PagerDuty vs Rootly
Compare PagerDuty and Rootly on features, pricing, and buyer fit using the same researched criteria.
PagerDuty
On-call / incident response — Free ≤5 responders; Professional $21/user/mo annual ($25 monthly); Business $41 ($49 monthly); Enterprise contact.
Best for
- • SRE/IT teams that need on-call schedules and paging
- • Orgs already sending alerts from Datadog/CloudWatch
- • Incident commanders who want a dedicated ops cloud
Starting from $21.00/user/mo
Free plan available
VS
Our verdict
There is no universal winner between PagerDuty and Rootly. Choose PagerDuty when SRE/IT teams that need on-call schedules and paging. Choose Rootly when Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor. Criterion scores come from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments and first-party research — not hands-on lab testing.
PagerDuty is better for
- ✓ Free plan
- ✓ Integrations
- ✓ Security & admin
Choose PagerDuty if: SRE/IT teams that need on-call schedules and paging
Choose Rootly if: Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
Rootly
Incident response — Incident Response Essentials $20/user/mo; On-Call Essentials $20/user; Enterprise custom. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.
Best for
- • Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
- • Buyers who will add On-Call Essentials only if they need paging
- • Comparisons versus FireHydrant Pro $25 and incident.io Team $15
Starting from $20.00/user/mo
No free plan
PagerDuty vs Rootly at a glance
Criterion-level leaders from verified research.
Scorecard preview
Criterion leaders based on verified research — open the Scorecard tab for evidence detail.
- Starting pricingDepends
PagerDuty
Rootly
- Free planPagerDuty
PagerDuty
Rootly
- User / licence minimumDepends
PagerDuty
Rootly
- IntegrationsPagerDuty
PagerDuty
Rootly
- Security & adminPagerDuty
PagerDuty
Rootly
Which It Development is better for you?
Quick picks based on fit — not a universal ranking.
- → PagerDuty
Best for free plan
PagerDuty researches a free plan; Rootly does not research a free plan.
- → PagerDuty
Best for integrations
PagerDuty leads on integrations (9/10 vs 8/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
- → PagerDuty
Best for security & admin
PagerDuty leads on security admin (8/10 vs 7/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
The biggest differences
Where the products diverge most clearly on verified criteria.
Free plan
PagerDuty winsPagerDuty
PagerDuty researches a free plan; Rootly does not research a free plan.
Rootly
Trails PagerDuty on this criterion
Integrations
PagerDuty winsPagerDuty
PagerDuty leads on integrations (9/10 vs 8/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
Rootly
Trails PagerDuty on this criterion
Security & admin
PagerDuty winsPagerDuty
PagerDuty leads on security admin (8/10 vs 7/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
Rootly
Trails PagerDuty on this criterion
Which should you choose?
Choose PagerDuty if
- SRE/IT teams that need on-call schedules and paging
- Orgs already sending alerts from Datadog/CloudWatch
- Incident commanders who want a dedicated ops cloud
Choose Rootly if
- Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
- Buyers who will add On-Call Essentials only if they need paging
- Comparisons versus FireHydrant Pro $25 and incident.io Team $15
Related comparisons
Alternatives to consider
Datadog
Observability suite — infrastructure, APM, logs, and security signals with consumption/host pricing; Infrastructure Pro from $15/host/mo annual.
Jira Service Management
Atlassian ITSM on Jira Cloud — Free ≤3 agents; Standard from $20/agent/mo; Premium ~$51.42/agent/mo; Enterprise contact.
incident.io
Incident response — Basic Free; Team $15/user/mo annual ($19 monthly); Pro $25/user; on-call add-on +$10–$20/user. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.
Grafana Cloud
Managed Grafana observability — Free 10k series / 50 GB logs; Pro from $19/mo platform fee + usage ($6.50/1k series, $8/user).
How we compare
A short look at the comparison process. Full methodology
1
Collect
Collect official product information, pricing, and product evidence.
2
Normalize
Map evidence to the same category evaluation criteria for both products.
3
Compare
Evaluate both products against identical criteria — ties and depends are allowed.
4
Explain
Show why each product wins, loses, or ties, with evidence behind the outcome.
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- Independent criterion outcomes
- No invented scores or prices
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