Most teams can name the tool that pages an on-call engineer. Fewer can say which tool runs a security playbook, which one holds the continuity plan the board approved, and which one reaches every employee when email is down.
Among the pages reviewed for this guide, the seven tools below document four different jobs: IT incident response and on-call, cyber and third-party incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR), and emergency notification.
No tool in this guide documents all four jobs at equal depth, so the guide groups tools by use case instead of ranking them. Mitratech Holdings, Inc. publishes this guide and sells Mitratech Preparis, so it appears first. The order is not a ranking. Every competitor fact comes from a public page linked in the entry or table cell. For Mitratech’s own view of incident coordination, see the Mitratech Preparis Incident Manager page and the Mitratech Preparis demo page.
Qué hay dentro:
- What Is Incident Response Software?
- Why Teams Need Incident Response Tools in 2026
- How We Evaluated These Tools
- Quick Comparison Table
- How to Choose an Incident Response Tool by Use Case
- Best Incident Response Tools by Use Case: 7 Options Compared
- What Gaps Does Each Type of Incident Response Tool Leave?
- Common Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Incident Response Software
- Frequently asked questions
- About Mitratech, Sources and Methodology Notes, and Compliance Disclaimer
What Is Incident Response Software?
Incident response software helps a team detect, coordinate, resolve, and document a disruption. The word “incident” covers four different jobs, and each has its own tools.
- IT and security incident response and on-call: paging the right engineer or analyst, running a shared incident record, and writing the post-incident review for outages and security events.
- Business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR): exercising continuity and recovery plans, then mobilizing a war room and action lists when the plan is invoked.
- Emergency notification: reaching employees, responders, and the public by text, voice, email, and push when time matters.
- Employee safety and duty of care: confirming where people are, whether they are safe, and giving them a way to ask for help.
Most teams need more than one of these jobs covered, and no single product documents all four equally. A tool that pages an on-call engineer in seconds is not designed to hold a regulated continuity plan, and a continuity platform is not designed to run a security playbook. Match the tool to the job before comparing features.
Why Teams Need Incident Response Tools in 2026
Four conditions make the tool choice harder to postpone in 2026. Each one rests on a linked source.
- IT and security response are converging in the same tools. PagerDuty’s July 2025 packaging update added a Security Incident Type and post-incident reviews to its incident management plans. ServiceNow’s documentation describes on-call scheduling inside Security Incident Response, so analyst shifts, escalations, and delivery channels sit in the same system as the case.
- Notification is moving inside continuity and response platforms. Riskonnect integrated AlertMedia’s emergency communication system into its Business Continuity & Resilience solution. Mitratech Preparis packages Alerts and Incident Manager as modules of one platform, and Crisis24 describes OnSolve as combining risk intelligence, critical communications, and incident management.
- Threat feeds now sit next to the alert button. AlertMedia’s push notification page lists real-time monitored warnings from thousands of sources alongside its notification channels, so teams can decide who to message and why in one place.
- Regulated teams are asked for incident records. Mitratech states that detailed incident records and audit trails support recovery-testing and record-keeping requirements under ISO 22301, FFIEC, and DORA. Confirm the exact obligations that apply to you with legal or compliance counsel.
A tool selected today should be checked against all four conditions: which job it covers, which notification path it uses, what threat information feeds it, and what record it leaves behind.
How We Evaluated These Tools
Mitratech GRC built the criteria below and applied them to every tool using the vendor’s own public pages, plus neutral sources where a vendor page was silent. They are not drawn from an analyst framework. The guide uses no analyst report placements for competitors.
- Use-case coverage: which of the four jobs the pages document.
- Deployment: where the product runs, as the vendor states it.
- Integrations: documented integrations or counts, with the counting method noted where the vendor gives one.
- Notification channels: the channels the vendor lists.
- Plan tiers: tier names and published prices, listed as the vendor publishes them.
- Documented limits: a boundary the vendor’s own pages state, or a dependency a buyer should confirm.
“Not documented on pages reviewed” means the pages we reviewed do not describe a capability. It does not mean the vendor lacks it. Plan prices appear only where a vendor publishes them, and each tier is described on its own terms rather than compared across vendors.
Quick Comparison Table
The table covers deployment, integrations, notification channels, and plan tiers for all seven tools. Mitratech Preparis is listed first because Mitratech publishes this guide. The other six follow in the order the editorial team set.
Product features, metrics, and pricing plans are accurate based on publicly available data as of October 2026.
About the table. Each linked cell points to the page we reviewed. Plan tiers are listed as each vendor publishes them, and the table does not compare one vendor’s premium tier with another vendor’s entry tier. Prices for tools that publish them appear in each tool entry under the vendor’s own tier names. The Everbridge data sheet is dated April 2023, so verify its channel list against current documentation.
