Severity Level Matrix
Severity ends debates during outages. Align engineering, support, and leadership once — then wire the same levels into Incido and your escalation policies.
Four levels, clear examples, and a fast decision tree — paging and comms included.
On this page
Preview or copy each section below — paste into Notion, Confluence, or your wiki.
Severity matrix
Severity levels
| Critical | High | Medium | Low | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer impact | Core workflow down for many | Major degradation, large subset | Limited; workaround exists | None or internal only |
| Page on-call | Immediately | Immediately | Business hours; optional off-hours | No |
| Status page | Yes | If visible | If visible | No |
| Subscriber email | Yes | Yes | Optional | No |
| First public update | ≤ 15 min | ≤ 30 min | If visible | — |
| Follow-up | Timeline review | Recommended | Optional | — |
Examples
| Level | Example |
|---|---|
| Critical | Production API down · Payments/auth failure · Active security breach |
| High | Checkout success < [X]% · Regional outage · Primary API error spike |
| Medium | Non-critical feature flaky · Internal tooling down · Single-tenant issue |
| Low | Cosmetic bug · Monitor flake · Staging only |
Decision tree (30 seconds)
- Paying customers blocked on a core workflow? → Critical
- Core feature degraded for many? → High
- Limited impact or workaround? → Medium
- Otherwise → Low
Incido setup
- Create matching severity levels in org settings
- Link Critical/High to escalation policies
- Train support to use the same definitions
How to use this template
- Review with support and product — severity should match customer experience.
- Wire levels into escalation routing (Critical ≠ Medium paging).
- Revisit after major incidents.
Incido severity levels drive colors, notification urgency, and escalation routing — keep definitions aligned with your policies. Explore incident management →
FAQs
How many levels?
Four is the sweet spot. More than five usually adds confusion, not clarity.
Who sets severity?
First responder or commander sets initial severity; adjust as impact becomes clear.
Severity vs status page?
Customer-visible impact drives public messaging. Internal Low incidents rarely need a status post.
Put your process into practice
14-day free trial. On-call, incidents, and status pages — no credit card required.