Checkly
Replaceable in one session with an AI coding agent.
Synthetic monitoring with real browsers: Playwright scripts run on a schedule from several regions, checking that a journey still works rather than only that a page responds.
Run your Playwright checks on a schedule elsewhere. STACK - Your existing Playwright tests, a scheduled CI job on a provider that is not your hosting THE SEPARATION - The checker must not run on the infrastructure it checks. Use a different provider WHICH JOURNEYS - Sign in, the one action that makes you money, and checkout if you have one - Three checks that mean something beat thirty that only load a page WHEN ONE FAILS - Capture the trace, a screenshot and the console output as artefacts - Retry once before alerting: a single failure is usually a network blip ALERTING - Webhook to chat, one alert per incident and one on recovery - A daily heartbeat proving the scheduler itself ran COSTS - A browser check is minutes of compute. Run the expensive ones every fifteen minutes, not every one Include the CI schedule, the three journeys and the artefact capture.
What you lose
- Browser checks running from several regions on a schedule, with the capacity provisioned
- Traces and screenshots captured automatically when a check fails
- Alert routing with escalation
If you would rather not build
- Uptime Kuma, for simple availability
The escape hatch
open source · no votes, no paid placement
Playwright
$0The same engine the paid product runs; tracing and screenshots included.
microsoft/playwrightfree · open source
Gatus
$0Declarative health checks with conditions and alerting, one binary.
TwiN/gatusfree · open source
Why this verdict
our own opinion · changed only by a person
80/100
Verdict yes at 80. Playwright in scheduled CI covers this well; the discipline is choosing three journeys that matter and running them somewhere else.
History
tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten
Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.
Questions about Checkly
answered from the record above
Is Checkly free?
No — the plan we track is $40 a month. Team from around $40/month billed monthly, priced on check runs.
Can you replace Checkly by building your own?
YES. Replaceable in one session with an AI coding agent. Replacement score 80 out of 100, build time one session. Read what you lose before you decide.
How much does Checkly cost?
$40 a month on Team — $480 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.
What do you lose by replacing Checkly?
Browser checks running from several regions on a schedule, with the capacity provisioned; Traces and screenshots captured automatically when a check fails; Alert routing with escalation. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Checkly?
Yes: Playwright, Gatus. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.
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