IR-OS vs PagerDuty for Cyber Incident Response
PagerDuty is the leader in IT alerting and on-call management. IR-OS is a Cyber Incident Response Management (CIRM) platform. Teams use both for different jobs — this comparison explains where each one fits.
TL;DR
PagerDuty gets the right person to the alert. IR-OS helps that person — and Legal, Comms, and the CEO — coordinate the response, track regulatory clocks, and produce a defensible record. They solve adjacent problems. Mature programs often run both.
Feature Comparison
| Capability | PagerDuty | IR-OS |
|---|---|---|
| Alert routing & on-call schedules | Leader | Integrates with PagerDuty |
| SIEM / EDR / APM integration | Extensive | Via SOAR / SIEM webhook |
| Incident command structure (6 roles) | Generic commander role | Built-in, cyber-specific |
| Regulatory clock management (SEC, GDPR, HIPAA) | Not a feature | Built-in |
| Stakeholder communications (Legal, Comms, Board) | Limited | Built-in workflow |
| Append-only hash-chained event ledger | No | Yes (SHA-256) |
| Auto-generated after-action reviews | Post-mortem templates | Structured JSONB AAR |
| Tabletop exercise library | No | 12+ scenarios |
| Gap analysis / remediation pipeline | No | Built-in |
| Readiness dashboard (insurance, exercise, gap) | No | Built-in |
Where PagerDuty Wins
- Unmatched SRE / DevOps on-call and alert routing
- Massive integration ecosystem for IT operations
- Strong automation for repetitive operational events
- Mature status page and customer-facing incident pages
Where IR-OS Wins
- Purpose-built for cyber incidents — ransomware, breach, exfiltration, regulatory
- Regulatory clock tracking for SEC Item 1.05, GDPR Article 33, HIPAA, and state laws
- Defensible record with cryptographic tamper evidence — see The Defensible Record
- Full lifecycle: readiness → exercises → live incidents → AARs → remediation
- Built from 150+ real C-Suite tabletop exercises, not theoretical frameworks
- Mobile-first command surface — incidents never start when you are at your desk
Pricing Shape
PagerDuty is priced per-user per-month with multiple tiers. IR-OS pricing is based on organization size and feature tier (Starter free, Professional, Business, Enterprise with SSO/SAML). Both offer free tiers for trial.
When to Choose PagerDuty Alone
If your incident response is purely operational (service outages, latency, infrastructure failures) and you do not face cyber-specific regulatory clocks, PagerDuty alone is a strong fit.
When to Choose IR-OS
If any of the following apply, IR-OS adds coverage that PagerDuty does not offer:
- You are a public company subject to SEC Item 1.05
- You process EU personal data (GDPR Article 33)
- You carry cyber insurance with first-notice requirements
- Your board or auditor asks "prove what you decided and when"
- You need to track readiness (exercises, gaps, insurance, assessments) as a program
See IR-OS alongside your existing stack
IR-OS is designed to complement SIEM, SOAR, and alerting tools like PagerDuty.
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