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It's a split decision.
Choose incident.io for Slack- or Microsoft Teams-based response, per-user pricing and a free plan with core incident tools. Choose PagerDuty if its 750+ integrations, APIs and MCP fit an existing operations stack, or if you need a platform plan with defined event and AI Action allowances. Both offer free tiers, but PagerDuty’s paid platform plans charge annual fees, while incident.io’s listed Team and Pro prices are per user.
01Side by side
| incident.io | PagerDuty | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Team and Pro charge per user; on-call can cost extra. | Professional is per user; platform plans charge annual fees. |
| Free tier | Basic includes Slack or Teams response and single-team on-call. | Free covers five users, one schedule and 100 monthly notifications. |
| Integrations | Slack, Teams, telemetry, deployments, code and incident context. | 750+ integrations; teams can extend connections through APIs and MCP. |
| Platforms | Web, mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams and desktop. | Web. |
| API and developer surface | MCP shown; API and SDK details not published. | APIs and MCP; 750+ integrations. |
| Limits and scaling | Team limits schedules and workflows; Pro adds unlimited schedules. | Platform plans specify event, AI Action and seat allowances. |
| AI and incident response | AI investigates incidents using organizational context. | Paige supports AI-assisted triage, detection and resolution. |
| Status pages | Included in Basic; helps update customers during incidents. | Ultimate includes 100 public and 100 private status pages. |
incident.io Choose incident.io if
- Choose incident.io if your team responds in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Choose incident.io if you prefer listed per-user Team and Pro pricing.
- Choose incident.io if a free status page and single-team on-call fit.
PagerDuty Choose PagerDuty if
- Choose PagerDuty if you need its 750+ listed integrations.
- Choose PagerDuty if APIs and MCP are important to your integrations.
- Choose PagerDuty if platform plans’ event and AI Action allowances fit.
02Pricing at real usage
incident.io’s Basic plan is free and includes Slack or Microsoft Teams response, single-team on-call, a status page and essential automation. Team is $19 per user/month, or $15 with annual billing; Pro is $25 per user/month. On-call costs $10 per user/month with Team, $20 with Pro, or $20 standalone. Root cause analysis, Autonomous agent and Nexus data sources are paid add-ons with prices not published.
PagerDuty Free covers five users, one schedule, one escalation policy and 100 SMS or phone notifications per month. Professional is $25 per user/month, or $21 annually. Its platform plans charge annual fees: Starter is $2,800, Essential $12,000 and Plus $48,000. Each includes defined Signal Intelligence Event and AI Action allowances. Check seat limits, add-ons and credit packs against expected usage before comparing totals.
03API, SDKs and integration
incident.io centers response in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Its homepage also shows MCP and connections to telemetry, deployments, code, incident history, logs, metrics, runbooks, pull requests and docs. It does not state an integration count. PagerDuty lists 750+ integrations and says teams can extend connections through APIs and MCP.
The product pages do not name language-specific SDKs or a CLI. They also do not specify API styles or SDK support for incident.io. For PagerDuty, the stated developer connection points are APIs and MCP; confirm the relevant API documentation, authentication model and SDK availability for your language before building an integration. For incident.io, confirm those same details and whether its MCP surface covers the operations your workflow needs. Both products describe incident coordination and automation, but the integration count gives PagerDuty a broader stated ecosystem.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Neither vendor publishes an open-source licence, self-hosting option or data-export path on its product pages. incident.io is described as a hosted incident-management platform; PagerDuty positions its product as an operations platform. If deployment control or an exit path matters, ask each vendor about hosting regions, retention, export formats, API access and what happens to incident history when a contract ends.
Migration effort will depend on more than moving alert rules. Inventory schedules, escalation policies, workflows, integrations, status pages and incident records, then confirm which can be exported or recreated. Also check whether downstream tools can consume the data in a portable format. Until those details are confirmed contractually, treat migration and data portability as items to validate rather than assumed capabilities.
Questions people ask
Is incident.io cheaper than PagerDuty?
It can be for teams comparing incident.io’s per-user Team or Pro plans with PagerDuty’s platform plans, which start at an annual platform fee. PagerDuty Professional is also priced per user. Compare required add-ons, users, event volumes and AI Actions before deciding; the pricing models are not directly equivalent.
Which has the better free plan?
The plans cover different needs. incident.io Basic includes Slack or Teams response, single-team on-call, a status page and essential automation. PagerDuty Free specifies five users, one schedule, one escalation policy and 100 SMS or phone notifications per month. Choose based on which included capabilities and limits match your team.
Does incident.io or PagerDuty have more integrations?
PagerDuty lists 750+ integrations and says teams can extend connections through APIs and MCP. incident.io names Slack and Microsoft Teams and shows connections to telemetry, deployments, code and operational context, but does not publish an integration count. PagerDuty has the larger stated catalog.
Can we self-host either platform?
Neither vendor publishes a self-hosting option on its product pages. incident.io is described as a hosted incident-management platform. Ask both vendors about deployment options, data residency, retention and export formats if those are requirements for your team.