Upclock vs Checkly
Browser synthetics and monitoring-as-code, billed per check run.
www.checklyhq.comCheckly is one of the best products in the synthetic monitoring space — Playwright-native browser checks, monitoring-as-code via a real TypeScript CLI, Terraform and Pulumi providers, OpenTelemetry trace correlation, and an AI triage agent that ships pcap analysis. It's also priced for that scope: $24/mo Starter with consumption-based overages, then $64/mo Team for the full 22 regions, then enterprise. Upclock and Checkly aren't direct competitors — they overlap on the uptime slice, and that's where this comparison lives.
Quick verdict
If you need browser synthetics, Checkly is the right tool. If you need lightweight external uptime + status pages, Upclock is 3× cheaper and does that one job well.
If you write Playwright browser tests, manage monitors as code in a Git repo, need OpenTelemetry trace correlation, or already pay Checkly for synthetic testing — there's no reason to switch.
Pricing, head to head
Free Hobby (10 monitors, 1 user, 6 locations), Starter $24/mo annual (50 monitors, 3 users, 6 locations), Team $64/mo annual (75 monitors, 10 users, 22 locations). Browser-check overages bill at $4–$6.50 per 1,000 runs.
3× cheaper, 4× the raw retention
Feature matrix
Honest line-by-line. ✓ means yes, ✗ means no, — means partial. We mark where Checkly actually wins.
- HTTP / API monitoring
- TCP / DNS / ICMP
- SSL monitoring
- Heartbeat / cron
- Playwright browser checks
- Multi-step API workflows
- Monitoring as code (TS CLI)
- Terraform / Pulumi providers
- OpenTelemetry trace correlation
- Per-run overage billing
- Multi-region origins22 (Team+)roadmap
- Real-time dashboard (push)
- Private status pagesPro
- Flat predictable pricing
Where Checkly genuinely wins
We're not pretending to be the best at everything. Here's what Checkly does well.
Best-in-class browser synthetic testing
Real headless Chromium with Playwright, real DOM interactions, real screenshots and videos on failure. Nothing in the lightweight uptime category comes close.
Monitoring as code that actually works
Native TypeScript CLI plus Terraform and Pulumi providers. You can version, PR-review, and CI/CD your monitors. The deepest IaC story in the category.
OpenTelemetry trace correlation
Synthetic HTTP calls auto-inject trace context. A failing check links directly to backend distributed traces — uniquely deep observability for teams already on OTel.
AI triage and 22 global locations
The "Rocky" AI agent ships packet capture and traceroute analysis. 22 AWS regions on Team. Well-funded, mature roadmap.
Where Upclock wins
The specific, quantifiable reasons developers pick us over Checkly.
3× cheaper if you only need uptime
Checkly Starter is $24/mo for 50 monitors with 7-day raw retention and 6 locations. Upclock Basic is $8/mo for the same monitor count, 30-day retention, SSL monitoring, 3 status pages, and SMS + PagerDuty + ntfy.
No per-check-run billing anxiety
Upclock prices are flat per tier. Checkly is consumption-based — a 1-min HTTP check = 43,200 runs/mo per check; a Playwright check every 5 min from 3 regions ≈ 26,000 runs/mo. Upclock users don't do math to avoid surprise bills.
Unlimited team members on Pro
Checkly Team caps at 10 users for $64/mo. Upclock Pro is unlimited team members for $25/mo.
Status pages are a first-class product
Upclock ships 3 / 25 status pages with unlimited custom domains and private pages on Pro. Checkly has status pages but they're a side feature, with limited custom-domain and branding control.
Honest scope
Upclock is not pretending to do synthetic browser testing or OpenTelemetry trace correlation. If those are core requirements, Checkly wins outright.