PagerDuty vs Opsgenie
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of PagerDuty and Opsgenie built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
4 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
PagerDuty 0
Opsgenie 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | PagerDuty | Opsgenie |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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. |
| On-call | ||
| 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.
- Opsgenie
- Up to 5 users and 100 SMS notifications account-wide — not per user — with voice notifications not included at all.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“$0 $0 up to 5 users /month get started includes: 100/month international phone/sms notifications included 1 on-call schedule 1 escalation policy”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Opsgenie Pricing ↗
“free basic alerting and on-call management for small teams $0 up to 5 users [...] free 100 sms notifications (account wide). voice notifications not included.”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
Entry paid plan
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“save $48/user annually $25 $25 $21 per user /month start free trial”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Opsgenie Pricing ↗
“essentials alerting and incident management, optimized for simplicity $9.45 per user, per month billed annually or $11.55 billed monthly”
Read 2026-09-16 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“free plan, plus: basic chat experience (slack, microsoft teams) more international phone/sms notifications more on-call schedules more escalation policies”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Opsgenie Pricing ↗
“sms/voice notifications (us & canada) free 100 sms notifications (account wide). voice notifications not included. essentials # of users x100 standard unlimited”
Read 2026-09-16 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“100/month international phone/sms notifications included [...] free plan, plus: basic chat experience (slack, microsoft teams) more international phone/sms notifications”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Opsgenie Pricing ↗
“sms/voice notifications (us & canada) free 100 sms notifications (account wide). voice notifications not included. essentials # of users x100 standard unlimited enterprise unlimited sms/voice notifications (international) free 100 sms notifications (account wide). voice notifications not included. essentials # of users x25”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.