If you’re not sure whether to choose Zenduty for incident management, this blog post will end your confusion and help you make a decision.
To write this Zenduty review, I did more than just read their documentation. I signed up for Zenduty and put it through real-world tests.
I created test services and connected them with monitoring tools. I designed escalation policies and triggered alerts. This let me see how Zenduty handles alerting and incident response.
For on-call management, I built actual on-call schedules and set up rotations. I also created overrides for last-minute changes. My goal was to see how easy it was to use.
Then, I analyzed Zenduty’s capabilities across four key criteria. You will discover them as you read on. For each criterion, I’ve shared what I liked and what I didn’t.
After reading this review, if you feel like Zenduty isn’t the right fit, I’ve also shared a better alternative that might suit your team.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
My Evaluation Criteria for Zenduty’s Incident Management Capabilities
- Alerting: I checked how the platform alerts teams when an incident occurs. This covers ease of setup, the different alert channels, and how it prevents alert fatigue.
- Incident Response: Once an incident is declared, what tools are available to tackle initial response, team collaboration, stakeholder communication, and post-incident analysis.
- On-Call Management: I reviewed how easy it is to create, manage, and override on-call schedules. This includes everything from daily rotations to last-minute changes.
- Pricing: I broke down the costs, plans, and overall value of Zenduty. This helps you see what you get for your money.
Zenduty Review for Incident Management (2026)
| Criteria | What I liked | What I didn’t like |
|---|---|---|
| Alerting | Round Robin escalation available. Repeat escalation policy with up to 10 repetitions. Can acknowledge or resolve from email alerts. | Tedious process to get alerts on specific Slack channels. Fixed 1-minute delay for escalation repetitions. No wait time for auto-resolve incidents. |
| Incident Response | Strong Slack controls for incident management. Two-way Jira integration available. Detailed incident timelines with separate workflow logs. | Only one workflow trigger available (incident created). No automatic war room creation. No built-in status page (requires third-party integration). |
| On-Call Management | Easy to spot coverage gaps with visual indicators. Can clone schedules and add reasons for overrides. Multiple calendar views available. | Mandatory reason field for overrides feels restrictive. No activity log or past override history. Adding new rotations requires too many clicks. |
| Pricing | Generous free tier for up to 5 users. Affordable starting price at $5/user/month. | Key features are locked behind higher tiers. Critical post-incident features live on Enterprise only. |
Alerting in Zenduty
Zenduty gives users control over how they get alerted. Each person sets their own preferences for channels, timing, and order.
The platform supports all standard alert channels like phone, SMS, email, Slack, and push notifications. It also handles alert deduplication and grouping to reduce noise.
What I liked
I liked the escalation policy flexibility. You get Round Robin routing, which distributes alerts evenly across team members. This prevents alert fatigue for specific individuals.
The repeat escalation policy is also useful. You can set up to 10 repetitions, which helps when no one acknowledges an incident. The platform also includes a “Move to next rule if no user found” option.
You can acknowledge or resolve incidents directly from email alerts. This saves time when you’re away from the dashboard.
What I didn’t like
Getting alerts on specific Slack channels is tedious. You need to create an outgoing integration first, then set up outgoing rules. It’s not a direct process.
The fixed 1-minute delay for escalation repetitions is too short. Most teams need at least 5-10 minutes between repetitions. Zenduty doesn’t let you customize this delay.
There’s no wait time at the start of the escalation policy for auto-resolve incidents. This means alerts escalate immediately, even if the system might resolve itself in a few minutes.
Incident Response in Zenduty
You can manage incidents directly from Slack or through the web dashboard with multiple options.
The platform supports team collaboration through workflows and integrations with tools like Jira and Zoom. It also provides stakeholder communication features and detailed timelines for post-incident analysis.
What I liked
The Slack integration is strong. You can assign incidents, add responders, check who’s on-call, add notes, and assign roles without leaving Slack. This keeps your team in one place during incidents.
Zenduty has two-way integration with Jira. This means changes sync in both directions, keeping your tickets and incidents aligned.
The incident timeline is extremely detailed. It logs every action and event separately. You even get a separate run history for workflows, which helps during post-incident reviews.
What I didn’t like
Workflows only support one trigger: Incident Created. This is limiting when you need automation for other scenarios, like priority changes or reassignments.
Creating war rooms or tickets isn’t instant. You need to configure outgoing integrations and set up outgoing rules first. For Zoom, you must add it as an outgoing integration before the one-click button appears.
Zenduty has no built-in status page. You need to integrate with Atlassian’s Statuspage.io, which means paying for another service on top of Zenduty.
