Pagerduty is a popular Incident Management platform that helps teams respond to alerts and incidents quickly and efficiently. However, its pricing structure can be complex and expensive for scaling businesses and Incident Response teams. In this blog post, we will compare the top 9 Pagerduty alternatives in 2023, and help you to choose the best one for your needs.

Pricing Pain Point of Pagerduty

‍Pagerduty’s pricing plans start at $21/user/month. This plan misses out on most basic functionalities and if you need a plan with enough features to cover basic Incident Management functions it can get quite expensive – we’re talking upwards of $41/user/month. Also features like Runbook Automation, Stakeholder License, Status Pages etc. are not a part of these standard plans and are sold as costly add-ons.

Additionally, Pagerduty charges extra for support as well!‍

List of top Pagerduty Alternatives

• Squadcast
• Opsgenie
• xMatters
• Moogsoft
• Alertops
• Bigpanda
• Splunk On-Call (VictorOps)
• Firehydrant
• Better uptime

1. Squadcast (Free and Paid)

The first platform we want to showcase is, of course, Squadcast.

Squadcast is a great Pagerduty alternative. It packs On-Call, Incident Response, and Reliability Workflows, the three important pieces in a robust Incident Management setup under one unified platform. The platform is also competitively priced and comes with a 14-day free trial where you can experience all its features from advanced automations to Workflows!

Below are some features of Squadcast

‍

• On-Call Management with customizable Schedules, Escalation Policies, Intelligent Alert Routing, and Multi-Channel notifications

• Incident Response features with integrated communication channels, supportive Runbooks, Custom APIs and Webhooks

• Workflows to automate incident tasks and resolution

• Advanced Reliability metrics and SLO tracking

• Built-in Private and Public Status Pages‍

Squadcast Pricing:

Squadcast offers a transparent pricing structure along with a free plan for up to 5 users. Paid plans start at $9/month/user for your On-Call needs and go up to $21/user/month for their Enterprise plan, the top tier that includes all advanced features as well.

2. Opsgenie (Free and Paid)

Opsgenie is one of the oldest Incident Management platforms founded in 2012 and later acquired by Atlassian in 2018. Since its acquisition in 2019, the product has not seen any updates and has been given lackluster support and reliability from the Atlassian team. There have been some reported instances of the platform being down for more than 2 weeks. However, it still is a good alternative to Pagerduty and provides a centralized platform for managing alerts, escalations, on-call schedules, and communications at a fair price.

Below are some features of Opsgenie

• Alert Routing: Routes alerts to the appropriate team members, ensuring that critical alerts are not missed.
• Schedule Management: Provides tools for managing on-call schedules and ensuring that the right people are notified when incidents occur.
• Reporting: Provides reporting tools that can be used to identify trends and improve incident response processes.

Opsgenie Pricing

Opsgenie offers a variety of pricing plans to suit the needs of businesses of all sizes. The Free plan is ideal for small businesses with up to 5 users, while the Essentials plan ($9/month/user) is a good option for businesses that need more advanced alerting and on-call management features. The Standard ($19/user/month) and Enterprise ($29/user/month) plans are designed for larger businesses that need even more comprehensive features and support.

3. xMatters (Free and Paid)

xMatters is an Incident Management platform that offers a decent range of features at a slightly lower price tag compared to Pagerduty. While it may not be the most advanced or feature-rich solution in the market, it provides a solid foundation for managing alerts, Escalations, On-Call schedules, and communications. For organizations seeking a reliable, albeit a bit rudimentary alternative to PagerDuty, xMatters could be a viable option.

Below are some features of xMatters

• Automated Incident Management for handling issues efficiently.
• On-Call scheduling and alerting for timely issue resolution.
• Workflow automation for proactive issue resolution and task streamlining.

xMatters Pricing 

xMatters offers a variety of pricing plans to suit the needs of businesses of all sizes. The company's most basic plan is free to use. Paid plans start at $9/month/user and the plan that covers some advanced Incident Management functions costs $39/user/month. However, when it comes to large-scale deployments the pricing model is not transparent.

4. Moogsoft (Paid)

Moogsoft, is an AIOps platform founded in 2011 and acquired by Dell in Aug 2023, it offers a range of features for managing IT operations. Its ability to integrate with various monitoring tools and its machine learning algorithms make it a viable alternative to PagerDuty for identifying and resolving incidents proactively. However, some users have reported occasional stability issues and limited customization options. Overall, Moogsoft is a solid choice for teams seeking a comprehensive AIOps solution.

Below are some features of Moogsoft

• Incident detection: Moogsoft employs anomaly detection and machine learning algorithms to identify incidents in real-time.
• Root cause identification: It utilizes advanced correlation and ML-based auto-classification for rapid incident root cause analysis.
• Automated incident response: It also automates aspects of incident management, including task routing, remediation initiation, and incident closure.

Moogsoft Pricing

Moogsoft has an opaque pricing model and requires one to contact the team and a custom quote will be given based on the customer's requirements. Some factors that will affect the pricing are the number of users, the number of applications being tested, and the desired level of support.

5. AlertOps (Free and Paid)

AlertOps is an established Incident Management platform, founded in 2014, that offers a range of features for managing alerts, escalations, on-call schedules, and communications. It serves as a viable alternative to PagerDuty, particularly for organizations seeking a more cost-effective solution. However, some users have noted that AlertOps can be less user-friendly than PagerDuty and that its reporting capabilities are not as robust.

