The Best Checkly Alternatives in 2026
Tolodora Editorial Team
Independent software reviews for founders and small businesses.
Quick answer
The best Checkly alternatives in 2026 are Datadog, Better Stack and New Relic. Datadog is our top overall pick, best for teams wanting synthetics inside full observability. See the full ranked comparison below.
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Checkly is a developer-focused monitoring tool for API checks and browser (synthetic) monitoring, defined as code with Playwright. But teams compare it for a few reasons: a wish for full observability, simpler uptime monitoring, open-source options, or a different price. Depending on whether you want deep synthetic monitoring, broad observability or simple uptime, there's a Checkly alternative that fits your monitoring.
Here are six Checkly alternatives worth a look in 2026, ranked on value, developer fit, scope and features. A couple are full observability platforms, one's a modern all-in-one, and others are simple or open-source. More in monitoring.
Pricing for monitoring tools is usually usage-based and changes often, so model your real check volume against each provider's live pricing before committing. Ratings are our own editorial calls to help you compare.
| Tool | Starts at | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Datadog | Free tier; usage-based paid | Yes (limited) | Teams wanting synthetics inside full observability |
| Better Stack | Free; affordable paid plans | Yes | Teams wanting modern monitoring and incident management |
| New Relic | Free tier; usage-based paid | Yes (generous) | Teams wanting broad observability with a free start |
| Grafana | Free (open source); paid cloud | Yes (generous) | Teams wanting open-source-friendly observability with synthetics |
| UptimeRobot | Free; affordable paid plans | Yes (generous) | Teams wanting simple, cheap uptime and API checks |
| Pingdom | Paid plans; free trial | No (free trial) | Teams wanting a mature synthetic-and-uptime service |
| Tool | Value | Support | Ease of use | Features | Overall | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Stack | 9.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | Teams wanting modern monitoring and incident management |
| New Relic | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 8.3 | Teams wanting broad observability with a free start |
| UptimeRobot | 9.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 8.3 | Teams wanting simple, cheap uptime and API checks |
| Datadog | 6.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | Teams wanting synthetics inside full observability |
| Grafana | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 8.0 | Teams wanting open-source-friendly observability with synthetics |
| Pingdom | 6.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 7.8 | Teams wanting a mature synthetic-and-uptime service |
Comparing against the original?
See Checkly's profile, rating & reviews on Tolodora →
| # | Tool | Best for | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Datadog | Teams wanting synthetics inside full observability | 4.0/5 |
| 2 | Better Stack | Teams wanting modern monitoring and incident management | 4.5/5 |
| 3 | New Relic | Teams wanting broad observability with a free start | 4.1/5 |
| 4 | Grafana | Teams wanting open-source-friendly observability with synthetics | 4.0/5 |
| 5 | UptimeRobot | Teams wanting simple, cheap uptime and API checks | 4.1/5 |
| 6 | Pingdom | Teams wanting a mature synthetic-and-uptime service | 3.9/5 |
Datadog
- Pricing
- 6.0/10
- Functionality
- 10.0/10
- Ease of use
- 8.0/10
- Support
- 8.0/10
What I like
A full observability platform with synthetic and API monitoring built in.
Best for
Teams wanting synthetics inside full observability
Datadog is the full-observability Checkly alternative, with synthetic (browser and API) monitoring as one part of a huge platform. It covers metrics, infrastructure, APM, logs, real-user monitoring and synthetics, all tightly integrated, so your API and browser checks sit alongside the performance and infrastructure context around them. For a team that likes Checkly's synthetic monitoring but wants it inside complete observability (not a standalone tool), Datadog is a leading choice. The familiar catch is cost: usage-based pricing across many products climbs fast. But for synthetic monitoring inside full observability, Datadog is a powerful Checkly alternative. See our <a href="/alternatives/datadog-alternatives">Datadog alternatives</a> too.
Better Stack
- Pricing
- 9.0/10
- Functionality
- 8.0/10
- Ease of use
- 10.0/10
- Support
- 9.0/10
What I like
Modern monitoring with uptime, status pages, on-call and logs.
Best for
Teams wanting modern monitoring and incident management
Better Stack is the modern, friendly Checkly alternative, covering uptime and API monitoring with beautiful status pages, incident management and on-call scheduling, plus logs and dashboards, in one clean platform with a free tier. For a team that likes Checkly's monitoring but wants a more all-in-one experience (uptime, status pages, incidents and logs together) with less setup, Better Stack is appealing. It's less code-first and synthetic-browser-deep than Checkly. But for modern monitoring with uptime, status pages and incident management in one pleasant tool, Better Stack is a strong Checkly alternative. See our <a href="/alternatives/betterstack-alternatives">Better Stack alternatives</a> too.
New Relic
- Pricing
- 7.0/10
- Functionality
- 10.0/10
- Ease of use
- 8.0/10
- Support
- 8.0/10
What I like
A full observability platform with synthetics and a generous free tier.
