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Comparison12 min read

ZenDuty vs AlertFlow: An Honest Comparison

SC
Sarah Chen
CEO · November 8, 2024

We built AlertFlow because we believed the existing on-call and alerting tools weren't built for MSPs. ZenDuty is a capable tool — but it's built for software engineering teams, not managed service providers. Here's an honest breakdown of where each tool wins and loses.

Note: We are obviously biased. Read ZenDuty's own marketing too.

TL;DR comparison

Feature
AlertFlow
ZenDuty
MSP client-aware routingNative, per-client workflowsNot supported
RMM integrationsKaseya, ConnectWise, N-able, DattoGeneric webhook only
Pricing modelFlat rate, no per-user feesPer-user pricing
Voice call fallbackIncluded on Growth+Not available
AI alert classificationIncluded on Pro+Not available
On-call scheduling UXClean, modernGood, more mature
Third-party integrationsGrowingLarger library
White-label supportPro+ plansNot offered

Where ZenDuty is genuinely better

ZenDuty has been around longer and has a more mature third-party integration library. If your stack is entirely software-development tooling (GitHub, Jira, Datadog, AWS CloudWatch), ZenDuty has connectors that AlertFlow is still building.

Their on-call scheduling UI is also more polished in edge cases — things like multi-team scheduling across time zones have more configuration options.

Where AlertFlow is purpose-built for MSPs

  • Client-aware routing: Every alert in AlertFlow is tagged to a client account. You can build workflows that say “if client = Acme IT and severity = critical, page Sarah” — something that requires workarounds in ZenDuty.
  • Pricing that makes sense for MSPs: ZenDuty charges per user. If you have 30 engineers and 200 clients, ZenDuty gets expensive fast. AlertFlow is a flat monthly rate — one price, unlimited clients.
  • RMM-native integrations: Our Kaseya, ConnectWise, and N-able integrations understand the data model of those tools — agent names, machine groups, ticket IDs. ZenDuty just receives generic webhooks.
  • Voice call fallback: If SMS doesn't get a response, AlertFlow calls your engineer's phone. ZenDuty doesn't offer this.

The bottom line

If you're a software engineering team at a tech company, ZenDuty is a solid choice. If you're an MSP managing client endpoints, AlertFlow was built specifically for you. The tooling reflects that in every feature.

We recommend trying both. AlertFlow has a 14-day free trial. ZenDuty does too. Import your existing PagerDuty or ZenDuty schedules into AlertFlow using our migration tool, and see which one fits your workflow better.

Try AlertFlow free for 14 days

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