# Rootly vs Squadcast

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/rootly-vs-squadcast/

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Rootly | Squadcast |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Entry paid plan | $20 per user per month for Essentials. | $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price. |
| Pricing model | Per user per month. What the tier buys is scale rather than features: 20 schedules and escalation policies on Essentials against unlimited above it, and one live call-routing number against five. | 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. |
| SMS and voice allowance | SMS, voice, push and bypass-do-not-disturb on every tier, with no published count for any of them. What is metered instead is live call routing: one phone number on Essentials, five above it. | 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

### Entry paid plan

- Rootly: $20 per user per month for Essentials. ([source](https://rootly.com/pricing))
- Squadcast: $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price. ([source](https://www.squadcast.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Rootly: Per user per month. What the tier buys is scale rather than features: 20 schedules and escalation policies on Essentials against unlimited above it, and one live call-routing number against five. ([source](https://rootly.com/pricing))
- 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. ([source](https://www.squadcast.com/pricing))

### SMS and voice allowance

- Rootly: SMS, voice, push and bypass-do-not-disturb on every tier, with no published count for any of them. What is metered instead is live call routing: one phone number on Essentials, five above it. ([source](https://rootly.com/pricing))
- Squadcast: SMS and voice worldwide, plus unlimited email and push, all included in the seat price with no published cap and no regional split. ([source](https://www.squadcast.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Rootly if Running incidents inside Slack, with enough rotas to matter. Essentials holds 20 schedules and escalation policies at $20 a user — the only vendor here to put a number on that at a paid tier rather than saying "more" — and SMS, voice, push and bypass-do-not-disturb are on every plan.

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.

Consider something else: Rootly — You need live call routing at more than one number, or you want to try before buying. One phone number on Essentials against five above it, and the pricing page shows no $0 plan and states nothing either way about a trial.

Consider something else: 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.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: Squadcast: No
- Kind of free offer: Squadcast: Free trial
- When the free offer ends: Squadcast: 14 days, fully functional. There is no standing free plan behind it.
- On-call schedules: Rootly: 20 schedules and escalation policies on Essentials; unlimited on the tier above. The only vendor of the four to put a number on this at a paid tier.
- Role-based access control: Squadcast: Role-based access control is included in the Pro plan, the entry tier.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Rootly or Squadcast?**

Rootly: $20 per user per month for Essentials.
Squadcast: $15 per user per month billed annually, described as a starting price.

**Should I choose Rootly or Squadcast?**

Pick Rootly if Running incidents inside Slack, with enough rotas to matter. Essentials holds 20 schedules and escalation policies at $20 a user — the only vendor here to put a number on that at a paid tier rather than saying "more" — and SMS, voice, push and bypass-do-not-disturb are on every plan.
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.