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Technology · head to head

Okta vs PagerDuty

Okta logo

Okta

Technology

The identity platform for builders

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 Okta has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Okta requires $1,500 annual minimum contract; 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: Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO), PagerDuty covers Incident response.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Okta and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Okta and PagerDuty differ
AttributeOktaPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, SaaSWeb, Ios, Android, Api

Identical on both: pricing model (Unknown), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Technology), founded (2009).

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 Okta

  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Lifecycle management
  • Universal directory
  • API access management
  • B2B integration
  • Passwordless authentication
  • Adaptive MFA

Only in PagerDuty

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

Both cover

  • Slack
  • ServiceNow
  • SOC2
  • ISO27001
  • HIPAA

What people use each for

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

Okta

  • Employee SSOnot PagerDuty
  • Customer identitynot PagerDuty
  • B2B integrationnot PagerDuty
  • Zero Trust securitynot PagerDuty
  • Compliancenot PagerDuty

PagerDuty

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

Where each one falls short

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

Okta

  • Requires $1,500 annual minimum contract
  • Admin-only MFA can be vulnerable to push notification fatigue attacks
  • Implementation requires significant services and integration fees in year one

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

Okta

Free
  • Starter Suite$6/user/month
    • SSO
    • MFA
    • Universal Directory
  • Core Essentials Suite$14/user/month
    • Adaptive MFA
    • Privileged Access
    • Lifecycle Management
  • Essentials Suite$17/user/month
    • Same as Core Essentials
    • Most popular
  • Professional Suite$undefined/custom
    • Device Access
    • Identity Security Posture
    • Threat Protection

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Okta if

  • You need single sign-on (sso).
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, SaaS.
  • You also want multi-factor authentication.
Okta 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 Okta or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Okta 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, Okta or PagerDuty?
Okta has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Okta and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Okta or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Okta runs on Web, SaaS. PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Okta for free?
Yes. Okta has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is Okta best used for?
Okta is most often used for employee sso, customer identity, b2b integration, zero trust security. Of those, employee sso and customer identity are not what PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Okta do that PagerDuty cannot?
Okta covers Single sign-on (SSO), Multi-factor authentication, Lifecycle management, Universal directory. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies. Both handle Slack, ServiceNow, SOC2, ISO27001.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Okta: What is the minimum contract for Okta Workforce Identity?

Okta requires a $1,500 annual minimum contract for Workforce Identity plans. Pricing starts at $6 per user per month (Starter) and ranges to $17 per user per month (Essentials), billed annually.

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
Okta: Does Okta offer a free trial?

Yes, Okta provides a 30-day free trial so customers can explore all product capabilities before committing to a paid plan.

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
Okta: How many pre-built integrations does Okta support?

Okta offers over 7,000 pre-built integrations with popular enterprise applications including Salesforce, Slack, Workday, Box, Confluence, and Zendesk.

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
Okta: What security features does Okta provide for admins?

Okta provides multi-factor authentication, adaptive MFA, single logout, and identity threat detection and response. However, only 94% of Okta customers have MFA enabled for administrators.

Source
Okta: Can Okta integrate with on-premises directories?

Yes, Okta's Universal Directory and lifecycle management support cloud and on-premises identity sources, including Active Directory and LDAP.

Source
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