Checkly is monitoring built for developers. As well as checking that your site is up, it can test your API and run scripted browser journeys, such as signing in or checking out, to make sure they still work. The free Hobby plan is $0 with no card and is aimed at "personal projects and learning". Starter is shown at $24 a month.
What it can do for you
Hobby includes 10 uptime monitors checked every 2 minutes from 6 locations. Each month you also get 10,000 API checks and 1,000 browser checks. Browser checks are written with Playwright, a browser testing tool, so they behave like a real visitor clicking through your site.
It covers URL and HTTPS, TCP, DNS, ICMP, SSL/TLS, gRPC, traceroute and heartbeat monitors. Heartbeats watch scheduled jobs: your job pings Checkly each time it runs, and you're told if it stops. Alerts come by email, Slack or webhook. Mobile apps aren't named, but you can test an app's backend with API checks.
The honest downsides
- Made for developers. Browser checks mean writing Playwright scripts.
- Aimed at personal projects. That's how Hobby is described.
- SSL expiry alerts not confirmed. There's an SSL/TLS monitor type, but we couldn't confirm expiry alerts.
- Short raw history. Raw results are kept for 7 days and summaries for 30.
Skip it if
- you just want to know when your site is down
- nobody on your team writes code
Alternatives
- Better pick for simple site monitoring: HetrixTools. It needs no scripts and is free for 15 sites at 1-minute checks, with SSL, domain and nameserver alerts. The catch: you must log in every 90 days.
- UptimeRobot covers 50 monitors free at 5-minute checks, with nothing to set up beyond a URL.
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