How to Choose an Incident Response Tool by Use Case
Start with the job that creates your largest exposure, then read the entries for that group. The order of tools within a group is not a ranking, and some tools appear in more than one group.
- IT and security incident response and on-call: PagerDuty and ServiceNow. Choose from this group when the job is paging the right engineer or analyst, escalating when nobody answers, and keeping a shared incident record. Ask each vendor which notification channels and chat tools your responders already use, and how security cases are handled. This guide covers security response only through ServiceNow Security Incident Response, so extend the shortlist if you need playbook automation or vendor-breach workflows.
- Business continuity and disaster recovery: Mitratech Preparis and Riskonnect Business Continuity & Resilience. Choose from this group when the job is business impact analysis, continuity and recovery plans, exercises, and an auditable incident record. Ask how plans, exercises, and live incidents connect.
- Emergency notification: Mitratech Preparis Alerts, Everbridge Mass Notification, AlertMedia, and OnSolve by Crisis24. Choose from this group when the job is reaching employees, responders, or the public across several channels. Ask which channels and endpoints you need to reach, and whether threat monitoring is part of the package.
- Employee safety and duty of care: Crisis24, AlertMedia, Everbridge, and Mitratech Preparis Alerts. Choose from this group when the job is confirming that people are safe and giving them a way to ask for help. Ask how location data is collected, who can see it, and what employees must opt into.
Most teams need tools from at least two groups. A common pairing is one IT or security response tool for detection and triage, plus one continuity or notification tool for the people side of the same event.
Best Incident Response Tools by Use Case: 7 Options Compared
The tools below are grouped by the job each is documented to do. Mitratech Preparis appears first because Mitratech publishes this guide, and it spans two of the four groups. Order within a group is not a ranking.
Mitratech Preparis: continuity, incident coordination, and emergency notification
1. Mitratech Preparis
Best for: Business continuity, crisis, and IT/DR teams that want plans, exercises, live incident coordination, and emergency alerts in one platform.
Documented strength: The Mitratech Preparis product page describes four modules: Planner, Alerts, Incident Manager, and IT Disaster Recovery. The Incident Manager page describes virtual or physical war rooms, distributed action lists, self-updating status dashboards, and timestamped recovery comments that form an incident record. The product page states that actual recovery time is captured automatically during incident activation and appears in the incident retrospective, so planned recovery targets can be compared with real results. Mitratech Preparis Alerts lists SMS, email, voice, push, desktop, RCS, and WhatsApp channels with location-based messaging using geofences. The Incident Manager page states that the module is integrated with the Mitratech GRC platform. Mitratech was named a Leader in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix for Business Continuity and Operational Resilience Management 2026.
One consideration for buyers: The pages reviewed describe Mitratech Preparis around continuity planning, alerting, and incident coordination. They do not describe on-call scheduling, alert ingestion from monitoring tools, or security playbook automation, and they do not state the hosting model or list third-party integrations. Pair it with a tool from the first two groups if those jobs are in scope, and ask Mitratech for the hosting and integration details during a demonstration.
Pricing: Not published. A demo request page is available.
Request a Mitratech Preparis demo
IT and security incident response and on-call
These tools page responders, run the incident channel, and support the post-incident review.
2. PagerDuty
Best for: IT operations and engineering teams that need on-call schedules, escalation policies, and incident workflows.
Documented strength: The PagerDuty pricing page lists email, push, SMS, and phone notifications, 750+ out-of-box integrations, and incident workflows that can create Slack channels and Jira tickets. PagerDuty’s July 2025 packaging update states that every incident management plan includes a Security Incident Type and post-incident reviews.
One consideration for buyers: The pricing page states that every person added to the account is a paid user, including people who only receive notifications or appear on a schedule. It lists AIOps, stakeholder licenses, status pages, and live call routing as add-ons, and the Free plan includes 100 SMS or phone notifications per month.
Pricing: Per the pricing page: Free for up to 5 users; Professional at $21 per user per month billed annually ($25 monthly); Business at $41 ($49 monthly); Enterprise by quote. Add-ons start at $699 per month for AIOps on annual billing ($799 monthly), $150 per 50 stakeholders per month for the stakeholder license, $89 per 1,000 subscribers per month for status pages, and $415 per month for PagerDuty Advance with an annual commitment.
3. ServiceNow
Best for: IT operations teams already on ServiceNow that want on-call routing driven from incident records, and security teams that want analyst on-call coverage inside Security Incident Response.
