If you’re torn between Incident.io vs. Spike, this comparison will help you decide.
I signed up for both platforms, tested their incident management features, and compared them across key criteria: alerting, incident response, on-call management, and pricing.
However, if you need a quick overview, you can go through the feature checklist and summary tables I added for each section.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Incident.io vs. Spike: Core Incident Management Criteria
- Alerting: How each tool alerts your team about incidents. We’ll look at setup, alert channels, and ways to reduce alert noise.
- Incident Response: The features available after an incident is declared. This includes response actions, team collaboration, and communication.
- On-Call Management: How easy is it to build and manage on-call schedules? We’ll also compare creating rotations and handling overrides.
- Pricing: Cost breakdown, plan structure, and overall value to help you understand what you pay and what you get.
Incident.io vs. Spike: Incident Management Comparison
| Criteria | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Alerting | Individual control with flowchart-style if-else routing. Triage mode for noise reduction. Complex setup. | Dual control with templates. Simple setup. Email acknowledgement and webhook automation. |
| Incident Response | Rich Slack actions and triage mode. War rooms and tickets need workflows. Limited status pages on lower plans. | Built-in automation with Alert Rules and Playbooks. One-click war rooms and tickets. Unlimited status pages. |
| On-Call Management | Concurrent shifts and natural-language overrides. No instant add-layer button or activity logs. | Templates, cloning, and instant add-layer button. Full activity logs and work-life balance features. |
| Pricing | Starts at $19/user/month plus $10-$20 for on-call. Limited features on lower tiers. | Starts at $7/user/month. All features included with no extra costs. |
Alerting: Incident.io vs. Spike
To test alerting, I created a service in both tools, connected it to Cronitor, set up alert channels, and built escalation policies. Then I triggered test alerts to see how each platform handles them.
Here’s a quick summary:
| Criteria | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Alerting Philosophy | Users control their own alert preferences with no custom time delays. | Teams and users both control alerts. |
| Setup & Config | Complex with too many decisions. | Simple setup. Native WhatsApp, Telegram, Pushover. |
| Alert Channels | Multi-channel alerts. Can’t acknowledge via email. | Multi-channel alerts. Two-way actions on email. |
| Alert Fatigue | Triage mode and filters reduce noise. | Built-in Alert Rules help reduce noise. |
Alerting in Incident.io
Incident.io gives users control over their alert preferences. However, managers can’t decide how team members get alerted. This gives autonomy but limits team-level coordination.
The setup process can be complex. There are many options, which means more decisions to make. This offers great flexibility but can be a heavy lift initially.
Alerting in Spike
Spike offers a dual-control for alerts. Managers can define alert methods in an escalation policy. And individuals can override them without changing the team’s workflows.
Setup is simple and fast. Spike supports WhatsApp, Telegram, and Pushover natively. You can reply to alert emails with #ack or #res to take action without leaving your inbox. Built-in Alert Rule templates help you manage noise from day one.
Who Should Pick What
- Pick Incident.io if you need individual-level control over alerts and have time for a more involved setup.
- Pick Spike if you want dual-control alerting, simpler setup, and built-in Alert Rules to reduce noise.
Incident Response: Incident.io vs. Spike
I used the same service and alert source to test incident response. I tried different response actions, checked collaboration tools, and explored communication and post-incident features.
Here’s a quick summary:
| Criteria | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Response | Rich Slack actions. Triage mode reduces noise. | Auto-acknowledge with Alert Rules. Playbooks automate full response flows. |
| Team Collaboration | War rooms need manual setup or workflows. Tickets need workflows. | One-click war rooms. Simple manual or automatic ticketing. |
| Communication | Status pages are limited on lower-tier plans. | Unlimited status pages on all plans. SEO optimization and custom domains. |
| Post-Incident | Dedicated section for post-incident flows and analysis. | A single, clean timeline. Uses webhooks for postmortems. |
Incident Response in Incident.io
Incident.io gives many manual actions on Slack. You can escalate, add summaries, merge incidents, or decline them. Triage mode is a standout feature. Incidents stay in triage and don’t trigger escalation until you declare them, which reduces noise for self-resolving alerts.
War rooms and tickets need workflows set up with no instant one-click button on the dashboard. Status pages are limited on lower plans. Post-incident work splits into separate tabs for flows, follow-ups, debriefs, and postmortems, giving granular control.
Incident Response in Spike
Spike builds automation into every plan. Alert Rules let you auto-acknowledge incidents after a set count or auto-triage based on keywords. Playbooks automate entire response flows like creating war rooms, adding responders, and updating status pages.
War rooms and tickets get a direct one-click button on the dashboard. You can create unlimited status pages with a live preview as you build them. For post-incident reviews, Spike provides a single, unified timeline of all events. It connects to your existing documentation tools for postmortems using webhooks.
Who Should Pick What
- Pick Incident.io if you need triage mode, granular post-incident tracking with separate tabs, and can invest in workflow configuration.