Below are some features of AlertOps

• On-call scheduling: AlertOps offers a scheduling tool for assigning on-call responsibilities.
• Call routing: It can route inbound calls to the appropriate on-call personnel.
• Workflow automation: It also provides automation capabilities for streamlining incident response processes.

AlertOps Pricing 

AlertOps offers four pricing plans, including Starter ($0/month), Standard ($5/user/month), Premium ($15/user/month), and Enterprise ($23/user/month). Each plan comes with different features, such as easy on-call scheduling, enriched alerts, and advanced incident response automation.

6. BigPanda (Paid)

BigPanda is a leading AIOps event correlation and automation platform that has been lauded for its innovative approach to Incident Management. Founded in 2012, BigPanda has quickly gained market share due to its ability to help organizations prevent and resolve outages before they impact customers. However, in recent years, BigPanda has been criticized for its lack of focus on customer support and its high price tag. Despite these criticisms, BigPanda is still a good Pagerduty alternative.

Below are some features of BigPanda

• Event correlation: BigPanda's event correlation capabilities help IT operations teams identify incidents early, potentially preventing outages.
• Root cause analysis: It provides tools to quickly identify the source of incidents, facilitating faster resolution.
• Automated incident response: It also automates certain incident response tasks, streamlining the process.

BigPanda Pricing 

BigPanda offers a SaaS-based pricing model with different tiers based on the number of nodes monitored. However, there is no transparency on the pricing as BigPanda gives a custom quote based on individual customer requirements and these have been reported to be on the expensive side.

7. Splunk On-Call | Formerly VictorOps (Free and Paid)

VictorOps is another well-established incident management platform, founded in 2012 and acquired by Splunk in 2018. While it may not be as widely known as PagerDuty, VictorOps offers a comprehensive solution for managing alerts, escalations, on-call schedules, and communications, all at a competitive price point. Its robust features make it a strong contender in the incident management space.

Below are some features of Splunk On-Call

• Streamlined On-Call Management: Splunk On-Call automates On-Call scheduling and escalation policies, easing the administrative burden.
• Data-Driven Insights: It provides detailed reporting and analytics to identify trends, optimize incident response, and minimize alert noise.
• Automated Workflows: It can also automate time-sensitive actions, such as escalations and war room notifications, ensuring prompt incident handling.

Splunk On-Call Pricing 

Splunk On-Call is offered on a SaaS-based pricing model. However, the pricing is not transparent and varies depending on requirements.

8. FireHydrant (Free and Paid) 

FireHydrant is a modern Incident Management platform that has quickly gained popularity among engineering teams. Founded in 2016, FireHydrant has been praised for its user-friendly interface, powerful features, and reliable performance. However, the platform has been criticized for its limited customization options. Despite these limitations, FireHydrant is still a great alternative to Pagerduty.

Below are some features of Firehydrant 

• Incident Analytics Dashboard: Provides a comprehensive overview of incidents.
• Event Tracking: Automatically tracks incident events, generating an accurate timeline.
• Service Catalog: Centralized repository for service information, breaking down knowledge silos.

FireHydrant Pricing

FireHydrant offers a free plan and 2 paid plans Pro ($500/month) for 20 users and Enterprise (Custom). The Free plan includes basic incident management features, such as alerting and notifications, event correlation and analysis, and root cause analysis. The Pro plan includes additional features, such as incident management and response automation, ChatOps integrations, and enterprise support.

9. Uptime | Formerly Better Uptime (Free and Paid)

Better Uptime founded in 2021 is a relatively new uptime monitoring and Incident Management platform that has gained traction due to its user-friendly interface and competitive pricing. While it offers a comprehensive suite of monitoring and management tools, it is best suited for smaller teams and has yet to establish a long-standing track record compared to more established players like PagerDuty.

Below are some features of Uptime

• On-call schedule calendar: Enables configuring the team's on-call duty rotations.
• Flexible incident escalations: Allows customizing notification recipients based on incident parameters.
• Incident audit timeline: Provides a second-by-second overview of incident progression.

Better Uptime Pricing 

Better Uptime offers a variety of website monitoring plans to suit different needs and budgets. They have a free plan and three paid plans. Paid plans start at $25 per month and go up to $170 per month/team.

Choosing the right Pagerduty alternative

If you are looking for a Pagerduty alternative, there is a good chance it could be due to high costs or poor support. If that’s true then transparent pricing and good support would be the first problems you would be looking to solve.

On-Call and incident management are very critical functions to ensure the reliability of your infrastructure and having the right setup to maintain it is important. The above Pagerduty alternatives can be a good option to meet your needs. Each has its unique set of capabilities and pricing structure. However, if you are looking for something that can seamlessly replace Pagerduty with excellent support, an easy to use interface and competitive pricing then Squadcast is an excellent option.

Getting started with Squadcast

Getting started with Squadcast is easy. Simply sign up for the 14 day free trial to test out the platform. If you are migrating from Pagerduty, you can make use of Squadcast’s Pagerduty migrator which will help you migrate all the configurations from your existing Pagerduty account.

Wishing you luck in your quest to find the right Pagerduty alternative!

Squadcast is a Reliability Workflow platform that integrates On-Call alerting and Incident Management along with SRE workflows in one offering. Designed for a zero-friction setup, ease of use and clean UI, it helps developers, SREs and On-Call teams proactively respond to outages and create a culture of learning and continuous improvement.