# Backstage vs next-ai-draw-io

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Backstage | next-ai-draw-io |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 79/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #8 of 166 in Developer Tools | #2 of 12 in Diagramming |
| GitHub stars | 34 732 | 36 465 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +50 | +439 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 14 ✓ | 11 |
| Latest release | v1.57.0-next.0 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ | v0.5.0 · 10 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

next-ai-draw-io scores 79/100 against 78/100 for Backstage, so it is the safer default.

Backstage ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 11 for next-ai-draw-io.

If you want the quickest setup, next-ai-draw-io is easier to run; Backstage needs more configuration.

next-ai-draw-io is growing faster right now (+439 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Backstage](https://selfhost.directory/project/backstage) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/backstage.md)
- [next-ai-draw-io](https://selfhost.directory/project/next-ai-draw-io) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/next-ai-draw-io.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/backstage-vs-next-ai-draw-io