Product Comparison

📋 Preface

In the rapidly evolving digital era, enterprise dependence on monitoring and incident management tools is growing day by day. These tools serve as crucial cornerstones for ensuring business continuity and service stability. However, as monitoring systems continue to expand in scale, massive volumes of alerts and incident notifications surge like a tide, bringing unprecedented operational challenges to IT teams.

Core question: How can we ensure that every alert is captured promptly, delivered accurately, and responded to efficiently?

🚨 Are you facing these challenges?

When your organization encounters the following situations, it's time to consider introducing or upgrading On-call tools:

🔍 Comprehensive tracking and resolution: Ensure every incident can be tracked, handled, and resolved to prevent problem escalation and avoid greater asset losses

👥 Establishing on-call mechanisms: Build clear on-call personnel schedules, including primary and backup rotation systems, reasonably distribute responsibilities, and avoid alert information overload

⚡ Improving response efficiency: When SRE or development personnel invest more than 25% in daily on-call work, tools are needed to reduce noise and improve work efficiency

📊 Establishing quantified metrics: Build quantified metrics for incident handling timeliness and personnel workload to drive continuous improvement of service stability through data

🎯 Procurement guide overview

"What key factors should we consider when procuring On-call services?"

This guide will provide you with comprehensive On-call tool procurement recommendations. We will analyze from three core dimensions: 🔧 Product features, 🎭 Service quality, and 💰 Pricing strategy, deeply examining the key points that IT managers should focus on when seeking efficient collaborative incident management solutions for development and operations teams.

Additionally, we will provide detailed comparative analysis between Flashduty and PagerDuty, two mainstream On-call suppliers, to help you make informed decisions.

🔧 Product feature comparison

🔌 Integration capabilities

As the process handling center, incident management systems need robust data ingestion and outbound capabilities for seamless integration with various systems.

Core capability	Key evaluation questions	Flashduty vs. PagerDuty
📥 Alert integration	• Does it support your commonly used alert systems? • Does it support custom alert integration? Reporting custom script monitoring data through standard protocols? • Does it support email integration? Triggering or closing incidents via email? • Does it support change-type integrations? (Incidents are generally caused by changes, integrating changes helps in rapid troubleshooting) • Is integration documentation easy to find with clear instructions? Can you complete configuration independently based on documentation?	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ PagerDuty: Supports most overseas monitoring tools Flashduty: Supports mainstream monitoring tools outside mainland China, also compatible with PagerDuty protocol, some tools can directly push data using PagerDuty methods
🔗 Webhooks	• Does it support pushing incident operations externally via Webhook? For integrating custom processes or tools? • Does it support subscription based on event types or sources? (e.g., separately subscribing to incident assignment events for order systems)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
🔧 Open APIs	Does it support rich Open APIs, allowing customers to operate data entities through APIs?	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ Both provide rich APIs and detailed documentation

🛠️ Incident handling capabilities

Incident handling is the core functionality of the system, mainly examining the richness and flexibility of product features.

📡 Alert routing

Feature	Evaluation points	Comparison results
Routing capabilities	• Does it support dedicated integrations? Direct routing to services or channels without routing? • Does it support shared integrations? And flexible routing rules?	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ Differentiation advantages: • PagerDuty only supports shared integration_key, no shared integration concept • Flashduty can set routing rules directly on the integration page, providing routing version management and rollback capabilities • PagerDuty requires complex Event Orchestration or Workflow implementation

📈 Information enrichment

Feature	Support status	Feature comparison
Custom fields	Add fields, define types and enumeration values to extend incident information	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Regex extraction	Extract new labels from existing information through regex (e.g., extracting data center information from hostname)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Information composition	Combine existing information to generate new labels (e.g., generating runbook addresses through services and alert policies)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Data mapping	Import data tables to dynamically generate new labels (e.g., importing CMDB data to automatically generate owner information based on host IP)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Flashduty exclusive: Supports flexible data mapping solutions

🔇 Alert noise reduction

Noise reduction capability	Feature description	Comparison advantages
Intelligent grouping	• Group similar alerts for processing, reducing alert fatigue • Group incidents by time window • AI-based merging	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ PagerDuty: Intelligent grouping + policy grouping Flashduty: Fine-grained control policy grouping
Incident silence	Stop alert notifications during market closure or system maintenance	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Incident inhibition	Automatically suppress related pod incidents when host incidents occur	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Storm warning	Additional notifications when incident grouped alert quantities are excessive to enhance response effort	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Flapping convergence	Appropriately reduce notifications when the same incident frequently occurs and recovers	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Delayed notification	Delay window notifications to filter incidents that automatically recover immediately	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅

