The Top 10 On-Call Management Tools for DevOps

by Kaushik Thirthappa

When things go wrong with your software systems, you need a reliable way to alert the right people and manage incidents. To help you make the best decision, we have summarized the G2 reviews of some of the most popular on-call management tools:

Spike

Spike is an incident management platform designed to provide real-time alerts and facilitate efficient on-call scheduling for DevOps teams. It integrates with various monitoring tools and communication channels to ensure prompt incident response.

Pros:

User-Friendly Interface: G2 users appreciate our intuitive UI/UX, which simplifies navigation and setup, making it accessible for teams without extensive training.

Effective Alerting Mechanisms: Spike offers  advanced incident alerting through multiple channels, including phone calls, SMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email, ensuring that critical alerts reach the appropriate personnel promptly.

Flexible On-Call Scheduling: Spike provides an advanced on-call scheduling system that enables teams to manage their on-call practices automatically, ensuring that the right team members are alerted at the right times.

Seamless Integrations: Spike integrates with over 75 tools, including AWS, GCP, Azure, Datadog, and Grafana, allowing for a cohesive incident management ecosystem.

Affordable Pricing: G2 users say we are a cost-effective solution compared to other incident management platforms, making us suitable for small to mid-sized teams.

PagerDuty
What's Good:
- Really good at managing incidents and getting alerts to the right engineers
- Works well with lots of other tools like Datadog and Slack
- You can customize alerts based on how serious the problem is
- Very reliable - rarely fails to send alerts
- Good reporting features to help teams improve

What Could Be Better:
- Can be expensive, especially for smaller teams
- Takes time to learn all the features
- The interface can be complicated
- Can send too many notifications if not set up carefully
- Could have better built-in ways for teams to communicate

Opsgenie
What's Good:
- Great at managing who's on-call and when
- Easy to connect with other tools teams use
- Simple to understand and use
- Reliable notifications through multiple channels
- Good value for smaller teams

What Could Be Better:
- Some advanced settings can be tricky
- Could have better reporting features
- Takes time to master for complex setups
- Mobile app needs some improvements
- Sometimes sends too many alerts

Splunk On-Call
What's Good:
- Great real-time timeline view of incidents
- Works well with other monitoring tools
- Flexible scheduling for on-call teams
- Includes helpful runbooks for solving problems
- Very reliable at sending alerts

What Could Be Better:
- Interface can be complicated at first
- Setting up custom workflows takes time
- Mobile app isn't as good as the website
- Can get expensive for bigger teams
- Could have better reporting features

Squadcast
What's Good:
- Built specifically for modern DevOps teams
- Easy to set up and start using
- Clean, simple interface
- Good at team collaboration
- Cost-effective for smaller teams

What Could Be Better:
- Reporting features could be stronger
- Some advanced customization is limited
- Fewer integrations than bigger competitors
- Mobile app needs improvements
- Not as many community resources available

AlertOps
What's Good:
- Highly customizable alert routing
- Works with many different tools
- Multiple ways to send notifications
- Helpful support team
- Good value for mid-sized teams

What Could Be Better:
- Interface can be confusing at first
- Takes time to set up complex workflows
- Limited advanced analytics
- Mobile app could be better
- Less documentation compared to bigger tools

FireHydrant
What's Good:
- Makes incident management simpler
- Works well with common tools
- Good for learning from past incidents
- Easy to understand and use
- Helpful support team

What Could Be Better:
- Limited advanced customization options
- Smaller community than bigger tools
- Could have better reporting features
- Some minor interface issues
- Pricing can be unclear for growing teams

Blameless
What's Good:
- Works really well with Slack
- Great customer support
- Helps teams follow best practices
- Easy to use with Slack
- Good for team collaboration

What Could Be Better:
- Takes time to learn
- Limited reporting features
- Some processes need manual work
- Could have more automated features
- Learning curve for new users

Incident.io
What's Good:
- Excellent Slack integration
- Simple to use
- Great for team collaboration
- Customizable workflows
- Good post-incident analysis features

What Could Be Better:
- Very dependent on Slack
- Basic analytics and reporting
- Can get expensive for larger teams
- Limited integration options
- Mobile experience needs work

Opsview Monitor
What's Good:
- Comprehensive monitoring features
- User-friendly interface
- Grows well with your company
- Works with many other tools
- Responsive support team

What Could Be Better:
- Complex to set up initially
- Uses lots of system resources
- Can be expensive
- Advanced features take time to learn
- Limited community support

PagerTree
What's Good:
- Cost-effective solution
- Covers basic on-call needs
- Easy to use interface
- Good customer support
- Simple scheduling features

What Could Be Better:
- Limited advanced features
- Fewer integrations available
- May not work well for very large teams
- Smaller ecosystem of tools
- Questions about handling rapid growth

This overview should help you understand your options when choosing an on-call management tool. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses, so consider your team's specific needs when making a choice. As always, check out our product Spike for an on-call management tool that punches well above its weight.