SoftwareGlimpse

Rootly vs SolarWinds Incident Response

Rootly fits slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor; SolarWinds Incident Response fits teams that want on-call + incident response with a published pro $15 annual floor.

Independently recommendedLast updated Aug 18, 20267 evidence sources3 screenshotsHow we compare
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Rootly logo

Rootly

7.7/10

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

Visit Rootly
Read review

VS

Our verdict

Our verdict

No universal winner

There is no universal winner between Rootly and SolarWinds Incident Response. Choose Rootly when Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor. Choose SolarWinds Incident Response when Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor. Criterion scores come from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments and first-party research — not hands-on lab testing.

SolarWinds Incident Response is better for

  • ✓ Starting pricing

Tie

  • • Integrations
  • • Security & admin

Choose Rootly if: Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor

Choose SolarWinds Incident Response if: Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor

See detailed comparison ↓
SolarWinds Incident Response logo

SolarWinds Incident Response

7.7/10

SolarWinds Incident Response (formerly Squadcast) — Pro $15/user/mo annual; Premium $24/user/mo annual; Enterprise contact; 14-day trial. Slug remains squadcast. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.

Best for

  • • Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor
  • • Buyers comparing SolarWinds Incident Response (Squadcast) to incident.io, FireHydrant, and Rootly
  • • Orgs that will spend the 14-day trial before committing

Starting from $15.00/user/mo

No free plan

Visit SolarWinds Incident Response
Read review

Quick verdict

Start here — then dig into the evidence below.

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

Choose SolarWinds Incident Response if…

  • Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor
  • Buyers comparing SolarWinds Incident Response (Squadcast) to incident.io, FireHydrant, and Rootly
  • Orgs that will spend the 14-day trial before committing
  • You prioritize starting pricing

Overall recommendation

There is no universal winner between Rootly and SolarWinds Incident Response. Choose Rootly when Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor. Choose SolarWinds Incident Response when Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor. Criterion scores come from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments and first-party research — not hands-on lab testing.

Key trade-off

SolarWinds Incident Response's clearest edge is starting pricing.

Winner by category

Only dimensions with researched evidence for this pair.

DimensionWinnerWhy
Starting pricingSolarWinds Incident Response winsSolarWinds Incident Response publishes a lower researched starting floor ($15/mo vs $20/mo for Rootly). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.
IntegrationsTieRootly and SolarWinds Incident Response are close on integrations (8/10 vs 8/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
Security & adminTieRootly and SolarWinds Incident Response are close on security admin (7/10 vs 7/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.

Side-by-side feature matrix

Normalized availability from product research — empty rows are not shown.

Capabilities

FeatureRootlySolarWinds Incident Response
Incident managementStrongStrong
Change & problem managementModerateModerate
Service catalogLimitedLimited
Infrastructure monitoringModerateModerate
APM & distributed tracingLimitedLimited
Log managementLimitedLimited
Source control & reposLimitedLimited
CI/CD & automationModerateModerate
Hosting control panelLimitedLimited
Managed hosting platformLimitedLimited
Proxy / web data networkLimitedLimited
ITSM AI assistanceModerateModerate
Developer AI assistanceModerateModerate
On-call & pagingModerateStrong
Enterprise security & SSOModerateModerate
Analytics & reportingStrongStrong
Cloud PaaS / app platformNot evidencedLimited

Pricing comparison

Pricing evidence last checked Sep 9, 2026.

Rootly logo

Rootly

From $20.00/user/mo

No free planNo free trial evidenced
  • Incident Response Essentials$20.00/user/mo
  • On-Call Essentials$20.00/user/mo
  • EnterpriseCustom
SolarWinds Incident Response logo

SolarWinds Incident Response

From $15.00/user/mo

No free planFree trial available
  • Pro$15.00/user/mo
  • Premium$24.00/user/mo
  • EnterpriseCustom

Seat-count estimates

Labeled estimates from verified starting per-seat pricing — not invoices.

SeatsRootlySolarWinds Incident Response
5~$100.00/mo (5 × starting seat)~$75.00/mo (5 × starting seat)
10~$200.00/mo (10 × starting seat)~$150.00/mo (10 × starting seat)
25~$500.00/mo (25 × starting seat)~$375.00/mo (25 × starting seat)
50~$1,000.00/mo (50 × starting seat)~$750.00/mo (50 × starting seat)

Estimate from verified starting per-seat pricing — actual total depends on plan, annual discounts, and add-ons.