💡 Key advantages: Flashduty provides more exclusive features in alert noise reduction, effectively reducing alert fatigue

🎯 Incident assignment

Assignment capability	Feature details	Core differences
Policy assignment	• Support assignment to schedules, teams, or individuals • Set group chat or private chat notification methods simultaneously	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty additional support: • Assignment to teams • Setting notification methods • PagerDuty can only configure globally, cannot match to incident level
Conditional matching	Multiple assignment policies matched by weight	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🚫 PagerDuty limitation: Only supports one escalation policy per Service 🏆 Flashduty advantage: Supports multiple assignment policies that can take effect at different times or incident scopes
Automatic escalation	Automatic escalation when incidents timeout unresolved + manual escalation	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Dynamic assignment	• Dynamically replace assignees based on labels • Dynamically replace group chat information based on labels	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Flashduty exclusive: Significantly reduces system integration and configuration maintenance costs

🔧 Incident handling

Handling feature	Feature description	Support comparison
Basic operations	Manually create, acknowledge, close, comment, snooze, merge incidents	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Automation	• Timeout auto-close • Snooze timeout auto-cancel	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Incident postmortem	Complete incident postmortem functionality	Flashduty ❌, PagerDuty ✅
Similar incidents	Identify and associate similar incidents	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Outlier incidents	Automatic alerts for outlier incidents	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Flashduty exclusive: The impact and solutions of outlier incidents are uncertain, enhanced alerts help improve handler sensitivity
Operation records	Detailed operation audit logs	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Re-assignment	Support incident re-assignment	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Custom actions	Add custom actions (e.g., trigger host restart)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Incident reopening	Reopen and notify after closure	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Custom fields	Mark false positives, add meeting links, etc.	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty advantage: Supports incident search by fields 🚫 PagerDuty limitation: Can only view in details
🔍 Search capabilities	Powerful incident search functionality	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Flashduty exclusive features: • Search by labels, custom fields, titles, personnel • Support exact, wildcard, regex matching • Card view • Custom list rendering

📊 Incident analysis

Analysis dimension	Feature description	Feature support
Basic statistics	Count incidents and events by time, team, service, and other dimensions	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Handling metrics	Calculate key metrics like MTTA, MTTR	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Personnel metrics	Count personnel incident handling metrics and quantities	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Frequency analysis	Count most frequently occurring incident hosts and policies	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Time cost	Count time spent by personnel handling incidents	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Time period analysis	Count metrics by work, rest, and sleep periods	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Custom reports	Custom statistical reports	Flashduty ❌, PagerDuty ❌
Scheduled reports	Regular statistical reports	Flashduty ❌, PagerDuty ❌
Dashboard display	Large screen analysis dashboard display	Flashduty ❌, PagerDuty ❌
Data export	Download data details	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅

🏢 Platform capabilities

Platform basic capabilities cover core functions such as member management, on-call response, and notification capabilities.

🕐 Schedule management

Schedule feature	Feature requirements	Comparison advantages
Rotation cycle	Rotate by day, week, or custom cycle	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Time restrictions	Limit on-call hours within rotation cycles	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Date skipping	Skip specific dates (different rules for workdays/non-workdays)	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Time period rules	Different rotation rules for different time periods	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty advantage: Can set cycle end times
Temporary shift changes	Set temporary shift changes	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
Schedule roles	Set primary/backup on-call roles	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Multi-person on-call	Multiple people on-call simultaneously and rotating together	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌
Fair rotation	Avoid fixed personnel being on-call at specific times	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Solves pain point: With 7 people rotating daily, prevents Zhang San from always being on-call on Sundays
Rotation notifications	Set rotation notifications including advance notifications	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty advantage: Supports more notification methods
Calendar export	Schedule calendar export functionality	Flashduty ❌, PagerDuty ✅

📞 Notification channels

Notification method	Localization support	Support comparison
🇨🇳 Voice and SMS	Mainland China voice and SMS support	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ ⚠️ PagerDuty: Limited support, low delivery rate, unstable
📱 Fixed caller ID	Fixed display number	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
📧 Email notifications	Email notification support	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
💬 Mainland China IM	Mainland China mainstream IM application collaboration	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty supports: `Feishu/Lark`, `Dingtalk`, `WeCom` application integration
🌍 International IM	International mainstream IM application collaboration	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ Both support: `Slack`, `Microsoft Teams` 🏆 Flashduty additional support: `Zoom`, `Telegram` bots
📱 Mobile apps	Mobile app support	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ 🏆 Flashduty advantage: Independent adaptation for 7 major domestic Android mainstream phone manufacturer system-level push notifications, high delivery rate, more stable
🎨 Custom templates	Custom notification templates	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ❌ 🏆 Flashduty exclusive: Supports rich template syntax

