Opsgenie

What is Opsgenie?

Opsgenie is an incident management and alerting platform that helps DevOps, ITOps, and development teams respond to service disruptions quickly and effectively. Acquired by Atlassian in 2018, Opsgenie integrates deeply with the Atlassian ecosystem including Jira, Confluence, and Statuspage while maintaining its own identity as a comprehensive alerting solution. The platform centralizes alerts from monitoring tools, routes them to the right teams, and orchestrates the incident response process.

What distinguishes Opsgenie is its focus on making on-call manageable while providing enterprise-grade capabilities at accessible pricing. The platform handles the complex routing logic required when alerts need to reach different teams based on service, time of day, or alert severity. Flexible escalation policies ensure critical issues receive attention even when primary responders are unavailable. This reliability has made Opsgenie a trusted choice for organizations where service availability directly impacts business outcomes.

Opsgenie’s position within Atlassian strengthens its appeal for organizations already using Jira for issue tracking or Confluence for documentation. Incidents can automatically create Jira issues, update Confluence pages, and coordinate with Statuspage for customer communication. This integration reduces context switching during incidents and creates automatic documentation of response activities. For Atlassian shops, Opsgenie provides seamless incident management that extends existing workflows.

Key Features

• Alert Management: Centralize alerts from over 200 monitoring tools with deduplication, grouping, and noise reduction.
• On-Call Scheduling: Flexible scheduling with rotations, overrides, and time-based routing to appropriate responders.
• Escalation Policies: Multi-level escalations ensuring alerts reach someone who can respond when primary contacts miss them.
• Incident Management: Coordinate response efforts with incident timelines, war rooms, and stakeholder communication.
• Alert Routing: Route alerts to specific teams based on tags, source, or custom rules for efficient triage.
• Notification Channels: Reach responders via push notification, SMS, voice call, email, and third-party integrations.
• Mobile App: Full-featured iOS and Android apps for complete incident response on the go.
• Analytics: Reports on alert volume, response times, and on-call workload for continuous improvement.
• Integrations: Connect with Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and hundreds of monitoring and communication tools.
• API: Comprehensive REST API enabling custom integrations and automated workflows.

Recent Updates and Improvements

Opsgenie continues development with features enhancing incident management capabilities and Atlassian integration.

• Jira Integration: Deeper Jira Service Management integration for unified incident and service request handling.
• Incident Investigation: Enhanced post-incident analysis tools connecting alerts, changes, and incidents.
• Alert Intelligence: Machine learning-based alert correlation and noise reduction capabilities.
• Improved Mobile: Updated mobile applications with better notification handling and incident views.
• Statuspage Integration: Streamlined workflow for updating customer-facing status during incidents.
• Team Dashboard: Consolidated view of team on-call status, active incidents, and alert statistics.
• Enhanced Routing: More sophisticated alert routing rules with additional conditions and actions.
• SSO Improvements: Enhanced single sign-on support including SCIM provisioning.

System Requirements

Opsgenie Web Application

• Modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
• JavaScript enabled
• Stable internet connection
• Opsgenie account

Opsgenie Mobile App (iOS)

• iOS 13.0 or later
• iPhone or iPad
• Push notifications enabled (critical for alerts)

Opsgenie Mobile App (Android)

• Android 6.0 or later
• Google Play Services
• Push notifications enabled

Integration Agents

• Linux server for Opsgenie Integration Agent
• Java 8 or later
• Network access to Opsgenie endpoints

How to Get Started with Opsgenie

Account Setup

1. Visit opsgenie.com and start free trial
2. Create account or sign in with Atlassian
3. Set up your first team
4. Configure on-call schedule
5. Add integrations for your monitoring tools

# Install Opsgenie CLI (OpsGenie Lamp)
pip install opsgenie-lamp

# Configure with API key
lamp configure --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY

# Create alert via CLI
lamp createAlert --message "Test alert" --priority P3

# List open alerts
lamp listAlerts --status open

# Acknowledge alert
lamp acknowledgeAlert --id ALERT_ID

# Close alert
lamp closeAlert --id ALERT_ID

API Integration

# Create alert via REST API
curl -X POST https://api.opsgenie.com/v2/alerts \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: GenieKey YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "message": "Database connection failure",
    "priority": "P1",
    "source": "monitoring-system",
    "tags": ["database", "production"],
    "details": {
      "host": "db-prod-01",
      "error": "Connection timeout"
    }
  }'

# Get alert details
curl -X GET "https://api.opsgenie.com/v2/alerts/ALERT_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: GenieKey YOUR_API_KEY"

# List on-call users
curl -X GET "https://api.opsgenie.com/v2/schedules/SCHEDULE_ID/on-calls" \
  -H "Authorization: GenieKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Terraform Configuration

# Provider configuration
provider "opsgenie" {
  api_key = var.opsgenie_api_key
}

# Create team
resource "opsgenie_team" "platform" {
  name = "Platform Team"
  description = "Platform engineering team"
}

# Create schedule
resource "opsgenie_schedule" "primary" {
  name = "Platform Primary On-Call"
  timezone = "America/New_York"
  owner_team_id = opsgenie_team.platform.id
}

