation look like, and how long does it take?

Accepted Answer

Implementation involves connecting your data sources through integrations, building out your engineering catalog, and configuring scorecards and workflows that matter to your team. Most teams see usable data and early insights within the first sprint (1-2 weeks). Full value, with custom integrations, multi-team catalog setup, and mature scorecards, takes longer and varies based on your setup complexity, but it's still significantly faster than the months (or longer) required for self-hosted or build-your-own platforms.

Question 5

What does Cortex do that my existing tool stack can't?

Accepted Answer

Your existing tools are great at capturing data; Cortex is what brings it all together. Systems like GitHub, PagerDuty, and Datadog give valuable insight within their own domains, but they operate in silos. Cortex connects those sources into a single platform that understands how your services, teams, and processes fit together. It turns raw data into visibility, accountability, and measurable progress, showing not just what is happening, but where to focus and how to improve.

Question 6

Is Cortex SaaS or self-hosted?

Accepted Answer

Cortex is cloud-hosted SaaS, running on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). There is no infrastructure for you to host or maintain.

Question 7

How many engineers do I need to maintain Cortex?

Accepted Answer

You'll want a dedicated owner or small team to oversee your Cortex instance: managing integrations, catalog governance, scorecard updates, and ensuring teams are adopting it effectively. But you're not maintaining infrastructure, building custom plugins, or writing code to keep the platform running. That's the key difference from self-hosted or open-source portals, which typically require dedicated engineers just to manage the operational overhead. With Cortex, your engineers focus on stewardship, not maintenance.

Pricing built for your engineering org

Frequently asked questions