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What does Backstage consulting and implementation include?

Backstage is an open-source framework for building an internal developer portal. Our Backstage work sets up the portal, connects the services you choose in the kickoff and adds basic views: the service and API catalog, deploy status, cost, image vulnerabilities and CI health. It sits inside platform engineering, so the pipelines and infrastructure under the portal get built too. IDP Foundations is USD 5,000, fixed, 2 weeks.

A portal with nothing underneath is a list of links. We build the pipelines, promotion rules and infrastructure as code that the portal reads from, so the catalog shows what is actually deployed.

What you get, step by step

Everything in the package, in the order it lands. The price and the duration stay the same.

  1. Step 1: The platform

    Set up and build your internal developer platform.

  2. Step 2: Your services

    Connect the services you choose in the kickoff to it.

  3. Step 3: Views

    Basic views on top of it, for example the service and API catalog, deploy status, cost, image vulnerabilities and CI health, as in MPI's portal.

  4. 2 weeks

    USD 5,000

Want to keep going after the package? Add engineers by the hour at the published rates, with a 6-month minimum term. How staff augmentation works.

Proven on real work

Real clients, dated figures, and a plain note on what was not done.

What is in the Backstage portal we built for a fintech SaaS platform?

For a fintech portfolio-analytics SaaS platform on AWS EKS, we built a Backstage portal with 22 modules across 10 plugins in October 2026. It includes:

  • Service and API catalogs generated from OpenAPI, and a dependency map.
  • Deploy status for every service.
  • FinOps cost per service, with figures that come straight from the cloud billing API.
  • Image vulnerabilities.
  • CI health, with 30-day flake and retry statistics.
  • Profiling diffs between deploys.

Prefer to pay by the hour?

Add engineers to your own team at the published rates instead of buying a package.

  • You interviewYou meet the engineer who will do the work.
  • 6-month minimumBilled per hour worked.
  • Free replacementIf they leave or don't fit, we replace them and cover the handover at no cost.
See how staff augmentation works
  • Lead / ArchitectUSD55–⁠60per hour
  • SeniorUSD45–⁠50per hour
  • MidUSD35–⁠40per hour
  • JuniorUSD30per hour

USD per hour, drawn to one scale

Frequently asked questions

What is Backstage used for?

Backstage is an open-source framework for an internal developer portal: a catalog of services and APIs, templates to create new services, and plugins that show deploys, cost, vulnerabilities and CI health in one place.

How long does a Backstage implementation take?

The first version in IDP Foundations is fixed at 2 weeks and USD 5,000: setup, the services you choose in the kickoff and basic views. Anything beyond that scope is a separate conversation; the fintech portal above reached 22 modules.

How much does a Backstage implementation cost?

IDP Foundations is USD 5,000, fixed price, 2 weeks. Hosting depends on your cloud and we do not publish an estimate for it. The Backstage cost page shows the rest of our arithmetic.

Do you build custom Backstage plugins?

Yes. The fintech portal has 22 modules across 10 plugins, built in October 2026, and the transportation portal runs 35+ backend plugins.

Can the portal show cost per service?

Yes. In the fintech portal, the cost figures come straight from the cloud billing API.

Can Backstage create new services from templates?

Yes. The transportation portal has 11 self-service templates and golden-path skeletons for five stacks, including .NET, Python and Node.js.

Backstage or Port?

It depends on who owns the portal's code and hosting, whether you need custom plugins, and whether a subscription is worth more to you than the upkeep. We make no claim about Port's pricing or features.

Can I add Backstage engineers to my team by the hour?

Yes, with staff augmentation: USD 55–⁠60 an hour for a Lead or Architect, 45–⁠50 Senior, 35–⁠40 Mid and 30 Junior, with a 6-month minimum.

What is the difference between Backstage and an internal developer platform?

Backstage is the portal layer: a catalog, templates and plugins that give your developers one place for services. An internal developer platform is everything the portal reads from and triggers: pipelines, infrastructure as code, promotion rules and security controls. A portal on its own shows links; the platform underneath makes what it shows true. We build both, and IDP Foundations covers the first version of each.

What is in the Backstage portal at a US transportation services company?

A US transportation services company runs 150+ active repositories on multi-cluster Kubernetes on a major cloud. Our platform team of 6 has worked there since December 2025, and the portal has been live since spring 2026, in high availability. It includes:

  • 11 self-service templates.
  • Golden-path skeletons for five stacks, including .NET, Python and Node.js.
  • About 66 repositories and 73 components in the catalog.
  • 35+ backend plugins.

Should you build on Backstage or buy a hosted portal such as Port?

Answer three questions. Who will own the portal's code and hosting? With open-source Backstage, your team does. Do your catalog, promotion and cost views need custom plugins? With Backstage those are code you write and maintain. Is a hosted product's subscription worth more to you than that upkeep? We built two Backstage portals and can show what the plugins took. Discovery ends with the decision written in the roadmap.

Tell us your case.

We reply to every request within 1 business day. We sign an NDA before the call if you ask.

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