# Create escalation policy
resource "opsgenie_escalation" "default" {
  name = "Platform Escalation"
  owner_team_id = opsgenie_team.platform.id
  
  rules {
    condition = "if-not-acked"
    notify_type = "default"
    delay = 5
    recipient {
      type = "schedule"
      id = opsgenie_schedule.primary.id
    }
  }
}

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Atlassian Integration: Native integration with Jira, Confluence, and Statuspage creates seamless workflows.
• Affordable Pricing: Lower cost than PagerDuty while providing comparable core functionality.
• Generous Free Tier: Free plan supports up to 5 users, enabling small team adoption without cost.
• 200+ Integrations: Connects with most monitoring tools, chat platforms, and DevOps services.
• Reliable Alerting: Multiple notification channels ensure alerts reach responders.
• Flexible Scheduling: Comprehensive on-call management with rotations, overrides, and restrictions.
• Good Mobile Apps: Full-featured mobile applications for complete on-call response.

Cons

• Less Feature-Rich: Advanced features like AIOps less developed than PagerDuty.
• Atlassian Dependency: Full value requires Atlassian ecosystem investment.
• Interface Complexity: Configuration interface can be overwhelming for new users.
• Integration Depth: Some integrations are basic compared to dedicated solutions.
• Enterprise Features: Some advanced features require higher-tier plans.

Opsgenie vs Alternatives

Who Should Use Opsgenie?

Opsgenie is ideal for:

• Atlassian Users: Organizations using Jira, Confluence, or other Atlassian tools get seamless integration.
• Cost-Conscious Teams: Those seeking PagerDuty-like capabilities at lower price points.
• Small Teams: The free tier enables small teams to implement proper incident management.
• Growing Organizations: Scalable platform that grows from small teams to enterprise.
• DevOps Teams: Engineers wanting integrated alerting with their development toolchain.
• Jira Service Management: Teams using JSM for ITSM benefit from native incident integration.

Opsgenie may not be ideal for:

• Non-Atlassian Shops: Full value depends on Atlassian ecosystem that may not fit all organizations.
• Advanced AIOps: Teams needing sophisticated machine learning alert correlation.
• Enterprise Complexity: Very large enterprises may need PagerDuty’s more extensive feature set.
• Simple Alerting: Basic notification needs might not require Opsgenie’s capabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Opsgenie cost?

Opsgenie offers a free tier for up to 5 users with basic features. The Essentials plan costs $9/user/month with core alerting and on-call features. Standard at $19/user/month adds advanced routing and integrations. Enterprise pricing requires contact with sales. Annual billing provides discounts. Compared to competitors, Opsgenie offers good value, especially for Atlassian users.

How does Opsgenie compare to PagerDuty?

Both platforms provide incident management and on-call scheduling. PagerDuty offers more advanced AIOps, more integrations, and longer market presence. Opsgenie costs less and integrates better with Atlassian tools. PagerDuty suits large enterprises with complex requirements; Opsgenie suits cost-conscious teams and Atlassian shops. Feature parity exists for core alerting functionality.

Can Opsgenie integrate with non-Atlassian tools?

Absolutely. Opsgenie integrates with over 200 tools including AWS, Datadog, New Relic, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Prometheus, Grafana, and many more. The Atlassian ownership doesn’t limit integration capabilities. The platform maintains an open integration philosophy with REST API, webhooks, and email integration for custom sources. Most monitoring and collaboration tools integrate directly.

What happens if the primary on-call misses an alert?

Opsgenie’s escalation policies handle this scenario. Configure escalations to notify secondary responders if alerts aren’t acknowledged within specified timeframes. Escalations can include multiple levels reaching team leads or managers. Alerts can also be routed to entire teams ensuring someone responds. The platform ensures critical alerts eventually reach someone who can act.

Does Opsgenie work offline or with poor connectivity?

The mobile apps cache some data for limited offline functionality, but core alerting requires connectivity. Push notifications depend on internet access. Opsgenie provides multiple notification channels (push, SMS, voice) to reach responders even with spotty connectivity. For critical systems, ensure responders have reliable mobile network access during on-call shifts.

Final Verdict

Opsgenie delivers comprehensive incident management capabilities at pricing that makes professional alerting accessible to organizations of all sizes. The platform’s core functionality—alert routing, on-call scheduling, and incident response—rivals more expensive alternatives while the free tier enables small teams to implement proper practices without budget justification.

The Atlassian integration differentiates Opsgenie for organizations already invested in that ecosystem. Incidents flowing seamlessly into Jira, updates appearing in Confluence, and status pages updating automatically reduce friction during stressful incident response. This integration value compounds for teams using multiple Atlassian products.

For organizations seeking capable incident management without PagerDuty’s premium pricing, Opsgenie represents an excellent choice. Atlassian users particularly benefit from native integration, but any organization can leverage Opsgenie’s extensive third-party integrations. The platform proves that effective incident management doesn’t require enterprise budgets, democratizing practices that improve service reliability for teams of all sizes.