BackstagevsPulse
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Backstage | Pulse | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #8 of 166 in Developer Tools | #2 of 19 in Infrastructure Monitoring |
| GitHub stars | 34 732 | 6 970 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +50 | +229 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 14 | 43 |
| Latest release | v1.57.0-next.0 · 27 Oct 2026 | helm-chart-6.6.0 · 25 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Typescript | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Backstage scores 78/100 against 71/100 for Pulse, so it is the safer default.
Pulse ships more often: 43 stable releases in the past year, against 14 for Backstage.
If you want the quickest setup, Pulse is easier to run; Backstage needs more configuration.
Pulse is growing faster right now (+229 stars in 30 days).
Backstage details →Pulse details →