Documented strength: ServiceNow’s On-Call Scheduling documentation states that it finds the right person to assign an incident by rotating through duty rosters, that roster members receive escalation notifications to acknowledge tasks, and that a mobile app is available. A Security Incident Response page updated March 12, 2026 states that managers can manage shifts, approve or reject absence requests, and set notification preferences, delivery channels, escalation trigger rules, and policies for their group.
One consideration for buyers: A ServiceNow community guide lists On-Call Scheduling as its own plugin on top of the ITSM base and Incident Management plugins, and states it needs the Australia release or later. Confirm the plugin set and licensing for your instance. The pages reviewed do not describe hosting, notification channels in detail, or plan tiers.
Pricing: Not published on the pages reviewed.
Business continuity and disaster recovery
These tools hold continuity and recovery plans, run exercises, and record what happened when a plan is invoked. Mitratech Preparis (entry 1 above) belongs to this group.
4. Riskonnect Business Continuity & Resilience
Best for: Teams that want continuity management alongside broader integrated risk management software from the same vendor.
Documented strength: A UK government procurement listing describes a web-based application, formerly Castellan, with modules for business impact analysis, planning, exercising, crisis management, threat intelligence, emergency notification, operational resilience, and reporting. Riskonnect’s emergency notification page states that users can reach a backup channel if primary communication channels are disrupted or corrupted in a cyber event.
One consideration for buyers: Riskonnect announced an AlertMedia integration for sending notifications from the platform. The pages reviewed do not itemize notification channels or list plan tiers, and the procurement listing may not reflect current features.
Pricing: Not published on the pages reviewed.
Notificación de emergencia
These tools reach employees, responders, and the public. Mitratech Preparis Alerts (entry 1 above) and the notification features of Riskonnect (entry 4) belong to this group.
5. Everbridge Mass Notification
Best for: Organizations that need to broadcast to many device types and collect responses.
Documented strength: Everbridge’s data sheet lists text, email, mobile app notification, voice call, Slack and Microsoft Teams, and desktop alerts, plus text-to-speech, geo-fencing, and multilingual support.
One consideration for buyers: The data sheet is dated 2023, so verify its channel list and packaging against current documentation. The pages reviewed do not state the hosting model, and G2 lists entry-level pricing as contact the vendor.
Pricing: Not published.
6. AlertMedia
Best for: Organizations that want multichannel employee notification with threat monitoring and two-way responses in one cloud service.
Documented strength: AlertMedia’s FAQ page lists SMS, email, mobile app push, voice, desktop takeover, digital signage, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams as channels, and lists integrations including Slack, Workday, Oracle PeopleSoft, Azure Active Directory, ADP, and Okta for contact data and channels. The same page describes read receipts, surveys, wellness checks, and need-help requests, and receiving real-time threat warnings from thousands of sources. Its push notification page states the platform is cloud-based with no hardware, software, or maintenance.
One consideration for buyers: The pages reviewed describe notification, contact-data sync, and threat warnings. They do not describe continuity plan libraries or on-call scheduling, and the Riskonnect partnership is the only continuity-platform integration they name.
Pricing: AlertMedia’s FAQ states that it uses custom pricing that depends on audience size and geographic area, with no setup fees and 24/7 support included.
7. OnSolve by Crisis24
Best for: Organizations that want two-way mass notification with a built-in conference bridge, large template library, and a broad integration catalog, including government and regulated buyers.
Documented strength: Crisis24’s Mass Notification page lists email, SMS, mobile app, text-to-voice, desktop notifications, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp, and RSS feeds, 450+ out-of-the-box integrations with physical security, business continuity, and IT systems, and 150+ message templates. It also describes a command center with a one-tap conference bridge, and lists ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, FedRAMP, TX-RAMP Level 1, and SOC 2 certifications.
One consideration for buyers: The current Crisis24 page does not use the OnSolve name, and Crisis24 now presents risk intelligence, critical event management, and mass notification as separate platforms and solutions. Confirm which modules and channels your package includes. The pages reviewed do not publish plan tiers.
Pricing: Not published on the pages reviewed.
Employee safety and duty of care
These tools help organizations confirm that people are safe and give them a way to ask for help. The features below are described in the entries above, and each rests on the linked page.
- Crisis24 (entry 7): the Mass Notification page lists safety confirmation requests with real-time response monitoring, and mobile app features named Lookout, Check-in, SOS, and Life Check.
- AlertMedia (entry 6): its FAQ lists wellness checks, read receipts, need-help requests, and dynamic groups built on up-to-date location data.
- Everbridge (entry 5): its data sheet lists geo-fencing that triggers alerts when a device enters an area, and two-way communication.
- Mitratech Preparis Alerts (entry 1): the product page describes bi-directional messaging by location, department, group, or role, with real-time or predefined geofences.
