Best PagerDuty Alternatives for Slack Teams in 2026

Looking for a PagerDuty alternative? You're not alone. While PagerDuty is the industry leader in incident management, many engineering teams—especially those that live in Slack—are seeking simpler, more affordable, or better-integrated alternatives.

This comprehensive guide compares the best PagerDuty alternatives for Slack-first teams, helping you find the right on-call management tool for your needs.

Why Teams Look for PagerDuty Alternatives

PagerDuty is a powerful platform, but it's not the right fit for everyone. Common reasons teams seek alternatives include:

1. Pricing Complexity

PagerDuty's per-user pricing can quickly become expensive as teams grow. At $21-41/user/month, a 20-person engineering team pays $5,000-$10,000+ annually just for on-call management.

2. Feature Overload

Enterprise features like AIOps, event orchestration, and complex workflows are overkill for many teams. Smaller organizations often want something simpler.

3. Slack Integration Depth

While PagerDuty has Slack integration, it's not "Slack-native." Teams that live in Slack often want on-call management that feels like a natural part of their workspace, not an external tool with a Slack bridge.

4. Implementation Complexity

PagerDuty's power comes with complexity. Setting up escalation policies, services, and integrations can take weeks for enterprise deployments.

PagerDuty Alternatives Comparison

Here's how the top alternatives stack up:

Feature	PagerDuty	OpsGenie	VictorOps	OnCallManager
Starting Price	$21/user/mo	$9/user/mo	Contact sales	$50/month flat
Slack Integration	Good	Good	Basic	Native/Best-in-class
Setup Complexity	High	Medium	High	Low
Best For	Enterprise	Mid-market	Splunk users	Slack-first teams
Rotation Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Unlimited Users	No	No	No	Yes
Calendar Sync	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Google)

Let's dive deeper into each alternative.

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1. OnCallManager: Best for Slack-First Teams

Best for: Teams that live in Slack and want simple, affordable on-call management

OnCallManager is purpose-built for teams that use Slack as their primary communication tool. Rather than bolting on a Slack integration, OnCallManager is Slack-native from the ground up.

Key Features

• Slack-native interface - Manage everything from within Slack
• Simple rotation management - Create and modify rotations in clicks
• Google Calendar sync - See on-call shifts in your calendar
• Automatic notifications - Shift changes announced in your channels
• Override management - Easy shift swaps when life happens

Pricing

$50/month flat rate - Unlimited users, unlimited rotations

This is OnCallManager's biggest differentiator. No per-user pricing means your costs stay predictable as your team grows.

Slack Integration

OnCallManager doesn't "integrate" with Slack—it lives in Slack. You can:

• Create rotations from the Slack app home
• Check who's on-call with a quick glance
• Swap shifts without leaving Slack
• Get notified in your team channels

Pros

• Truly Slack-native experience
• Simplest setup of any option
• Predictable flat-rate pricing
• Perfect for small-to-medium teams
• 14-day free trial, no credit card required

Cons

• Focused on rotation management (not full incident lifecycle)
• No mobile app (uses Slack's mobile app)
• Newer product, smaller market presence

Best For

Teams of 5-50 engineers who use Slack heavily and want on-call management without complexity or per-user costs.

Try OnCallManager Free

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2. OpsGenie (Atlassian): Best for Atlassian Shops

Best for: Teams already using Jira, Confluence, and Atlassian tools

OpsGenie, now part of Atlassian, is a solid middle-ground option with good features and reasonable pricing.

Key Features

• Deep Atlassian integration (Jira, Statuspage, Confluence)
• On-call schedules and escalation policies
• Alert routing and filtering
• Incident response orchestration
• Mobile app for iOS and Android

Pricing

• Free: Up to 5 users
• Essentials: $9/user/month
• Standard: $19/user/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Slack Integration

OpsGenie's Slack integration is functional but not native:

• Receive alerts in Slack
• Acknowledge/resolve from Slack
• Check on-call schedules via bot commands
• Create incidents from Slack

Pros

• Strong Atlassian ecosystem integration
• Lower starting price than PagerDuty
• Solid mobile apps
• Free tier for small teams

Cons

• Per-user pricing still adds up
• Not Slack-native (it's a separate tool)
• Can be complex to configure properly
• Atlassian acquisition creates uncertainty

Best For

Teams heavily invested in Atlassian products who want tight integration with Jira and Statuspage.

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3. VictorOps (Splunk On-Call): Best for Splunk Users

Best for: Organizations using Splunk for monitoring and observability

VictorOps (rebranded as Splunk On-Call) is a strong option if you're already in the Splunk ecosystem.

Key Features

• Native Splunk integration
• On-call scheduling and escalation
• Incident timeline and collaboration
• Post-incident reviews
• Transmogrifier for alert enrichment

Pricing

VictorOps uses contact-based sales pricing. Expect similar or higher costs than PagerDuty for enterprise features.

