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Upstat vs Rootly

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Executive Snapshot

Rootly is Slack automation. Upstat is the entire incident workspace.

Rootly excels at orchestrating tasks inside Slack, but teams still need separate monitoring, dashboards, status pages, and fallback tooling. Upstat includes those layers by default.

The result: responders aren't limited to chat, automations have richer data, and leadership gets predictable pricing.

Not a one-to-one swap

Upstat keeps automations but grounds them in a complete operations platform—monitoring, runbooks, dashboards, and status communication. You upgrade from a Slack bot to an operational control center.

Capability comparison

Platform model

Upstat

Full incident operations platform with monitoring, response, automations, runbooks, dashboards.

Rootly

Automation overlay for Slack; relies on existing tools for monitoring, incident data, and status comms.

Monitoring

Upstat

Native uptime/API checks trigger incidents and workflows automatically.

Rootly

No monitoring—requires external alerts fed through Slack.

Incident Response

Upstat

Kanban/list views, rich timelines, and role assignments accessible even when chat is down.

Rootly

Slack-first experience; heavy dependence on channels and bots for coordination.

Automations & Runbooks

Upstat

No-code workflows and runbooks embedded in the incident room.

Rootly

Strong Slack automations, but limited outside chat and dependent on upstream data quality.

Entity Intelligence

Upstat

Dashboards show ownership, dependencies, impact, and history for every service.

Rootly

Automations reference catalog fields, but responders still gather operational context manually.

Status Communication

Upstat

Integrated customer/internal status pages update automatically from incidents.

Rootly

Status updates typically shared via Slack; requires additional tooling for external comms.

Resilience

Upstat

Works across web and mobile—even during chat outages.

Rootly

Slack outage or permission issues can block automation and incident execution.

Automations still matter—context matters more

Keep Slack, add a control center

Upstat integrates with Slack for notifications, but the source of truth lives in the browser—so incidents continue even if chat is unavailable.

Data-rich automations

Workflows draw on monitors, entity dashboards, and runbooks. Rootly automations depend on external data and Slack commands, limiting what they can trigger autonomously.

Status updates without extra tools

Upstat status pages update automatically. Rootly teams often wire together separate email, Slack, and manual pages.

Learn more about Automations still matter—context matters more

Plan the transition beyond Slack-only incident management

Bring automation ideas along, but ground them in richer context. This migration flow helps your responders adjust without losing velocity.

  • 1
    List Rootly playbooks, Slack commands, and integrations in use.
  • 2
    Set up matching services and monitors in Upstat to provide upstream data.
  • 3
    Recreate automations as Upstat workflows/runbooks, tying them to incident phases.
  • 4
    Test incidents without Slack to confirm responders still have full context.
  • 5
    Switch responders, archive Rootly playbooks, and train teams on Upstat's workspace.

Migration checklist

Document existing playbooks, configure monitors, rehearse incidents (with and without Slack), then onboard responders gradually.

Learn more about Plan the transition beyond Slack-only incident management

Build the executive business case

Slack automations are helpful, but they don't replace a full incident platform. Upstat delivers consolidated workflows, richer context, and resilience beyond a single chat tool.

Use the scenario below to show leadership how Upstat protects revenue and engineer time while cutting tool spend.

Slack dependency scenario

When Slack is the incident tool, outages halt response.

Imagine 14 major incidents per year. Each time, responders spend 12 minutes gathering context across Slack, dashboards, and docs—and a Slack outage can halt automation entirely.

Baseline: 14 incidents, 12 minutes lost per incident, plus one chat outage per year adding 90 minutes of downtime. Revenue at risk: $7,500/hour. Engineering cost: $120/hour.

Rootly stack: ~$5,000 in add-on tools + ~$24,360 in revenue impact from slower incident response.

Upstat outcome: Web-based incident rooms and native automations remove chat dependency, eliminating the outage risk and cutting coordination time by 40%—protecting ~$15,460 in revenue while eliminating ~$5,000 in tooling.

Tool costs

$5,000 → $0

Rootly subscription + add-on tools vs. Upstat all-in-one platform.

Tool savings: $5,000/year

Downtime impact

$24,360 → $8,900

40% faster MTTR from unified monitoring and incident workflows.

Revenue protected: $15,460/year

Total annual savings

$20,460

Tool consolidation ($5,000) + faster incident resolution ($15,460).

* Estimates based on 12 responders, $7.5k/hour revenue at risk, $120/hour engineer cost, one chat outage/year, and $5k in auxiliary tooling. Adjust to match your environment before presenting internally.

Frequently asked questions

Teams moving beyond Slack-first automation ask these questions most often.

Does Upstat integrate with Slack?

Yes. Upstat integrates with Slack, but the core incident experience also lives on the web so teams aren't blocked by chat outages.

What do we gain by moving off Rootly?

Upstat adds built-in monitoring, runbooks, dashboards, and status pages—while still offering automations and chat integrations. You gain an operational hub rather than relying solely on Slack.

Will responders lose the speed they get in Slack?

No. Upstat notifications still land in Slack or other channels, but the canonical timeline and automations run in Upstat so you gain reliability and context.

Do automations have to be rebuilt from scratch?

Upstat workflows let you mirror (and expand) existing playbooks with triggers based on monitors, incident stages, or manual actions. We provide migration guidance to make the switch straightforward.

Ready to move beyond Slack-only incident response?

Launch Upstat, bring your automations along, and run incidents from a resilient platform.

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