Cabot vs Keep
Self-host pick — both replace PagerDuty (On-call rotation / incident response / paging).
Both Cabot and Keep self-host as a replacement for PagerDuty (On-call rotation / incident response / paging). Pick Cabot if you want the lighter footprint — 20min docker-compose (Cabot + Postgres), $5 vps; sms via twilio at the usual per-leg rate. Pick Keep if you need teams that want alert dedup, correlation, and workflow automation alongside on-call paging — i.e. the noisy-alerts problem and the on-call problem solved by the same tool. Currently the most actively maintained option in this category — 30min docker-compose (keep-frontend + keep-backend + websocket-server; SQLite default, swap to Postgres via `DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING`) and $10-20 vps; sms/voice via twilio at the usual per-leg rate ($0.
| Cabotopen-source | Keepopen-source | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Setup time | 20min docker-compose (Cabot + Postgres) | 30min docker-compose (keep-frontend + keep-backend + websocket-server; SQLite default, swap to Postgres via `DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING`) |
| Monthly cost | $5 VPS; SMS via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate. | $10-20 VPS; SMS/voice via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate ($0.0075-0.05/leg). |
| GitHub | cabotapp/cabot | keephq/keep |
| Replaces | PagerDuty | PagerDuty |
Good fit for
Cabot
Small teams that want a simple on-call + uptime monitoring combo in one app, without the Grafana ecosystem dependency.
Weak at:**GitHub repo returns 404** — `cabotapp/cabot` is no longer reachable on github.com (renamed, deleted, or moved); freshness pill renders as `unknown`. Treat as unmaintained until a successor namespace is confirmed. Maintenance had already slowed for years; fewer integrations than Keep.
Keep
Teams that want alert dedup, correlation, and workflow automation alongside on-call paging — i.e. the noisy-alerts problem and the on-call problem solved by the same tool. Currently the most actively maintained option in this category.
Weak at:Pure on-call scheduling UI is thinner than PagerDuty's — Keep leads with alert orchestration, not rotation calendars. If all you need is 'who's on-call this week', the workflow surface is more than you'll use.
In a terminal? npx -y github:SolvoHQ/os-alt-cli pagerduty prints PagerDuty's self-host options including both —
how the CLI works →
FAQ
Which is easier to self-host, Cabot or Keep?
Cabot: 20min docker-compose (Cabot + Postgres). Keep: 30min docker-compose (keep-frontend + keep-backend + websocket-server; SQLite default, swap to Postgres via `DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING`).
What does each cost to run?
Cabot: $5 VPS; SMS via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate.. Keep: $10-20 VPS; SMS/voice via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate ($0.0075-0.05/leg).. Both projects are free and open source.
Do Cabot and Keep replace the same SaaS?
Yes — both are open-source alternatives to PagerDuty.