When your technology has a problem, every second counts. That's why modern engineering and DevOps teams rely on incident management tools to help them fix issues fast. For a long time, PagerDuty was the go-to tool for alerting teams when things went wrong. But today, the game is changing, and many are looking for PagerDuty alternatives that do more than just send alerts.
This guide will give you a complete look at the top incident management tools on the market. We'll explore why teams are looking for new options and compare oncall platforms to help you find the best oncall software for teams. Our goal is to show you how Rootly stacks up against every major competitor, so you can make the right choice for your team's reliability.
Why Engineering Teams Are Exploring PagerDuty Alternatives
Teams are increasingly looking for tools that better fit their modern workflows. The search for a new platform often comes down to a few key reasons.
- Pricing and Complexity: One of the biggest reasons teams look for alternatives is cost. Many find PagerDuty’s plans to be expensive, with essential features only available in the highest-priced tiers. According to a recent guide, cost is a major factor for teams considering a switch [2].
- Need for a Unified Platform: Today's teams don't just want alerts; they want a single platform to manage the entire incident from start to finish. This means going beyond a simple alert management software comparison and finding a tool that supports response, communication, and learning, all in one place. This holistic approach is a core part of modern DevOps incident management.
- Market Shifts and Uncertainty: The tech world is always changing. For example, Atlassian is discontinuing its popular Opsgenie tool as a separate product. This move is forcing thousands of teams to look for a reliable new home for their incident management [6].
Introducing Rootly: More Than Just an Alternative
Rootly isn't just another option; it's a modern, comprehensive incident management software built to handle every part of an incident. It provides a complete, end-to-end platform that guides your team from the first sign of trouble all the way to learning from what happened so it doesn't happen again.
Rootly simplifies the entire process, giving you a full overview of incidents in one central place. This integrated approach is built on a few key ideas that make it stand out:
- Slack-Native Experience: Your team can manage the entire incident without ever leaving Slack. This reduces the need to jump between different apps, saving precious time and keeping everyone focused.
- Powerful Automation: Rootly automates the repetitive, manual tasks that slow teams down. It can automatically create Slack channels, alert the right people, post status updates, and create follow-up tickets, freeing up your engineers to focus on fixing the problem.
- All-in-One Solution: Rootly brings on-call scheduling, alerting, incident response, and retrospectives together in one platform. With its native On-Call features, Rootly can serve as a complete replacement for tools like PagerDuty.
Head-to-Head Comparison: Rootly vs. PagerDuty
How does Rootly really compare to the tool so many teams are used to? This table breaks down the key differences to help you see where Rootly provides a more modern solution.
Feature Area
PagerDuty
Rootly
Alerting & On-Call
A mature and reliable tool for sending alerts and managing on-call schedules.
Integrated on-call scheduling and alerting that's directly connected to powerful, automated incident response workflows.
Incident Response
Offers features for incident response, but they can feel separate from the core alerting product.
Built from the ground up for incident response, with a seamless Slack experience, automated guides (runbooks), and built-in task tracking.
Retrospectives
Provides basic capabilities for reviewing incidents after they are over.
Creates detailed, collaborative retrospectives (post-mortems) with automated timelines and action items to help your team learn and improve.
Pricing & Value
Pricing can become very expensive, especially for teams needing a full set of features.
Offers clear, predictable pricing that provides more value by combining the features of multiple tools into one platform.
How Rootly Stacks Up Against Other Top PagerDuty Alternatives
For a long time, there weren't many strong competitors to PagerDuty, but that is quickly changing as new tools enter the market [1]. Here’s how Rootly compares to the other major players.
Rootly vs. Opsgenie (and Atlassian's Ecosystem)
Opsgenie was a popular choice, especially for teams that use other Atlassian tools like Jira. However, its future is uncertain. Atlassian is discontinuing Opsgenie as a standalone product, with a complete shutdown planned for 2027 [7]. This forces current users to find a new solution.
Rootly is a stable and feature-rich Opsgenie alternative. It provides a secure path forward with deep, reliable integration with Jira and other tools, but without the risk of being discontinued.
Rootly vs. Squadcast
Squadcast is another strong competitor focused on reliability and designed for Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams. Both Rootly and Squadcast offer on-call management, incident response, and status pages.
Where Rootly pulls ahead is with its powerful and easy-to-use automation engine and its intuitive, Slack-based experience. By keeping the response process inside the tool teams use all day, Rootly makes coordination smoother and less stressful.
Rootly vs. Zenduty & Xurrent IMR
Platforms like Zenduty and Xurrent IMR are often marketed toward growing teams by highlighting lower costs. For example, Xurrent IMR bills itself as a "10x better" PagerDuty alternative that focuses on SRE best practices at an affordable price [5].
Rootly’s focus is different. It delivers value not just by being cheaper, but by providing an enterprise-grade platform that saves time and reduces risk through powerful automation. The real savings come from making your team more efficient and your systems more reliable.
Rootly vs. Other Tools (iLert, Splunk On-Call, etc.)
Software marketplaces like GetApp list dozens of other alternatives, including tools like Site24x7 and iLert [3]. Many of these are either "point solutions" that only handle alerts or are small features inside a larger product suite.
Rootly stands apart as a dedicated, best-in-class platform designed to manage the entire incident process, from the initial alert all the way through learning and prevention.
What’s Included in the Modern SRE Tooling Stack?
If you're building a team focused on reliability, you might be asking: What’s included in the modern SRE tooling stack? An SRE tool stack isn't just one tool; it's a collection of site reliability engineering tools that work together to keep your systems running smoothly.
A modern stack includes tools for monitoring, infrastructure, logging, and of course, incident management. As explained in this guide on the 10 SRE tools the most reliable engineering teams use, the key is making sure these tools can talk to each other. Rootly acts as the central hub for your reliability stack. It integrates with monitoring tools (like Datadog), communication platforms (like Slack), and ticketing systems (like Jira) to connect and automate your entire workflow.
Conclusion: Why Rootly is the Best PagerDuty Alternative for Modern Teams
After comparing the top tools, it's clear that while PagerDuty and its alternatives each have strengths, Rootly is the only platform that offers a truly unified, automated, and modern way to manage incidents.
Rootly’s advantages make it the clear choice:
- End-to-end lifecycle management in a single, cohesive platform.
- Powerful workflow automation that eliminates manual work and reduces human error.
- A seamless Slack-native experience that lets teams work where they are most comfortable.
For any team looking to move beyond simple alerts and build a mature and efficient DevOps incident management practice, Rootly is the best path forward.
Ready to see how a modern incident management platform can transform your team? Explore Rootly’s features, request a demo, or start a free trial to experience the difference firsthand.