Slack Integration

Basic integration available:

• Alert notifications in Slack
• On-call information via commands
• Incident updates posted to channels

Pros

• Best-in-class Splunk integration
• Strong incident timeline features
• Collaborative debugging tools

Cons

• Expensive for non-Splunk users
• Enterprise-focused, complex setup
• Acquisition by Splunk changed roadmap focus
• Weaker standalone value

Best For

Enterprise teams with significant Splunk investment seeking unified observability and incident management.

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4. Rootly: Best for Incident Management

Best for: Teams wanting comprehensive incident lifecycle management

Rootly is a newer player focused on the full incident management lifecycle, not just on-call scheduling.

Key Features

• Slack-first incident management
• Automated incident workflows
• Retrospective automation
• Status page integration
• Learning from incidents

Pricing

Starting around $16/user/month with custom enterprise pricing.

Slack Integration

Rootly is Slack-native for incident management:

• Create and manage incidents in Slack
• Automated war room creation
• Status updates in channels

Pros

• Modern, Slack-first design
• Strong automation capabilities
• Focus on learning and improvement

Cons

• More expensive than basic on-call tools
• Overkill if you just need rotation management
• Newer product, still maturing

Best For

Teams wanting comprehensive incident management beyond just on-call scheduling.

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5. incident.io: Best for High-Touch Incident Response

Best for: Teams with complex incident response processes

incident.io focuses on making incident response collaborative and efficient.

Key Features

• Slack-native incident declaration
• Automated incident channels
• Real-time status pages
• Post-mortem generation
• Custom workflows

Pricing

Per-user pricing, typically $20-30/user/month depending on features.

Slack Integration

Excellent—incident.io is built for Slack-heavy organizations.

Pros

• Beautiful Slack integration
• Strong on post-mortems and learning
• Good automation

Cons

• Focused on incident management, not rotation management
• Per-user pricing is expensive at scale
• May be more than you need

Best For

Larger teams with mature incident response processes wanting to optimize collaboration.

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Feature-by-Feature Comparison

On-Call Scheduling

Tool	Schedule Types	Override Support	Calendar Sync	Rotation Preview
PagerDuty	Multiple, complex	Yes	Google, Outlook	Yes
OpsGenie	Multiple	Yes	Google, Outlook	Yes
VictorOps	Multiple	Yes	Limited	Yes
OnCallManager	Weekly/Daily	Yes	Google	Yes

Alerting & Notifications

Tool	Push	SMS	Phone	Email	Slack
PagerDuty	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OpsGenie	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
VictorOps	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OnCallManager	Via Slack	No	No	No	Native

Pricing Comparison (20-Person Team)

Tool	Monthly Cost	Annual Cost
PagerDuty (Professional)	$580	$6,960
OpsGenie (Standard)	$380	$4,560
VictorOps	~$500+	~$6,000+
OnCallManager	$50	$600

OnCallManager is 90%+ cheaper than per-user alternatives for a 20-person team.

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Choosing the Right Alternative

Choose OnCallManager if:

• Your team lives in Slack
• You want simple rotation management without complexity
• You're cost-conscious and want predictable pricing
• You have 5-50 engineers
• You don't need phone/SMS alerting (you use Slack notifications)

Choose OpsGenie if:

• You're heavily invested in Atlassian tools
• You need a free tier to start
• You want a middle-ground between simplicity and features

Choose VictorOps if:

• You use Splunk for observability
• You need enterprise incident management features
• Budget isn't a primary concern

Choose Rootly or incident.io if:

• You need full incident lifecycle management
• You have complex incident response workflows
• You want automated post-mortems and learning

Stay with PagerDuty if:

• You need enterprise-grade features and support
• You have complex multi-team escalation needs
• You're already invested and switching costs are high

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Migration Considerations

Switching on-call tools requires planning:

Data to Migrate

• Schedule configurations
• Escalation policies
• User contact information
• Historical incident data (if needed)

Timeline

• Simple tools (OnCallManager): 1-2 hours
• Medium complexity (OpsGenie): 1-2 days
• Enterprise (PagerDuty → similar): 1-2 weeks

Minimizing Disruption

1. Run both systems in parallel initially
2. Migrate one team at a time
3. Document new processes clearly
4. Train team on new workflows

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Conclusion

The best PagerDuty alternative depends on your team's specific needs:

• For Slack-first teams wanting simplicity: OnCallManager offers Slack-native rotation management at a fraction of the cost
• For Atlassian-heavy organizations: OpsGenie provides solid integration
• For Splunk users: VictorOps makes sense as part of the ecosystem
• For comprehensive incident management: Rootly or incident.io offer more than just scheduling

If your team primarily uses Slack and wants straightforward on-call rotation management without enterprise complexity or per-user pricing, give OnCallManager a try. The 14-day free trial lets you see if the Slack-native approach works for your team.

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Ready to simplify your on-call? Add OnCallManager to Slack and start your free trial today.

Related reading:

• On-Call Best Practices for Engineering Teams
• How to Set Up On-Call Rotations in Slack
• Pricing