PagerDuty vs Squadcast
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of PagerDuty and Squadcast 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 Squadcast if…
Paging people in more than one country without watching a meter. SMS and voice are worldwide and inside the $15 seat — no cap, no regional split, no headcount multiplier — which is the only plan here where an engineer in Europe costs the same to page as one in Ohio.
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.
- Squadcast: You want to start free. There is no standing free plan, only a 14-day trial, so a five-person team that would pay nothing on PagerDuty or Opsgenie starts at $75 a month. The $15 is also described as a starting price rather than the price.
5 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
Squadcast 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | PagerDuty | Squadcast |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free trial |
| Entry paid plan | $25 per user per month for Professional, or $21 billed annually — the dearest seat of the four. | $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price. |
| 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 SMS and voice notifications worldwide included in the seat rather than allowanced — the only one of the four that does not gate notification volume by tier or headcount. |
| 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. | SMS and voice worldwide, plus unlimited email and push, all included in the seat price with no published cap and no regional split. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- PagerDuty
- Yes
- Squadcast
- No
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“free start with on-call and incident response for small teams. $0 $0 up to 5 users /month”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Squadcast Pricing ↗
“start free trial fully functional for 14 days includes: role-based access control”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
Kind of free offer
- PagerDuty
- Free tier
- Squadcast
- Free trial
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“free start with on-call and incident response for small teams. $0 $0 up to 5 users /month”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Squadcast Pricing ↗
“start free trial fully functional for 14 days”
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.
- Squadcast
- $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- PagerDuty Pricing ↗
“save $48/user annually $25 $25 $21 per user /month start free trial”
Read 2026-09-16 · official pricing
- Squadcast Pricing ↗
“pro modern on-call and incident response starts at: $ 15 per user/month, billed annually”
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.
- Squadcast
- Per user per month, with SMS and voice notifications worldwide included in the seat rather than allowanced — the only one of the four that does not gate notification volume by tier or headcount.
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
- Squadcast Pricing ↗
“unlimited email and push sms and voice notifications (worldwide) schedules and escalations incident notes response actions”
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.
- Squadcast
- SMS and voice worldwide, plus unlimited email and push, all included in the seat price with no published cap and no regional split.
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
- Squadcast Pricing ↗
“knowledge base unlimited email and push sms and voice notifications (worldwide) schedules and escalations”
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 Squadcast?
PagerDuty: $25 per user per month for Professional, or $21 billed annually — the dearest seat of the four.
Squadcast: $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price.
Free tier: PagerDuty or Squadcast?
PagerDuty: Yes
Squadcast: No
Should I choose PagerDuty or Squadcast?
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 Squadcast if Paging people in more than one country without watching a meter. SMS and voice are worldwide and inside the $15 seat — no cap, no regional split, no headcount multiplier — which is the only plan here where an engineer in Europe costs the same to page as one in Ohio.