Best Self Hosted Alternatives to PagerDuty Rundeck

n8n is a workflow automation platform for technical teams that combines a visual workflow builder with the ability to add custom code. It supports hundreds of integrations and can also be used to build AI-powered automations and agent-style workflows.

Key Features

• Visual, node-based workflow editor with triggers, actions, and branching logic
• Code steps for custom logic (JavaScript and Python) and extensibility via custom nodes
• Large integration ecosystem (hundreds of connectors) plus reusable workflow templates
• Webhooks and API-based automation for event-driven workflows
• AI-native tooling to build AI agent workflows and connect to your own data/models
• Enterprise-oriented capabilities such as RBAC, audit logs, and SSO options (deployment dependent)

Use Cases

• Automate business processes across SaaS tools (CRM updates, ticket routing, notifications)
• Build internal integrations and data sync pipelines between systems using APIs and webhooks
• Orchestrate AI-assisted workflows such as enrichment, summarization, and agent-driven tasks

Limitations and Considerations

• Licensed under a fair-code model (source-available), which may restrict certain commercial use cases
• Some advanced enterprise features depend on the chosen edition and deployment setup

n8n is a strong fit for teams that want low-code speed without giving up the control and flexibility of writing code. It works well for both simple automations and more complex, integration-heavy workflows.

Node-RED is a flow-based, low-code development tool that provides a browser-based editor and a lightweight Node.js runtime for building event-driven applications. It enables wiring together devices, APIs and services using a visual palette of nodes and deploys flows as JSON.

Key Features

• Browser-based drag-and-drop flow editor with reusable library, tabs and a built-in JavaScript function editor.
• Lightweight runtime built on Node.js with non-blocking event-driven architecture for edge and cloud deployments.
• Extensible palette model: thousands of community-contributed nodes for protocols, services and hardware.
• Deploy flows to the runtime with a single click; flows are stored and shared as JSON for portability.
• Admin and runtime APIs (including HTTP Admin APIs) and editor/runtime separation for embedding and automation.
• Support for common IoT and web protocols (MQTT, HTTP, WebSocket) and dashboard UI options for visualization.
• Multiple installation and delivery options including npm, Docker and platform integrations.
• Modern editor tooling (monaco editor used for function code editing) and integration points for custom nodes.

Use Cases

• Home automation and smart-home orchestration: connect sensors, hubs and cloud services into automated flows.
• Industrial and edge IoT: collect, transform and route telemetry from devices (MQTT, OPC-UA, serial, etc.).
• Integration and orchestration: prototype API connectors, webhook handlers, ETL-style transformations and real-time pipelines.

Limitations and Considerations

• Not designed as a drop-in horizontally-distributed clustered compute engine: horizontal scaling and HA require external orchestration or third-party offerings and careful design of shared state.
• Exposing the editor/admin interface without proper authentication and hardening poses security risks; secure adminAuth and network controls are required for public-facing instances.
• For extremely high-throughput, low-latency or transactional workloads, a purpose-built, strongly clustered platform may be more appropriate than the single-process runtime model.

Node-RED is a practical, widely adopted open-source platform for quickly building event-driven automations and integrations using visual flows. Its large node ecosystem and lightweight Node.js runtime make it well suited to DIY, edge and many production integration scenarios, while enterprise-grade scaling or exposure needs should be planned and secured.

StackStorm is an event-driven automation platform that connects infrastructure and applications to take actions in response to triggers. It is used by DevOps and SRE teams to codify operations as rules and workflows, enabling repeatable remediation and response.

Key Features

• Event-driven rules engine to map triggers (timers, webhooks, and integration events) to actions or workflows
• Workflow orchestration for multi-step runbooks with branching, context passing, and human escalation
• Large ecosystem of reusable “packs” (integrations, sensors, actions, rules, and workflows)
• ChatOps support to run automations and collaborate from team chat tools
• REST API, CLI, and web UI for managing automation content and executions
• Audit trail of action executions for traceability and operational review

Use Cases

• Automated remediation of common infrastructure and application incidents
• Incident response runbooks that combine diagnostics, fixes, and escalation
• Custom CI/CD and deployment orchestration across heterogeneous toolchains

Limitations and Considerations

• Operating and customizing packs/sensors/actions typically requires Python and operational domain knowledge
• The platform consists of multiple components (e.g., message bus, datastore), which can add deployment and maintenance complexity

StackStorm is well-suited for teams that need flexible, event-driven runbook automation across many existing tools. It helps standardize operational processes while keeping automation content versionable and reusable as code.

Rundeck is an open-source runbook automation and orchestration platform used to standardize and safely execute operational procedures across fleets of nodes. It provides a web console, CLI tools, and an API for running jobs, scheduling work, and delegating routine operations with controlled access.

Key Features

• Runbook/job execution across nodes using existing scripts and automation tools
• Workflow orchestration with step-based jobs and reusable procedures
• Job scheduling for recurring operational tasks
• Web UI, CLI, and REST API for triggering and managing automation
• Access control and audit history for operational actions
• Plugin ecosystem for integrations and extensibility

Use Cases

• Self-service operations for DevOps/platform teams (safe execution of routine tasks)
• Scheduled maintenance, batch operations, and runbook-driven incident response
• Orchestrating deployments and administrative workflows across infrastructure

Limitations and Considerations

• Some capabilities (for example advanced high availability and certain enterprise runners/plugins) may be available only in commercial editions.

Rundeck is well-suited for teams that want to operationalize scripts and tooling into repeatable runbooks with governance. It helps reduce manual toil by making operations workflows easy to run, schedule, and audit.

Cronicle is a multi-server task scheduler and runner that provides a web-based UI for scheduling, executing and monitoring jobs. It supports scheduled, recurring and on-demand jobs across many worker servers, with real-time status, live logs and historical metrics.

Key Features

• Multi-server architecture with auto-discovery, primary/backup roles and automatic failover
• Visual date/time selector for single or recurring schedules with multi-timezone support
• Support for targeted runs (single server, groups, random selection) and chaining events
• Real-time job status, live log viewer and graphical performance metrics (CPU/memory, custom metrics)
• Plugin API: plugins are plain executables (any language) communicating via JSON
• External JSON REST API and API keys for remote triggering and automation
• Storage-by-filesystem (JSON) by default; optional shared storage/backends supported for clusters
• Simple install and Node.js/npm-based distribution with packaged CLI/control scripts

Use Cases

• Run and monitor automated system maintenance, backups and periodic administration tasks
• Orchestrate multi-step data processing workflows across multiple servers with chained events
• Provide a lightweight replacement for cron with centralized logs, retries and real-time monitoring

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires a POSIX environment (Linux/macOS); Windows is not a supported platform
• Designed to run on Node.js Active LTS releases; may not work on current/non-LTS Node channels
• Multi-primary clusters require shared storage (e.g., shared filesystem or supported storage backend) for reliable failover

Cronicle is a pragmatic, open-source scheduler focused on operability and extensibility. It emphasizes simple plugin integration, real-time visibility and predictable multi-server behavior for production task orchestration.

OliveTin is a self-hosted web application that exposes predefined shell commands through a responsive Single Page UI and an API. It uses a simple YAML configuration to define actions, dashboards and entities so administrators can make complex or dangerous commands safe and repeatable.

Key Features

• YAML-based configuration-as-code for actions, entities and dashboards, with live-reloadable options
• Responsive, touch-friendly Single Page App UI (light/dark modes) designed for tablets and mobile
• Action system: parameterised commands, timeouts, scheduled (cron) executions and execution logs
• Security model with multiple authentication options (local users, OAuth2, JWT, trusted headers) and ACL-based authorization per-action
• Multiple integration points: REST API / webhook endpoints and URL-based triggers for automation and streamdeck/QR integrations
• Container images, packages and Helm chart available for easy deployment; small resource footprint (Go backend)
• Accessibility-focused frontend and configurable UI theming and custom JS support

Use Cases

• Provide non-technical users (family, junior admins) one-click buttons to restart services or run maintenance scripts
• Trigger complex or long-running server operations from mobile devices or dashboards without giving shell access
• Integrate server commands into automation flows via webhooks, API calls or scheduled tasks (cron)

Limitations and Considerations

• Actions and dashboards are primarily defined in YAML configuration files; adding or editing actions requires editing config files (configuration-as-code), which may be less convenient for non-technical administrators
• Because OliveTin executes arbitrary shell commands, correct security configuration is essential; misconfigured authentication/ACLs can expose powerful operations
• Accounting/auditing for action executions is provided via logs but the documentation notes this area is less mature and may require additional operational procedures

OliveTin is intended for administrators who want a simple, auditable way to expose repeatable server operations without granting interactive shell access. It emphasizes safety, minimal resource usage and flexible integration via API and configuration.

Dagu is a lightweight workflow orchestration engine that runs as a single self-contained binary and provides a modern Web UI. Workflows are defined in a declarative YAML format and can execute local commands, SSH commands, and containerized steps with scheduling and retries.

Key Features

• Single-binary installation with zero required external dependencies; uses file-based storage for definitions, logs, and history
• Declarative YAML DSL for DAGs with scheduling (cron), timezones, conditional steps, retries, and repeat policies
• Built-in Web UI: visual DAG view, real-time monitoring, execution history, log search, and an integrated YAML editor
• Executors for shell commands, Docker containers, SSH remote execution, and HTTP steps
• Distributed execution: coordinator/worker model and built-in queueing to scale across machines
• Nested/sub-DAG support for reusable composition and inspectable sub-runs in the UI
• Integrations and platform features: GitHub Actions executor, API key management and RBAC, webhooks, email notifications
• Newer features include human-in-the-loop approvals and a Chat Executor for integrating LLMs into workflows

Use Cases

• Replace scattered cron jobs with a visual, auditable DAG system for server maintenance and operational scripts
• Orchestrate multi-step CI/maintenance workflows that mix local scripts, SSH calls, and containerized tasks
• Run distributed data-processing pipelines across multiple worker nodes with centralized monitoring and retries

Limitations and Considerations

• Secrets management is not provided as a full built-in secret store; references and integrations (KMS/Vault/OIDC) are discussed/tracked as planned features
• While Dagu supports distributed runs and queueing, very large cloud-native deployments may require external orchestration or custom scaling strategies

Dagu is designed for teams that want powerful orchestration with minimal operational overhead and straightforward local-first deployment. It emphasizes portability, simple YAML-based definitions, and an integrated UI for everyday workflow operations.

µTask is a lightweight automation engine for cloud workflows. It models business processes in YAML and executes them with a PostgreSQL backend. It emphasizes simplicity, security through encryption, and extensibility via Go-based plugins.

Key Features

• Requires only a PostgreSQL database to operate
• All data is encrypted and visible only to authorized users
• Workflow definitions are expressed in declarative YAML
• Extensible: developers can implement custom actions in Go
• Asynchronous execution with an auditable, encrypted state trail

Use Cases

• Kubernetes ingress TLS certificate provisioning workflow
• New team member bootstrap and onboarding automation
• Payments API asynchronous processing with risk checks and human-in-the-loop

Conclusion µTask offers a practical YAML-driven automation engine for cloud workflows, with PostgreSQL persistence and a pluggable Go-based action layer. It provides a Docker-based quickstart and a graphical dashboard to monitor tasks.

Source: µTask README on GitHub

CTFreak is an on-premises IT task scheduler designed to centralize scripts and operational jobs in one place, replacing scattered cron jobs and ad-hoc runbooks. It provides a fast, mobile-first web UI to execute tasks locally or remotely across heterogeneous environments.

Key Features

• Remote executions on multiple nodes via SSH and WinRM, without installing agents
• Task types for commands, Bash scripts, PowerShell scripts, Ansible playbooks, SQL scripts, and HTTP requests
• Workflow engine to chain tasks sequentially or concurrently, including nested workflows
• Team-based organization, centralized execution history, and consolidated logs
• Notifications and alerting integrations (e.g., email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram, Mattermost)
• Issue tracking integrations (e.g., GitHub, Jira, Linear, YouTrack)
• SSO support via OpenID Connect
• REST API plus incoming webhooks for automation and integrations
• Lightweight resource usage and simple deployment

Use Cases

• Sysadmin/DevOps job orchestration: maintenance, updates, and operational scripts across fleets
• Data engineering operations: run long or concurrent imports and calculations on distributed servers
• Self-service operations for business users: safely trigger pre-defined IT tasks via a web UI

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced capabilities and higher limits (e.g., unlimited tasks, broader notifier quotas) depend on the chosen edition

CTFreak fits teams that want a straightforward, lightweight alternative to heavier runbook automation platforms while keeping strong visibility into job history and failures. It is especially useful in mixed Windows/Linux environments thanks to SSH and WinRM support.