Checkly

Checkly is a monitoring-as-code service for teams that need both API reliability checks and realistic browser journeys. It suits developers, SRE and platform groups, QA engineers, and engineering managers who prefer to define monitoring in code. The key appeal is one workflow for broad uptime coverage and scheduled Playwright testing; the main constraint is planning around separate run quotas.

Overview

Checkly monitors services from the public internet as an external agent, so it does not require software inside a customer network or privileged network access. Its uptime coverage spans URL, TCP, DNS, ICMP, SSL, gRPC, Traceroute, and Heartbeat monitors. That range is useful when a simple HTTP ping cannot expose certificate, protocol, routing, or connectivity failures.

Browser Checks use headless browsers to reproduce actions such as signing in, completing a checkout, or submitting a form. Playwright Check Suites can run complete Playwright suites on a schedule, with custom dependencies and shared storage state. This is a strong fit for teams already maintaining Playwright tests, although browser executions draw down a separate monthly allowance.

Checkly states that it is GDPR compliant and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. It says stored data is encrypted end-to-end, traffic is protected with HTTPS, and database data at rest uses AES256 encryption.

Key features

The CLI allows checks to be written in code and monitors to be deployed from a terminal. That approach supports code review and repeatable deployment rather than relying solely on point-and-click configuration. Integrations include Slack, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, Datadog, Grafana, Discord, Terraform, and Pulumi, while the alert catalogue also includes email, SMS, webhooks, Microsoft Teams, phone calls, Telegram, incident.io, Rootly, FireHydrant, ilert, Spike.sh, Splunk On-Call, GitLab Alerts, and StatusPage.

Performance monitoring, port monitoring, and domain and SSL checks are included in the product's scope. The practical result is a single service that can cover infrastructure endpoints and customer-facing workflows, provided the selected plan has enough executions and monitor slots.

Pricing

Hobby — free (billed $0 per month) includes 10 uptime monitors, 1,000 browser/Playwright check runs, 10,000 API check runs, and six locations. No credit card is required. Its monthly caps make it a sensible starting point for small projects or evaluation, but frequent browser journeys or a large API estate can exhaust the allowance quickly.

Starter — $24 a month (billed $24 per month) raises capacity to 50 uptime monitors, 3,000 browser/Playwright runs, and 25,000 API runs across six locations, with checks as frequent as every minute. It is the practical entry point for a production service with moderate traffic; the six-location footprint and one-minute maximum frequency remain boundaries for globally distributed, high-frequency monitoring.

Team — $64 a month (billed $64 per month) provides 75 uptime monitors, 12,000 browser/Playwright runs, 100,000 API runs, 22 locations, and a maximum frequency of 30 seconds. The larger quotas and geographic coverage suit multiple services or teams sharing one account.

Enterprise — custom pricing offers custom uptime monitors, a one-second maximum frequency, 22 locations, private locations, and all alerting channels. Enterprise also includes premium support, onboarding support, a dedicated customer success engineer, and 24x7 phone escalation. It is aimed at organizations needing private monitoring locations, very short intervals, or a formal support relationship.

Platforms

Checkly is offered through web, API, and Linux access. That combination supports browser administration, programmatic control, and command-line workflows from Linux environments.

Who it's for

Choose Checkly if developers and operations staff want monitoring stored with application code, or if QA teams want Playwright suites to continue running after release. It is less suitable when requirements center on very high-frequency checks or large browser-test volumes at the lowest possible price, because quotas and interval limits directly govern capacity.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Broad URL, network, protocol, and certificate monitoring goes beyond basic uptime polling.
• Pro: Scheduled Playwright suites can reuse custom dependencies and shared storage state for realistic flows.
• Pro: CLI, Terraform, and Pulumi support fit infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Con: Hobby's 1,000 browser/Playwright and 10,000 API runs per month can constrain active projects.
• Con: Starter remains at six locations and one-minute maximum frequency, limiting dense global coverage.
• Con: Private locations and one-second checks are reserved for custom-priced Enterprise.

Alternatives

For a basic, low-cost target monitor with Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android access, Dotcom-Monitor has a free tier covering up to 25 targets, five-minute frequency, two locations, and email alerts.

Teams focused specifically on Kubernetes platform monitoring should consider Dynatrace Kubernetes Monitoring, which bills Kubernetes consumption hourly rather than using Checkly's monitor-run model.

Grafana Cloud Application Observability is the alternative when host-based observability and Grafana's ecosystem are the priority, with a free allowance and usage-based Pro pricing.

New Relic Kubernetes Monitoring suits organizations wanting Kubernetes monitoring within New Relic's broader platform and annual Pro commitments.

ManageEngine Applications Manager is an option for teams seeking application or server monitoring with a free allowance for up to five apps or servers.

OneUptime is worth choosing when an open-source core and self-hosting under Apache 2.0 matter.

GoPinger targets simple web monitoring with five monitors, five-minute checks, and email or webhook alerts on its free plan.

HostTracker is a lightweight alternative with a free tier of two monitors and 30-minute checks.

For broader category comparisons, see Synthetic Monitoring, Internet Performance Monitoring Software, and API Monitoring Tools.

Verdict

Checkly is a strong choice for engineering-led teams that want code-deployed monitoring, external uptime checks, and scheduled Playwright journeys in one system. Choose it for the developer workflow and wide check coverage; look elsewhere if your operation needs private or sub-minute monitoring without Enterprise pricing, or routinely exceeds the browser and API run quotas.