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When Checkly launched, it was the first of its kind, enabling developers to monitor complex workflows easier than ever using the automation tooling (Playwright, Terraform, etc) they already knew and loved.
We’ve helped detect and resolve issues for 1000s of companies—ranging from monitoring crucial log-ins, to purchasing products, to setting up client instances for millions of monthly users
But what about the simpler stuff?
How about an affordable, reliable way for developers to answer, “Is my service up?”
Today, we're excited to launch Checkly Uptime Monitors, a new way to monitor URLs, TCP, and Heartbeats, and more all within the same workflow you already love.
Now, you can monitor more of your services without needing another lighter tool, without duplicating your alerting setup, or without stepping outside of your IDE.
The Foundation Of Reliable Applications
Every robust monitoring strategy needs multiple layers of defense. Think of it like securing a building—you need both perimeter security and detailed internal security to give you proper coverage. Uptime Monitors serve as your first line of defense, providing rapid detection of fundamental availability and performance issues, while synthetic monitors powered by Playwright gives you a comprehensive view into the health complex user journeys and application behavior.
Uptime Monitors excel at answering the critical question: "Is my service responding?"
With millisecond-fast assertions on:
- Status codes—Is your endpoint returning the expected HTTP response?
- Response times—Are your services responding within acceptable thresholds?
Uptime Monitors That Match Your Workflow
Monitoring tools that have traditionally solved the Uptime problem are not only often clunky and flaky - they live outside the rest of your stack. They’re hard to automate, hard to customize, and often feel completely tacked on to the end of DevOps process. With Checkly’s Uptime Monitors, you can create and manage uptime checks in code, review them in pull requests, and roll them out as part of your deployment process - just like the rest of your application.
This launch brings the full Monitoring as Code experience to basic availability monitoring, enabling your developers to shift reliability left and own the whole process. The result: more coverage, fewer tools, and lower costs.
“This launch helps us meet developers where they are. Whether you’re just getting started or monitoring complex user flows, you shouldn’t need two separate tools. Uptime Monitors make Checkly accessible to everyone, without giving up power or flexibility.”
— Hannes Lenke, CEO, Checkly
Built for the Essentials, Ready to Scale
Uptime checks are built for speed, both in setup and execution. Unlike our Playwright-powered synthetic monitors that can simulate complex user flows like multi-step checkouts or login sequences, uptime checks focus on rapid, lightweight health verification.
This makes them perfect for:
- High-frequency monitoring of critical endpoints
- Quick health checks across multiple services
- Cost-effective monitoring of simple availability requirements
- Baseline monitoring before implementing more complex synthetic tests
Complementing, Not Replacing, Your Monitoring Strategy
We believe in layered monitoring. Modern applications need more than just “is it up?” checks, they need visibility into both the surface and the depth. Checkly delivers both:
Uptime Monitors
Your first line of defense, spotting outages or degraded performance before your users do. Use Uptime Monitors for:
- URL health verification
- Basic service availability monitoring
- High-frequency status checking
- Infrastructure-level reliability tracking
Synthetic Checks
Deep, browser-based checks that simulate real user interactions. Use Synthetic Checks for:
- End-to-end user journey validation
- Complex multi-step workflows
- Browser-based application testing
- Detailed performance and functionality verification
Built with the Same Code-First Philosophy
True to Checkly's DNA, Uptime Monitors integrate seamlessly into your existing workflows. Configure them as code, deploy them through your CI/CD pipeline, and manage them alongside your other monitoring infrastructure using the Checkly CLI, Terraform, or our API. This unlocks:
- Scalability: Spin up hundreds of checks across services, regions, and protocols with a single command.
- Consistency: Use templates, version control, and shared configs to ensure your monitoring setup is as reliable as your codebase.
- Automation: Fully integrate with your CI/CD pipelines for zero-drift monitoring infrastructure.
- AI-readiness: Because it’s all code, you can generate full monitoring setups using LLMs or internal AI assistants.
Start Simple, Scale When You're Ready
Uptime checks are available today for all Checkly users.
- Monitoring from up to 4 global locations
- Up to 1 Second Frequency (Start Plan is at 1 Minute)
- Full CLI support
- All alerting integrations
Whether you're just starting your monitoring journey or looking to add another layer of reliability to your existing setup, they provide an excellent entry point into the world of proactive monitoring.
Ready to add lightning-fast uptime monitoring to your reliability stack? Check out our documentation to get started, or explore our learning resources to discover how uptime checks fit into a comprehensive monitoring strategy.