Location and check-in features depend on what employees opt into. Confirm data handling, visibility, and consent settings with each vendor and with your privacy counsel.
What Gaps Does Each Type of Incident Response Tool Leave?
Every approach starts from one signal and reaches people one way. Plan for the boundary before you plan for the tool.
On-call and IT response tools start from an alert or an incident record. The pages reviewed for PagerDuty and ServiceNow describe alerts, schedules, escalation, and incident records. They do not describe business impact analysis or continuity plan libraries. ServiceNow’s community guide adds a dependency: On-Call Scheduling is a separate plugin on top of the incident base.
Continuity platforms hold the plan and reach people through modules or partners. Mitratech Preparis lists Alerts as a module, and Riskonnect lists built-in notification and an AlertMedia integration. The pages reviewed do not describe on-call paging from monitoring tools.
Notification tools reach devices, not plans. Everbridge’s data sheet, AlertMedia’s channel list, and Crisis24’s Mass Notification page describe endpoints and channels. A message that reaches everyone still needs a plan that says what each person does next.
Security response is thinly covered here. This guide includes one tool for cyber and third-party response. Teams with playbook automation or vendor-breach needs should extend the shortlist.
The practical answer is layering. Connect the alert source to a coordination tool, connect the coordination tool to a notification path, and keep the record in one place. Then test the chain with an exercise before a live event does it for you.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Incident Response Software
Pricing every user as a responder. PagerDuty’s pricing page states that every person added to the account is a paid user, including people who only receive notifications or appear on a schedule. Ask each vendor how observers, executives, and stakeholders are licensed before you build a budget.
Comparing unlike numbers. Vendors report integrations, channels, and coverage using their own definitions, such as PagerDuty’s 750+ out-of-box integrations. Do not rank tools on counts.
Treating dated documents or old product names as current. The Everbridge data sheet is from 2023, and OnSolve is now presented under the Crisis24 name. Verify every capability, product name, and date with the vendor before purchase.
Buying notification without a plan. Mitratech’s Incident Manager page distinguishes mass-notification tools that broadcast alerts from incident management software that also manages, documents, and analyzes the response. Decide which of the two jobs you are buying before you compare channel lists.
"Mitratech listened. They provided recommendations to facilitate our goals and engaged in several cross-functional meetings to ensure they understood our environment and priorities. The responsiveness and reliability have been the difference-maker in this vendor relationship. We feel that they understand our business is 24/7... and they take issue-resolution seriously."
Preguntas frecuentes
What are the main types of incident response tools?
What is the difference between incident management software and mass notification tools?
Do IT and security teams need separate incident response tools?
How much does incident response software cost?
About Mitratech Preparis
This list is curated and published by Mitratech Holdings, Inc. Mitratech offers Mitratech Preparis, which is listed above and competes with other vendors named. Competitor names appear in plain text, and all trademarks belong to their respective owners. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any vendor or product. Vendor features, metrics, and pricing are accurate based on publicly available data as of October 2026 and should be re-verified before purchase.
Sources and Methodology Notes
Pages were reviewed on October 22, 2026 unless a date is given. Each linked table cell points to a page in the lists below. The guide uses no analyst report placements for competitors.
Mitratech pages
- Mitratech. Mitratech Preparis.
- Mitratech. Incident Management, Mitratech Preparis Incident Manager.
- Mitratech. Mitratech Preparis demo page.
IT and security incident response and on-call
- PagerDuty. Incident Management pricing.
- PagerDuty. Raising the Bar: More Power, More Value in PagerDuty’s Packaging (updated July 31, 2025).
- ServiceNow. Exploring On-Call Scheduling, On-Call scheduling in Security Incident Response (updated March 12, 2026), and Major incident management and on-call scheduling community guide.
Business continuity and disaster recovery
- Riskonnect. Business Continuity & Resilience listing, UK Digital Marketplace, Emergency Notification, and AlertMedia partnership announcement.
Notificación de emergencia
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- Everbridge. Mass Notification data sheet (2023).
- G2. Everbridge Mass Notification comparison page, used only for the pricing listing.
- AlertMedia. Employee mass text and FAQ page, mass notification page, and push notification page.
- Crisis24. Mass Notification platform (formerly OnSolve) and OnSolve by Crisis24.
Compliance Disclaimer
No fabricated statistics, invented analyst rankings, or unattributed claims are included in this article. Product features, metrics, and pricing plans referenced are based on publicly available data as of October 2026. Product descriptions are based on publicly available vendor documentation and industry reports. Features and capabilities may change over time. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any vendor or product. Organizations should conduct their own due diligence, including product demonstrations and reference checks, before making purchasing decisions. The cited regulatory guidance is provided for informational context only and does not constitute legal or compliance advice.
