Backstage, an open-source framework developed by Spotify for building internal developer portals, has been pivotal in promoting platform engineering but poses significant implementation challenges due to its complex setup, maintenance demands, and the need for extensive customization. Organizations often face hurdles with development efforts, time, and maintainability, leading to a low adoption rate compared to the anticipated benefits of streamlined infrastructure management and enhanced developer autonomy. Several commercial alternatives, such as Port, Cortex, OpsLevel, and Atlassian Compass, offer varying degrees of flexibility, customization, and integration capabilities, often providing quicker deployment and a more comprehensive feature set. Port distinguishes itself by offering a no-code/low-code platform that supports a wide range of self-service actions and integrations, enhancing developer productivity and standards compliance. Managed Backstage solutions like Spotify Portal for Backstage and Roadie aim to simplify Backstage usage with additional features but still face limitations inherent to Backstage's architecture. As organizations evaluate internal developer portal options, considerations include total cost of ownership, flexibility, ease of integration, and the ability to evolve with changing organizational needs.