On-Call Management in Zenduty
Zenduty makes creating on-call schedules straightforward. You set schedule details, choose rotation patterns, and customize timing through a three-step process.
The platform offers preset rotation patterns like Daily 24/7 and Weekly Business Hours. These templates help you get started quickly.
What I liked
The “View Gaps” toggle is excellent. It shows coverage gaps in red on the calendar, both during setup and after creation. This helps prevent missed alerts before they happen.
You can clone entire schedules. This saves time when setting up similar rotations for different teams. The platform also lets you add reasons for overrides, which gives helpful context.
The calendar views are helpful. You get 2 weeks, month, and list views. The dashboard also has filters to find schedules by owner, participants, or escalation policies.
What I didn’t like
Adding new rotations takes too many clicks. You have to click the schedule, edit, and then add rotation. This workflow feels longer than necessary.
There’s no activity log. This makes it difficult to track who made changes and when.
Zenduty’s Pricing
Zenduty offers four pricing tiers: Free (up to 5 users), Starter ($6/user/month), Growth ($16/user/month), and Enterprise ($25/user/month).
What I liked
The free tier is generous for small teams testing the platform. You get basic on-call scheduling, 120+ integrations, and mobile apps. This lets you explore Zenduty before committing.
The Starter plan at $6/user/month is affordable for small teams. You get two-way Jira integration, incident responders, and alert forwarding. For a 10-user team, that’s $60 per month.
Data retention is reasonable. You get 3 months on Free and Starter, 12 months on Growth, and unlimited on Enterprise. This helps with compliance needs as teams scale.
What I didn’t like
Key features are locked behind higher tiers. Single Sign-On, advanced alert suppression, and the Incident Command System are only available on Growth at $16/month.
Critical post-incident features live on Enterprise only. Postmortems and incident SLAs require the $25/user/month plan.
So, Should You Choose Zenduty for Incident Management?
Zenduty gets many core incident management things right. The coverage gap visibility is excellent, and the two-way Jira integration is solid. It provides a good foundation for on-call scheduling and incident response.
However, the platform has clear limitations. The workflow automation is too restrictive, with only one trigger available. Simple actions like setting up Slack channel alerts require multiple configuration steps.
Zenduty can also feel rigid in key areas. The fixed 1-minute escalation delay can’t be customized. The mandatory override reason field slows down quick changes. And the lack of on-call activity logs makes tracking changes difficult.
The absence of a built-in status page is also frustrating. Having to pay for a separate service for critical stakeholder communication adds costs.
So, pick Zenduty if you’re a small to mid-size team that values affordability and can work around its limitations.
If that does not sound like you, I have a better alternative. It fills the gaps Zenduty leaves, offers more flexibility, and provides better automation.
Spike: A Better Zenduty Alternative for Incident Response
Spike is a modern incident management platform. It offers simplicity, flexibility, and powerful workflows. It gives you the tools to manage the entire incident lifecycle without Zenduty’s limitations or workflow restrictions.
Here’s why Spike is a better alternative for your team:
- Spike gives both managers and individuals control over alerts. Team leads can set specific alert methods, while users can still create personal overrides.
- You can create war rooms or tickets with a single click. There is no need to configure complex outgoing integrations for simple, everyday actions.
- On-call management is more transparent. You get a full activity log and history for all schedule changes. You can also see past overrides clearly.
- You get powerful automation with Alert Rules and Playbooks at no extra cost. Alert Rules support multiple conditions, not just “incident created.”
- Status pages are built in on all plans. There are no surprise costs or third-party integrations needed for stakeholder communication.
Check out these example status pages of Spike: AirBnB and SpaceX
- Spike supports webhook triggers when on-call shifts change. This lets you automate tasks like granting or revoking database access to on-call responders.
- Override creation is faster and more flexible. You can just create an override by
pressing Oon the schedule. This speeds up quick shift changes.
- Spike also provides work-life balance features like out-of-office (for vacations) and cooldown (for breaks between incidents) modes.
Read Zenduty vs. Spike: Incident Management for a detailed comparison
Final Thoughts
Zenduty is a capable tool with good affordability. I was impressed by its coverage gap visualization and detailed incident timelines. It gets the basics of incident management right.
But its workflow automation feels limited. I found that simple tasks require multiple configuration steps. The platform also lacks transparency in schedule management, with no activity logs or override history.
Spike solves all these problems. It offers a simpler, more flexible platform for modern teams. You get all the essential incident management tools in one package, with better automation and clearer visibility.