Rootly researched starting price from $20/mo. SolarWinds Incident Response researched starting price from $15/mo. Affiliate economics excluded.

Open cost calculator →

Best for

Scenario picks from researched strengths — not a universal ranking.

  • → SolarWinds Incident Response

    Best for starting pricing

    SolarWinds Incident Response publishes a lower researched starting floor ($15/mo vs $20/mo for Rootly). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.

The differences that actually matter

Pair-specific analysis for Rootly vs SolarWinds Incident Response — not generic category copy.

  • Starting pricing

    SolarWinds Incident Response ahead

    On starting pricing, SolarWinds Incident Response is ahead. Rootly: Trails SolarWinds Incident Response on this criterion. SolarWinds Incident Response: SolarWinds Incident Response publishes a lower researched starting floor ($15/mo vs $20/mo for Rootly). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.. Feature evidence also diverges on On-call & paging (Rootly: Moderate; SolarWinds Incident Response: Strong).

Pros and cons

Product-specific for this pair — derived from researched outcomes and editorial notes.

Rootly logo

Rootly

Cons

  • Trails on starting pricing
SolarWinds Incident Response logo

SolarWinds Incident Response

Pros

  • Stronger on starting pricing

Who should not choose each product

Decision quality improves when we say who should walk away.

Don't choose Rootly if…

  • You need SolarWinds Incident Response's stronger starting pricing more than Rootly's strengths
  • Your primary fit looks closer to: Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor
  • Your primary fit looks closer to: Buyers comparing SolarWinds Incident Response (Squadcast) to incident.io, FireHydrant, and Rootly

Don't choose SolarWinds Incident Response if…

  • Your primary fit looks closer to: Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor
  • Your primary fit looks closer to: Buyers who will add On-Call Essentials only if they need paging

Alternatives worth considering

When neither product is the right fit.

  • PagerDuty logoPagerDuty

    On-call / incident response — Free ≤5 responders; Professional $21/user/mo annual ($25 monthly); Business $41 ($49 monthly); Enterprise contact.

  • incident.io logoincident.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.

  • FireHydrant logoFireHydrant

    Incident response — Free up to 10 responders; Pro $25/responder/mo annual; Enterprise custom; 14-day Pro trial. Does not outrank PagerDuty 8.0.

Final verdict

Scenario-level close — not a repeat of the intro.

Rootly wins when…

Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor

SolarWinds Incident Response wins when…

Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor

  • Best for starting pricingSolarWinds Incident Response

Which one should you choose?

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

Choose SolarWinds Incident Response if:

  • Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor
  • Buyers comparing SolarWinds Incident Response (Squadcast) to incident.io, FireHydrant, and Rootly
  • Orgs that will spend the 14-day trial before committing

Product screenshots

Real product UI from our media library — no placeholders.

Rootly

  • Official Open Graph / marketing visual from https://rootly.com/.

SolarWinds Incident Response

  • Official SolarWinds Incident Response product UI from solarwinds.com/it-incident-response-software.

FAQ

Is Rootly better than SolarWinds Incident Response?
There is no universal winner between Rootly and SolarWinds Incident Response. Choose Rootly when Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor. Choose SolarWinds Incident Response when Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor. Criterion scores come from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments and first-party research — not hands-on lab testing.
Which It Development fits which team?
Rootly: Slack-first teams buying incident command at a published $20/user floor SolarWinds Incident Response: Teams that want on-call + incident response with a published Pro $15 annual floor
Does Rootly or SolarWinds Incident Response have a free plan?
Rootly: No free plan. SolarWinds Incident Response: No free plan.
How does Rootly vs SolarWinds Incident Response pricing compare?
Rootly starts from $20.00/user/mo. SolarWinds Incident Response starts from $15.00/user/mo. Confirm live vendor pricing before purchasing.
How did SoftwareGlimpse compare these products?
We map both products to the same category criteria, then evaluate trade-offs using verified product, pricing and feature evidence. Affiliate relationships never change outcomes.

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Methodology disclosure: scores and recommendations follow SoftwareGlimpse evaluation criteria (version 1.0.0). Affiliate relationships do not determine rankings.

How we recommend: product claims are tied to recorded research where available.

AI-assisted disclosure: drafts may be AI-assisted from approved facts and assessments. Humans approve publishable editorial judgments. AI does not invent live prices or claim hands-on testing.

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