🔐 Security and audit

Security feature	Feature description	Support status
🔑 Single sign-on	SSO protocol support	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅ Flashduty: SAML, OIDC, CAS, LDAP PagerDuty: SAML, OAuth2
📋 Operation audit	Complete operation audit logs	Flashduty ✅, PagerDuty ✅
🔐 Private deployment	✅ Pricing differs from SaaS service, please contact sales for details	❌

💰 Pricing comparison

Pricing is an important factor in enterprise decision-making, requiring the selection of the most cost-effective solution while meeting requirements.

💵 Comparison dimension	Flashduty	PagerDuty
🔗 Pricing page	price.flashcat.cloud	price.pagerduty.com
💳 Billing model	Seat fee + excess communication charges	Seat fee + Add-Ons
📦 Version pricing	Pro ¥199/person/month 🏆 Full features including AIops	Business $41/person/month ⚠️ AIops and other features require separate Add-Ons purchase
👥 Active users	✅ Only charge for active users 📝 Active standard: members who view or handle incidents in the current month 💡 Only receiving notifications doesn't count as active user	❌ All users need to pay ⚠️ Handling alerts requires full license ⚠️ Only receiving alerts requires stakeholder license (minimum 50, $3/person/month)
🆓 Free trial	Pro 14-day free trial 🎁 Can apply for extension	Business 14-day free trial

💡 Cost advantage: Flashduty's active user billing model can significantly reduce total cost of ownership, especially suitable for large teams

🎭 Service quality comparison

Quality service support is crucial for successful product implementation.

🛠️ Service item	Flashduty	PagerDuty
📧 Email support	✅	✅
👨‍💼 Dedicated support	✅ Dedicated IM service group 🏆 Instant response, efficient communication	❌ Requires separate purchase
🔧 Expert remote assistance	✅ Remote meeting problem solving 🏆 One-on-one expert guidance	❌ Requires separate purchase
⏰ Service hours	Standard: 5×8 Pro: 7×8	❓ Not specified
📊 Status page	✅ status.flashcat.cloud	✅ status.pagerduty.com
🗺️ Product roadmap	✅ Transparent product planning roadmap.flashcat.cloud	❌ No public roadmap

🏆 Service advantage: Flashduty provides more user-centric service support, with dedicated IM groups and remote expert support enhancing user experience

🎯 Summary and recommendations

🏆 Core advantages comparison

Flashduty outstanding advantages:

💰 Better pricing strategy: Active user billing, full features including AIops

🇨🇳 Localization advantages: Comprehensive mainland China IM, voice, and SMS support

🔧 Leading feature innovation: Exclusive features like incident inhibition, storm warning, dynamic assignment

🎭 Caring service experience: Dedicated IM groups, remote expert support

PagerDuty traditional advantages:

🌍 Internationalization: Years of deep cultivation in overseas markets

📚 Feature maturity: Traditional features like incident postmortem, calendar export are well-established

🏢 Enterprise recognition: High awareness among large multinational enterprises

💡 Selection recommendations

We recommend choosing solutions that can customize according to actual needs and adapt to different workflows. Decision-making should focus on:

🔍 Feature matching: Whether alert and notification workflows meet requirements

🔌 Integration convenience: Ease of integration with existing systems

👥 Schedule management: Flexibility of scheduling and escalation mechanisms

💰 Total cost: Look at total cost of ownership, not just unit price

🎭 Service quality: Technical support and response timeliness

📋 Final recommendation: We suggest comprehensive trial evaluation of both products before making the most suitable choice based on your team's actual needs and budget constraints.

🔄 Continuously updated. Please feel free to provide feedback on any questions or suggestions

Product Comparison

📋 Preface#

🚨 Are you facing these challenges?#

🎯 Procurement guide overview#

🔧 Product feature comparison#

🔌 Integration capabilities#

🛠️ Incident handling capabilities#

📡 Alert routing#

📈 Information enrichment#

🔇 Alert noise reduction#

🎯 Incident assignment#

🔧 Incident handling#

📊 Incident analysis#

🏢 Platform capabilities#

🕐 Schedule management#

📞 Notification channels#

🔐 Security and audit#

💰 Pricing comparison#

🎭 Service quality comparison#

🎯 Summary and recommendations#

🏆 Core advantages comparison#

💡 Selection recommendations#