I remember there was an open-source internal developer platform project called Port that often got compared to Backstage. I was searching for open-source platforms today and realized there's no info on Port anymore. The website getport.io now redirects to port.io, which seems to be a completely closed SaaS platform. Did I misremember, or did something happen to it?
4 Answers
I actually don't recall Port ever being open source. I started working with them as a partner a couple of years ago, and they were operating differently back then.
It seems like Port took the classic VC-backed startup route, where they used the open-source approach as a marketing strategy. After gaining some traction, they pivoted to being a SaaS-only platform. You can still find the open-source version on GitHub if you look for it, but they pretty much dropped the community support once they had paying customers.
Port is pretty opinionated right out of the box, while Backstage is less so but needs a lot more configuration. I’ve seen some Backstage projects fizzle out before really taking off, so having something that works immediately can be pretty beneficial.
Port and Backstage are still the two main players in the internal developer platform scene. Port is designed to work out of the box, while Backstage is open source. Companies that aren’t big enough to handle creating and managing a Backstage setup usually opt for Port.
That's interesting! I've always thought it was open source, but maybe I got it mixed up.