Choosing from the many incident management tools available can be a challenge for modern engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams. PagerDuty has long been known as a legacy tool for on-call alerting, but its focus is narrow. For teams seeking a more complete solution, Rootly offers a modern, comprehensive incident management platform.
This article will compare PagerDuty and Rootly head-to-head, helping your team make an informed decision on which platform best suits your needs for managing incidents from start to finish.
What is PagerDuty?
PagerDuty is a digital operations management platform primarily known for its on-call scheduling, alerting, and escalation capabilities. It has a long-standing presence in the market and is highly ranked in categories like IT Alerting and Incident Management, reflecting its wide adoption [3].
The platform's core function is to ensure that when an issue arises, the right people are notified quickly. However, its focus is mainly on the notification part of an incident, which means it is less comprehensive when it comes to managing the entire incident response lifecycle.
What is Rootly?
Rootly is an end-to-end incident management platform designed for collaboration, primarily within Slack. It centralizes the entire incident lifecycle into a single platform, helping teams navigate everything from the initial alert to the final retrospective. Rootly's approach covers all phases of an incident, allowing teams to manage the incident efficiently in one place.
Leading tech companies like Canva, Grammarly, and Squarespace trust Rootly to streamline their incident response processes [7]. This highlights its effectiveness in real-world, high-stakes environments.
PagerDuty vs. Rootly: A Head-to-Head Comparison
To understand the key differences, let's compare the two platforms based on their core functionality, collaboration features, and what users think of them.
Feature
PagerDuty
Rootly
Core Function
On-call scheduling and alerting
End-to-end incident management
Collaboration
Focused on alert routing
"Collaboration-first" within Slack
Automation
Alert lifecycle and notifications
No-code workflows for the entire incident lifecycle
TrustRadius Score
8.6 / 10
9.4 / 10
Core Functionality: Alerting vs. Full Lifecycle Management
PagerDuty's strength is its robust alerting, on-call scheduling, and escalation policies. Its primary goal is to make sure alerts get to the right person as quickly as possible. It excels at the "who to wake up" part of an incident.
Rootly, on the other hand, goes beyond just alerting. It's designed to help teams not only identify an issue but also coordinate the response, resolve it effectively, and learn from it afterward. By integrating every step, Rootly supports teams through the entire incident lifecycle.
On-Call Management & Paging
PagerDuty is famous for its on-call management. For years, it has been the go-to tool for setting up schedules and escalation chains.
Rootly now offers a complete on-call solution that can serve as a full replacement for PagerDuty. With Rootly On-Call, you get scheduling, overrides, and escalation policies built directly into the platform. For teams that aren't ready to switch their alerting provider, Rootly also offers a deep integration with PagerDuty, allowing you to manage PagerDuty alerts seamlessly within Rootly's collaborative environment.
Collaboration and Automation
PagerDuty's automation focuses on the alert lifecycle, such as routing notifications to the correct on-call engineer.
Rootly is built as a "collaboration-first" platform [4]. It features a powerful, no-code workflow engine that automates hundreds of manual tasks that bog down engineers during a crisis. This includes automatically:
- Creating dedicated Slack channels for incidents
- Inviting the right responders and stakeholders
- Setting up a war room with relevant links and data
- Posting status page updates
- Creating follow-up tickets in tools like Jira or Asana
This automation lets engineers focus on fixing the problem, not on administrative tasks.
User Satisfaction & Ratings
User reviews offer a clear window into the real-world experience of using a tool. According to TrustRadius, a popular software review site, PagerDuty holds a score of 8.6 out of 10 [2].
In the same comparison, Rootly achieves a higher score of 9.4 out of 10 [2]. While both platforms are well-regarded, users who have direct experience with Rootly tend to rate it more highly, suggesting a superior user experience and greater value.
Why Teams are Choosing Rootly as a PagerDuty Alternative
More and more organizations are exploring PagerDuty alternatives because they need more than just alerting. Rootly is often selected as one of the top incident management tools for several key reasons:
- Unified Platform: Rootly provides a single, centralized platform for all incident-related activities. This reduces context switching between different tools and keeps everyone on the same page.
- Reduced Toil: By automating repetitive tasks, Rootly frees up valuable engineering time. Instead of managing process, engineers can focus their energy on investigating and resolving the incident.
- Data-Driven Improvement: Rootly’s built-in analytics and automated retrospectives help teams learn from every incident. This data-driven approach allows you to identify patterns, track metrics like MTTR, and systematically improve reliability over time.
For those looking for the best oncall software for teams or to compare oncall platforms, Rootly's comprehensive features make it a strong contender.
Can Rootly Replace PagerDuty Completely?
Yes, with the launch of Rootly On-Call, Rootly is a wholesale replacement for PagerDuty. It offers a complete on-call management solution—including scheduling, overrides, and escalations—in addition to its powerful incident response platform.
For organizations that prefer a phased approach, Rootly's seamless PagerDuty integration provides a flexible migration path. You can start by using Rootly to manage the response process while still using PagerDuty for alerts, and then transition fully when you're ready.
Conclusion: The Choice for Modern Incident Management is Clear
PagerDuty is an excellent tool for what it was built for: alerting. But modern incident management requires more than just notifications. It demands a collaborative, automated, and data-driven approach to resolving issues and learning from them.
The choice is between a point solution for notifications (PagerDuty) and an integrated platform for resolution and learning (Rootly). For teams looking to streamline their entire response process, reduce resolution times, and build a culture of continuous improvement, Rootly is the clear choice.
Ready to see how Rootly can transform your incident management? Book a demo or start a free trial today.