Best for
Teams wanting broad observability with a free start
New Relic is the full-observability Checkly alternative with a notably generous free tier. It covers APM, infrastructure, logs, real-user and browser monitoring, synthetics and dashboards in one hosted platform, with a large monthly free data allowance. For a team that likes Checkly's synthetic checks but wants them within broad observability (and a free way to start), New Relic is appealing. Its data-and-user-based pricing needs watching as you scale, and it's a bigger platform than a focused tool. But for synthetic monitoring inside broad observability with a generous free tier, New Relic is a capable Checkly alternative. See our <a href="/alternatives/new-relic-alternatives">New Relic alternatives</a> too.
Grafana
- Pricing
- 8.0/10
- Functionality
- 9.0/10
- Ease of use
- 7.0/10
- Support
- 8.0/10
What I like
Open-source dashboards plus synthetic and uptime monitoring on Grafana Cloud.
Best for
Teams wanting open-source-friendly observability with synthetics
Grafana is the open-source-friendly Checkly alternative, especially via Grafana Cloud's synthetic monitoring. Grafana itself is the open-source dashboard standard, and Grafana Cloud adds synthetic (k6-based) and uptime monitoring, metrics, logs and traces, so you get checks alongside powerful dashboards, with a generous free tier. For a team that likes Checkly's as-code, developer-friendly synthetics but wants them tied to open-source-friendly dashboards and broader observability, Grafana is a compelling choice. It's broader and more involved than a focused synthetic tool. But for synthetic and uptime monitoring alongside open-source-friendly dashboards, Grafana is a strong Checkly alternative. See our <a href="/alternatives/grafana-alternatives">Grafana alternatives</a> too.
UptimeRobot
- Pricing
- 9.0/10
- Functionality
- 7.0/10
- Ease of use
- 9.0/10
- Support
- 8.0/10
What I like
Simple, affordable uptime and API monitoring with a generous free tier.
Best for
Teams wanting simple, cheap uptime and API checks
UptimeRobot is the simple, affordable Checkly alternative, for teams that mainly want uptime and basic API checks without code. It pings your sites and endpoints and alerts you when they go down, with keyword and basic API checks, status pages and a generous free tier. For a team that finds Checkly's synthetic-as-code approach more than they need and just wants straightforward, cheap uptime and endpoint monitoring, UptimeRobot is wonderfully simple. It lacks Checkly's deep browser (Playwright) synthetic testing. But for simple, affordable uptime and API monitoring, UptimeRobot is a solid Checkly alternative. See our <a href="/alternatives/uptimerobot-alternatives">UptimeRobot alternatives</a> too.
Pingdom
- Pricing
- 6.0/10
- Functionality
- 9.0/10
- Ease of use
- 8.0/10
- Support
- 8.0/10
What I like
A premium service with uptime, transaction (synthetic) and real-user monitoring.
Best for
Teams wanting a mature synthetic-and-uptime service
Pingdom (from SolarWinds) is the mature, premium Checkly alternative for synthetic and uptime monitoring. It offers uptime and transaction monitoring (multi-step synthetic checks of key user journeys), page-speed and real-user monitoring, alerting and reporting, from a global network. For a team that likes Checkly's synthetic-journey idea but wants an established, feature-rich service (with real-user monitoring too) rather than a code-first tool, Pingdom is a strong choice. The trade-off is that it's pricier and less developer-as-code than Checkly. But for a mature synthetic-and-uptime monitoring service, Pingdom is a capable Checkly alternative.
The verdict
For synthetics inside full observability, Datadog and New Relic lead (New Relic with a generous free tier). Better Stack is the modern all-in-one, Grafana the open-source-friendly option, UptimeRobot the simple cheap pick, and Pingdom the mature synthetic-and-uptime service. Match it to whether you want full observability, modern all-in-one, open-source, simplicity or a premium service.
Whatever you shortlist, run your real work through it for a week before committing — the right tool is the one that quietly disappears and lets you get back to it. And if you build software like this yourself, you can list it on Tolodora free.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best Checkly alternative for full observability?
Datadog and New Relic both include synthetic (browser and API) monitoring within complete observability (metrics, APM, logs, RUM). Datadog is the most comprehensive; New Relic has a notably generous free tier. For synthetics plus everything else, start with one of those.
Which alternative is simplest and cheapest?
UptimeRobot is the simplest and most affordable for uptime and basic API checks (with a generous free tier), and Better Stack is a modern, friendly all-in-one. For simple cheap checks, UptimeRobot; for modern monitoring with status pages, Better Stack.
Is there an open-source-friendly option?
Grafana is the open-source dashboard standard, and Grafana Cloud adds synthetic (k6-based) and uptime monitoring alongside metrics, logs and traces. For synthetics tied to open-source-friendly dashboards, Grafana.
Which does deep user-journey (synthetic) testing?
Checkly itself is strong here (Playwright-based); among alternatives, Pingdom's transaction monitoring and Datadog/New Relic synthetics test multi-step journeys. For a mature synthetic service, Pingdom; for synthetics in observability, Datadog or New Relic.
Why do teams switch from Checkly?
Usually wanting full observability (Datadog, New Relic), a modern all-in-one (Better Stack), open-source-friendly dashboards (Grafana), simple cheap uptime (UptimeRobot), or a mature premium service (Pingdom). Checkly is great for monitoring-as-code; the best alternative depends on scope and how code-first you want to be.
Sources & further reading
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