When it comes to incident management software, PagerDuty has long been the industry standard.
But if you're reading this, chances are PagerDuty isn't quite hitting the mark for your team—and that's perfectly okay!
The good news is the incident management space has evolved, and there are now several robust alternatives that offer better pricing, more intuitive interfaces, and specific features.
In this guide, we'll explore six powerful PagerDuty alternatives that could be a perfect fit for your team.
11 Factors to Consider When Looking for PagerDuty Alternatives
Before diving into the alternatives, let’s understand what key factors you need to keep in mind while choosing a PagerDuty replacement.
- Alert Delivery Channels: Your incidents need to reach the right people at the right time. Look for platforms offering multiple alert channels like phone calls, SMS, mobile apps, etc so critical notifications are never missed.
- ChatOps Integration: If your team lives in Slack or Microsoft Teams, you'll want seamless integration with these tools. This allows you to manage incidents without constantly switching between applications.
- On-call Schedule Management: Setting up and managing on-call schedules shouldn't be a headache. Look for tools that make it easy to create rotations, handle overrides, and make quick adjustments when needed.
- Multi-timezone Support: For distributed teams, robust timezone handling is crucial. Your tool should make it easy to manage schedules across different regions without confusion.
- Team Workspace Organization: As your organization grows, you'll need the flexibility to create separate workspaces for different teams while maintaining overall visibility and control.
- Status Page Functionality: Built-in status pages help keep stakeholders informed. This should be easy to set up and automatically update based on incidents.
- Monitoring Tool Integration: Your incident management tool should connect seamlessly with your monitoring and observability stack to detect and respond to issues quickly.
- ServiceNow Compatibility: If you use ServiceNow, look for tools that offer deep integration to maintain your ITSM workflows.
- Helpdesk Tool Integration: A smooth connection with your helpdesk software allows customer-reported issues to flow efficiently to your technical teams.
- Project Management Tools: Integration with tools like Jira and Linear helps track incidents quickly
- Video Conferencing Tool Integration: Integrations with video conferencing tools like Zoom, Google Meet, etc can make a big difference in resolution time.
Now that we understand what factors to look for, let's explore the top 6 alternatives to PagerDuty.
6 Best PagerDuty Alternatives
- Spike
- Atlassian OpsGenie
- Incident.io
- Datadog Oncall
- XMatters
- Splunk Oncall
1. Spike
Spike is an incident response platform that prioritizes simplicity and user experience. With over 15 million incidents processed and 750,000+ alerts delivered, it's rapidly becoming a go-to choice for teams seeking efficient incident response.
Why Choose Spike as a PagerDuty Alternative
- While PagerDuty needs a complex setup, Spike gets you started in under 5 minutes. Plus, you'll love the ready-to-use on-call templates that make schedule management a breeze.
- Your alerts will reach your team wherever they work. Whether it's phone calls, SMS, WhatsApp, Slack, Teams, or even Discord, Spike makes sure critical notifications are delivered to your team's preferred channels.
- You get instant collaboration tools when incidents strike. You can jump into war rooms (video conferencing), manage priorities and severities effortlessly, and connect seamlessly with your project management tools like Jira, ClickUp, and Linear.
- Your team's work-life balance is protected. With features like smart noise cancellation and easy out-of-office modes, you can maintain responsiveness without burning out your team.
Hear what Matt Bird, Senior Engineer at Neat had to say ::
Best Suited For:
Teams of all sizes—Startups, small and medium businesses, enterprises, etc looking for a no-nonsense incident management solution that offers quick setup, multiple alert channels, and straightforward pricing.
2. Atlassian OpsGenie
OpsGenie is Atlassian's incident management solution that's deeply integrated with the Atlassian ecosystem.
Why Choose OpsGenie as a PagerDuty Alternative
- Everything is streamlined through deep integration with Atlassian products, making incident investigation and resolution faster.
- OpsGenie groups alerts, filters out the noise, and provides flexible routing rules to make sure the right people are notified at the right time.
- With built-in analytics, you can track team productivity, analyze on-call work distribution, and identify areas for improvement in your alerting processes.
- OpsGenie's Heartbeat monitoring acts like a watchdog, constantly checking if your monitoring tools are working properly and alerting you if they stop.
Best Suited For:
Teams heavily invested in the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, Confluence, etc.) who need comprehensive incident management.
3. Incident.io
incident.io is a chat-first incident management platform built for modern engineering teams.
Why Choose incident.io as a PagerDuty Alternative
- From initial alert to post-mortem, you get a seamless experience with AI-enhanced capabilities that make your job easier and response times faster.
- Since it’s a chat-first platform, you can respond to alerts directly from Slack or Microsoft Teams without switching between tools.
- Your team gets an intuitive interface that requires minimal training. Even first-time responders can navigate the platform naturally.
- Your stakeholders stay informed with real-time status pages and automated incident updates in dedicated channels.
Best Suited For:
Engineering and support teams who want a user-friendly, chat-first incident management solution, especially those heavily invested in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
4. Datadog Oncall
Datadog oncall combines incident response with Datadog's powerful observability platform, bringing monitoring data directly into your incident management workflow.
Why Choose Datadog Oncall as a PagerDuty Alternative
- Your alerts come with rich context from Datadog's observability data. Every notification includes relevant metrics, logs, and traces to help you understand and resolve issues faster.
- Teams are automatically associated with their respective services, so the right responders are paged.
- Your on-call schedules work across any time zone. Manage rotations and escalations easily with fair distribution of on-call duties across global teams.
- Your team's performance is measurable. Rich analytics help you track on-call metrics, improve resolution times, and optimize team well-being.
Best Suited For:
Teams already using Datadog's observability platform who want seamless integration between their monitoring and incident management workflows.
5. XMatters
XMatters (now part of Everbridge) is an enterprise-grade incident management platform focused on workflow automation and team collaboration.
Why Choose XMatters as a PagerDuty Alternative
- Your alerts reach the right people through any channel—from SMS to Slack.
- Your incident response connects with your ITSM tools. Deep integration with ServiceNow and popular helpdesk tools keeps your processes synchronized.
- You can create rotations, adjust policies, and distribute oncall duties with ease.
- Your team gets comprehensive analytics. Track incident metrics, response times, and team performance to continuously improve your incident management.
Best Suited For:
Enterprise organizations looking for a highly customizable incident management solution with strong ITSM integration capabilities and workflow automation.
6. Splunk Oncall
Splunk Oncall (formerly VictorOps) combines data analytics with incident response capabilities. It brings Splunk's powerful analytics directly into your incident management workflow.
Why Choose Splunk Oncall as a PagerDuty Alternative
- As part of the Splunk platform, you get seamless integration with Splunk logs and hundreds of existing toolkits.
- ML-based routing sends alerts to the right experts.
- Teams get instant access to similar historical incidents, runbooks, and relevant dashboards to speed up resolution.
- ML-based recommendations help distribute on-call duties based on expertise and past incident handling.
Best Suited For:
Teams already using Splunk's ecosystem who want deep data analysis capabilities alongside incident management.
Conclusion
Choosing the right PagerDuty alternative comes down to your team's specific needs and workflow preferences.
Whether you're looking for a Slack-first approach with Incident.io, deep observability with Datadog, or comprehensive analytics with Splunk Oncall, there's a solution that fits your requirements.
If you're seeking a straightforward, user-friendly platform that combines powerful features with simplicity, Spike stands out as a great choice. With its quick setup, multiple alert channels, and intuitive interface, you can get started in minutes without compromising on capabilities.
Ready to try a more intuitive incident management solution? Start your 14-day free trial with Spike today—no credit card required.