# PagerDuty vs Opsgenie

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/pagerduty-vs-opsgenie/

Every value below is read from PagerDuty's and Opsgenie's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | PagerDuty | Opsgenie |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | Up to 5 users, 100 international phone or SMS notifications a month, 1 on-call schedule and 1 escalation policy. | Up to 5 users and 100 SMS notifications account-wide — not per user — with voice notifications not included at all. |
| Entry paid plan | $25 per user per month for Professional, or $21 billed annually — the dearest seat of the four. | $9.45 per user per month billed annually, or $11.55 billed monthly — less than half PagerDuty's seat. |
| Pricing model | Per user per month, with the things that make an on-call tool work — notification volume, number of schedules, number of escalation policies — all gated by tier rather than sold separately. | Per user per month, with the notification allowance derived from headcount rather than fixed: Essentials gives users × 100 SMS in the US and Canada, and users × 25 internationally. Standard makes both unlimited. |
| SMS and voice allowance | 100 international phone or SMS notifications a month on the free plan, account-wide. Professional promises "more" without saying how many — the figure is published for the free tier and not for the paid one. | The free plan gives 100 SMS account-wide and NO voice notifications — for a tool whose job is waking someone up. Essentials scales with headcount: users × 100 in the US and Canada, users × 25 internationally. Standard is unlimited on both. |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- PagerDuty: Up to 5 users, 100 international phone or SMS notifications a month, 1 on-call schedule and 1 escalation policy. ([source](https://www.pagerduty.com/pricing/))
- Opsgenie: Up to 5 users and 100 SMS notifications account-wide — not per user — with voice notifications not included at all. ([source](https://www.atlassian.com/software/opsgenie/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- PagerDuty: $25 per user per month for Professional, or $21 billed annually — the dearest seat of the four. ([source](https://www.pagerduty.com/pricing/))
- Opsgenie: $9.45 per user per month billed annually, or $11.55 billed monthly — less than half PagerDuty's seat. ([source](https://www.atlassian.com/software/opsgenie/pricing))

### Pricing model

- PagerDuty: Per user per month, with the things that make an on-call tool work — notification volume, number of schedules, number of escalation policies — all gated by tier rather than sold separately. ([source](https://www.pagerduty.com/pricing/))
- Opsgenie: Per user per month, with the notification allowance derived from headcount rather than fixed: Essentials gives users × 100 SMS in the US and Canada, and users × 25 internationally. Standard makes both unlimited. ([source](https://www.atlassian.com/software/opsgenie/pricing))

### SMS and voice allowance

- PagerDuty: 100 international phone or SMS notifications a month on the free plan, account-wide. Professional promises "more" without saying how many — the figure is published for the free tier and not for the paid one. ([source](https://www.pagerduty.com/pricing/))
- Opsgenie: The free plan gives 100 SMS account-wide and NO voice notifications — for a tool whose job is waking someone up. Essentials scales with headcount: users × 100 in the US and Canada, users × 25 internationally. Standard is unlimited on both. ([source](https://www.atlassian.com/software/opsgenie/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick PagerDuty if The incumbent, and the one most likely to already integrate with whatever you run — 750+ out-of-box integrations on the free plan. Five users, one schedule and one escalation policy free is enough to run a real rota for a small team before paying anything.

Pick Opsgenie if The cheapest seat in the category by a wide margin, at $9.45 a user billed annually, inside an Atlassian estate where Jira Service Management already lives. Standard makes SMS and voice unlimited, so the allowance stops mattering once you are past Essentials.

Consider something else: PagerDuty — You are counting seats or notifications. At $25 a user it is the dearest here, roughly 2.6x Opsgenie's annual rate, and the notification allowance above the free tier is stated only as "more" — the figure is published for the plan you are not paying for.

Consider something else: Opsgenie — You are relying on the free plan, or your team is not in North America. Free gives 100 SMS ACCOUNT-WIDE and no voice calls at all. Essentials derives the allowance from headcount and gives users x 25 internationally against users x 100 for the US and Canada — the same seat price, a quarter of the pages.

## Documented by only one

- On-call schedules: PagerDuty: 1 schedule and 1 escalation policy on the free plan. Professional says "more on-call schedules" and "more escalation policies" with no number attached.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: PagerDuty or Opsgenie?**

PagerDuty: $25 per user per month for Professional, or $21 billed annually — the dearest seat of the four.
Opsgenie: $9.45 per user per month billed annually, or $11.55 billed monthly — less than half PagerDuty's seat.

**Should I choose PagerDuty or Opsgenie?**

Pick PagerDuty if The incumbent, and the one most likely to already integrate with whatever you run — 750+ out-of-box integrations on the free plan. Five users, one schedule and one escalation policy free is enough to run a real rota for a small team before paying anything.
Pick Opsgenie if The cheapest seat in the category by a wide margin, at $9.45 a user billed annually, inside an Atlassian estate where Jira Service Management already lives. Standard makes SMS and voice unlimited, so the allowance stops mattering once you are past Essentials.