Softwr

Logging · head to head

Azure Monitor vs PagerDuty

Azure Monitor logo

Azure Monitor

Logging

Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Technology

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Azure Monitor has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Azure Monitor billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does; PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • They diverge on capability: Azure Monitor covers Log collection, PagerDuty covers Incident response.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Azure Monitor and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Azure Monitor and PagerDuty differ
AttributeAzure MonitorPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Pricing modelusage-basedUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, ApiWeb, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryLoggingTechnology
Founded20102009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Azure Monitor

  • Log collection
  • Metrics collection
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Custom dashboards
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Azure Monitor

  • Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot PagerDuty
  • Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot PagerDuty
  • Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot PagerDuty
  • Long-term log retention for compliancenot PagerDuty
  • Querying operational data with KQLnot PagerDuty

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot Azure Monitor
  • On-call schedulingnot Azure Monitor
  • Real-time alertingnot Azure Monitor
  • Service reliabilitynot Azure Monitor
  • Digital operationsnot Azure Monitor

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Azure Monitor

  • Billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
  • Only the first 5 GB a month of Analytics logs is free per billing account
  • Retention beyond the base period is charged per GB per month, up to 2 years interactive and 12 years long term
  • Log queries and search jobs are billed per GB scanned, so investigating an incident costs money
  • Alert rules are billed per time series for metrics and by execution frequency for logs
  • The pricing page shows placeholders rather than rates until a region and currency are chosen

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Azure Monitor

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log collection
    • Metrics collection
    • Alerts and notifications

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Azure Monitor if

  • You need log collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want metrics collection.
Azure Monitor review

Choose PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Questions people ask

Is Azure Monitor or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Azure Monitor starts at Free and PagerDuty at $21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Azure Monitor or PagerDuty?
Azure Monitor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Azure Monitor and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Azure Monitor or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Azure Monitor runs on Web, Api. PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Azure Monitor for free?
Yes. Azure Monitor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is Azure Monitor best used for?
Azure Monitor is most often used for collecting logs and metrics from azure resources, alerting on metric thresholds and log queries, application performance monitoring through application insights, long-term log retention for compliance. Of those, collecting logs and metrics from azure resources and alerting on metric thresholds and log queries are not what PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Azure Monitor do that PagerDuty cannot?
Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications, Custom dashboards. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Azure Monitor: How does Azure Monitor billing work?

Billing is based on data volume ingested into Azure Monitor. Additional charges apply separately for alerts, notifications, web tests, and data export. Activity log and platform metrics are automatically collected with an Azure subscription.

Source
PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

Source
Azure Monitor: What savings are available with Azure Monitor?

Capacity reservations offer up to 36% savings compared to standard pay-as-you-go pricing when you commit to reserved capacity upfront.

Source
PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
Azure Monitor: Is there a free tier for Azure Monitor?

No dedicated free tier exists. Activity log and platform metrics are automatically collected with an Azure subscription, but detailed monitoring requires additional configuration and associated costs.

Source
PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Azure Monitor

More on PagerDuty

Keep looking

Other head to heads