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Backstage vs. Visual Studio App Center (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Backstage

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ABackstage is an open source framework for building developer portals. Powered by a centralized software catalog, Backstage restores order to microservices and infrastructure and enables product teams to ship code quickly without compromising autonomy.

    $0

    Visual Studio App Center (discontinued)

    Score6.9 out of 10
    N/AVisual Studio App Center was a solution used to build, test, release, and monitor mobile and desktop apps, as well as to continuously monitor real-time performance. The product was discontinued in March 2025, and is no longer available.

    $40

    per month per build concurrency

    Pricing
    BackstageVisual Studio App Center (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Builds
    $40
    per month per build concurrency
    Standard Test Plan
    $99
    per month per build concurrency
    Enterprise Test Plan
    $499
    per month per build concurrency
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BackstageVisual Studio App Center (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    BackstageVisual Studio App Center (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Azure DevOps
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Azure DevOps Server
    Score8.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BackstageVisual Studio App Center (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BackstageVisual Studio App Center (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    Backstage is well suited in building developer portal or developer platform. It can be easily customized as well, so different companies can use it based on their own situation. It currently focus more on frontend, but I can see there is already a roadmap for improving backend with some core modules. After that has been introduced, it will become really powerful and save developers time to solve common problems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Honestly, it's an all around solution that needs some enhancements. Need to build an app, check! Need to test that app, check! Need to debug that app, check! Visual Studio App Center is a well rounded platform for multiple types of builds and services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Open Source
    • developer portal
    • easy to onboard
    • easy to extend
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • It supplies the right native integration for test cases both IOS and Android
    • Constant device updates means you are working with the right builds to support product use cases
    • Excels in automated test cases that are easy to implement, monitor, and digest results
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Open Source
    • it may provide more modules that can solve common problems
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Webview support was lacking
    • User management seems a bit disconnected from the standard Microsoft ecosystem. Almost feels like you are managing local users and sharing access more than an enterprise solution
    • Price could be better
    • Buggy on some of the latest versions of windows
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    The biggest benefit is in integrations and plug-ins, as well as the fact that it's not open source. I know open source is popular, but we have all been on the downside of open source and waiting for things to be voted up or a contribution to fix an issue. This alone makes VSAC a nice solution! Plus, it comes with a complete IDE integration of services, documentation, and is light weight
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    • It speeds up our progress on building our own developer portal
    • It's free to use so very little investment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Cut down on time to delivery enhancements and overall builds to users
    • Helps test new proposed releases with ease
    • Cuts down on local build issues as it does do a good job with local development environments as well
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots