Concepts
How Severity Works
Understand how severity levels control notification channel intensity in MonitoringDog.
Severity is a named configuration that defines which notification channels are active when an escalation step fires. Each step in an escalation policy references a severity level, so different steps can use different intensities.
Available Channels
| Channel | Billable | Description |
|---|---|---|
email | No | Email notification |
push_notification | No | Mobile push notification |
integrations | No | Slack, webhooks, and other connected integrations |
sms | Yes | SMS text message |
call | Yes | Phone call |
app_call | Yes | In-app voice call |
Billable channels (SMS, call, app_call) count against your plan's alert usage.
How Severity Shapes Escalation
Because each escalation step picks its own severity, you can build a natural escalation intensity curve:
| Step | Severity | Channels active |
|---|---|---|
| Step 0 | Low | Email, push |
| Step 1 | Medium | Email, push, Slack |
| Step 2 | High | Email, push, Slack, SMS, phone call |
This means severity controls both who is notified (via the contacts field on the step) and how intrusively they are notified (via the channels the severity enables).