diff --git a/doc/api.rst b/doc/api.rst
index 85ef46ca6ba..103f3984512 100644
--- a/doc/api.rst
+++ b/doc/api.rst
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Top-level functions
    dot
    polyval
    map_blocks
+   show_backends
    show_versions
    set_options
    get_options
diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index 08e6218ca14..dc94c7c10f6 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ v.2024.12.0 (unreleased)
 
 New Features
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
+- Add :py:func:`~xarray.show_backends` alias for :py:func:`~xarray.backends.list_engines` (:issue:`6577`, :pull:`9821`).
+  By `Nick Hodgskin <https://github.com/VeckoTheGecko>`_.
 - Better support wrapping additional array types (e.g. ``cupy`` or ``jax``) by calling generalized
   duck array operations throughout more xarray methods. (:issue:`7848`, :pull:`9798`).
   By `Sam Levang <https://github.com/slevang>`_.
diff --git a/xarray/__init__.py b/xarray/__init__.py
index 622c927b468..7a31d5eb4a9 100644
--- a/xarray/__init__.py
+++ b/xarray/__init__.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     open_mfdataset,
     save_mfdataset,
 )
+from xarray.backends.plugins import show_backends
 from xarray.backends.zarr import open_zarr
 from xarray.coding.cftime_offsets import cftime_range, date_range, date_range_like
 from xarray.coding.cftimeindex import CFTimeIndex
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@
     "register_datatree_accessor",
     "save_mfdataset",
     "set_options",
+    "show_backends",
     "show_versions",
     "unify_chunks",
     "where",
diff --git a/xarray/backends/plugins.py b/xarray/backends/plugins.py
index 555538c2562..c4e09b5939f 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/plugins.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/plugins.py
@@ -132,6 +132,19 @@ def list_engines() -> dict[str, BackendEntrypoint]:
     return build_engines(entrypoints)
 
 
+def show_backends() -> dict[str, BackendEntrypoint]:
+    """
+    Return a dictionary of available engines and their BackendEntrypoint objects.
+
+    This function is an alias for ``xarray.backends.list_engines``.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    dictionary
+    """
+    return list_engines()
+
+
 def refresh_engines() -> None:
     """Refreshes the backend engines based on installed packages."""
     list_engines.cache_clear()
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_plugins.py b/xarray/tests/test_plugins.py
index 2b321ba8dfc..4f9b07725e6 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_plugins.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_plugins.py
@@ -276,6 +276,13 @@ def test_list_engines() -> None:
     assert "store" in engines
 
 
+def test_show_engines() -> None:
+    from xarray import show_backends
+    from xarray.backends import list_engines
+
+    assert show_backends() == list_engines()
+
+
 def test_refresh_engines() -> None:
     from xarray.backends import list_engines, refresh_engines