- Pick Spike if you want built-in automation, one-click collaboration tools, and unlimited status pages without extra fees.
On-Call Management: Incident.io vs. Spike
I built on-call schedules, created rotations, and tested overrides in both platforms. This helped me understand the day-to-day experience of managing on-call duties.
Here’s a quick summary:
| Criteria | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule Creation | Straightforward setup. Concurrent shifts available. Side calendar preview. | Simple setup with templates. Live calendar preview beside settings. |
| Flexibility | Edit, duplicate, view, delete from dashboard. No instant add-layer button. | Clone schedules, star favorites, instant add-layer button. |
| Dashboard | List and calendar views. No activity logs. | List and calendar views. Full activity logs and override history. |
| Overrides | Plain-language overrides. No comments or override history. | Add comments for context. See past overrides. Work-life balance features. |
On-Call Management in Incident.io
Incident.io keeps schedule creation simple. You add the schedule name, timezone, rotation type, responders, and handover time. You can import holidays from HR software or add them manually. Concurrent shifts let you pair two or more people for each shift, great for training or shared responsibility.
Managing schedules is quick with options to edit, duplicate, view, and delete. A before-and-after preview shows changes. However, there’s no instant add-layer button and no way to favorite schedules. The dashboard shows a list view with who’s on-call and who’s next, but no activity logs. Overrides support natural-language input but don’t allow comments or show history.
On-Call Management in Spike
Spike makes schedule creation fast with ready-to-use on-call templates and a live calendar preview beside your settings. Changes show up instantly as you build, with month, week, and list views.
Day-to-day management is smooth. You can clone entire schedules, star favorites for quick access, and add new layers with one click. Full activity logs and override history are available. You can add comments to overrides for context. Spike also provides on-call work-life balance features like Out of Office and Cooldown.
Who Should Pick What
- Pick Incident.io if you need concurrent shifts, natural-language overrides, and don’t mind no activity logs or calendar view.
- Pick Spike if you want instant add-layer buttons, schedule cloning, favorites, activity logs, and on-call work-life balance features.
Pricing: Incident.io vs. Spike
| Criteria | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Tiered with separate on-call fees | Simple, all-inclusive plans |
| Starting Price | $19/user/month + $12 on-call | $7/user/month |
| Core Features | Limited status pages. Workflows need higher tiers. | All features included from starter tier. |
| Hidden Costs | On-call fees add up. Status pages limited. | None. Price you see is what you pay. |
Incident.io’s Pricing
Incident.io uses tiered plans. The Basic plan is free forever for up to 5 users but includes only single-team on-call and one status page. The Team plan starts at $19/user/month with an additional $12/user/month for on-call. The Pro plan is $25/user/month with an additional $20/user/month for on-call.
Status pages are limited on all plans except Enterprise. Basic and Team plans get one external status page. Pro gets one external and one internal. Only Enterprise includes unlimited status pages. Over time, the on-call fees add up fast for growing teams.
Spike’s Pricing
Spike starts at $7/user/month for the Starter plan. This includes 100 total alerts on phone and SMS, unlimited alerts on WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and other platforms, on-call schedules, 80+ integrations, and status pages.
The Business plan is $14/user/month. It adds unlimited phone and SMS alerts, multiple teams, unlimited Alert Rules, outbound webhooks, Jira/ClickUp/Linear integration, and war rooms. Enterprise offers custom pricing with SSO, priority support, unlimited status pages, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager.
Who Should Pick What
- Pick Incident.io if your organization can invest in separate on-call pricing and needs only one status page.
- Pick Spike if you want transparent pricing, unlimited status pages, all features from the start, and quick setup with no extra costs.
Incident.io vs. Spike: Incident Management Checklist
Here is a 10-point checklist comparing some of the finer details of both tools.
| Feature | Incident.io | Spike |
|---|---|---|
| Separate spaces for teams to manage their incidents | ✅ | ✅ |
| Trigger incidents from incoming emails directly | ❌ | ✅ |
| Trigger external webhooks automatically | ✅ | ✅ |
| Auto-resolve incidents when system is healthy | ✅ | ✅ |
| Route alerts based on severity and priority | ✅ | ✅ |
| Route alerts based on time of day | ✅ | ✅ |
| Out-of-office routing for on-call responders | ✅ | ✅ |
| Ready-to-use templates (escalations, alert rules, and on-call) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Auto-acknowledge incidents | ❌ | ✅ |
| Automatic postmortem creation | ✅ | ❌ |
Final Thoughts
Both Incident.io and Spike are strong incident management tools. The right choice depends on your team’s priorities, budget, and what you value most.
Pick Incident.io if you need flowchart-style policies, triage mode, concurrent shifts, and have a budget for separate on-call fees.
Pick Spike if you want a simple setup, powerful automation built in, flexible on-call with work modes, and transparent pricing with no extra costs.
While Incident.io works well for teams that need extensive customization and don’t mind complexity, Spike offers a more straightforward approach with the same core capabilities, faster setup, and better affordability right out of the box.