Background: Postoperative pain is a frequent complication associated with root canal treatment, and can be influenced by insufficient root canal preparation, extrusion of irrigant, debris or intra canal inter-appointment medicament, presence of preoperative pain, presence of periapical pathosis, and apical patency during root canal instrumentation. The present study was conducted to compare postoperative pain after root canal treatment using hand and rotary instruments in non- vital teeth. Materials & Methods: 40 patients requiring root canal treatment were subjected to root canals treatment using the hand instrumentation in group I and ProTaper rotary instrumentation technique in group II. Postoperative pain was recorded using a visual analog scale (VAS) at 24 hours, 72 hours and 7 days. Results: VAS score 0 was seen in 18 at 24 hours, 19 at 72 hours and 20 at 7 days in group I and 19 at 24 hours, 20 at 72 hours and 20 at 7 days in group II. VAS score 1 was seen in 1 and score 2 in 1 patient in group I at 24 hours, in group II 1 patient each had score 1 at 24 hours. Conclusion: Rotary instrumentations had less postoperative pain as compared to hand instrumentation. Key words: Pain, VAS, Root canal treatment