Uptimely vs Checkly
Checkly is a synthetic monitoring platform built for developers: you write Playwright scripts, keep them in your repository, deploy them with a CLI, and Checkly runs them as browser checks from its global locations. Uptimely is the simpler shape — always-on uptime checks bundled with status pages, incident management and on-call escalation on a flat plan. The two overlap on the question of whether a service is up, and diverge sharply either side of it, which is what this page is for.
Where Checkly is strong
Checkly's browser checks are real Playwright scripts driving a real browser, so a check can sign in, walk a checkout and assert on what it renders — genuine end-to-end testing rather than a status code. Its Team plan runs from all 22 of its global locations with a private-location option, supports 10-second frequency and visual regression testing, and its monitoring-as-code workflow puts a check in the same pull request as the feature it covers. The free Hobby plan is real work too: 10 uptime monitors, 10,000 API check runs and 1,000 browser check runs a month, hard-capped so it cannot bill you by surprise. Uptimely has nothing that competes with the browser half of that: its synthetic and custom-JavaScript monitors run a sandboxed script with network access but no browser and no DOM, so they can exercise an API sequence and cannot test a page a customer would see.
Where Uptimely differs
Two differences decide most of these comparisons. The first is what you are billed for: Checkly meters check RUNS — Starter is $24/month for 25,000 API and 3,000 browser runs, and past that runs cost $2.60 per 10,000 API and $6.50 per 1,000 browser — so tightening a check's interval raises the bill. Uptimely's Pro is $29/month flat for unlimited monitors at 1-minute checks, and the bill does not move when the interval does. The second is what surrounds the check: public status pages, incidents with states and timelines, and on-call duty policies with escalation are on every Uptimely plan including Free, where Checkly's own documentation routes that part out to PagerDuty, Opsgenie, incident.io and the rest.
| Feature | Uptimely | Checkly |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0 — 10 monitors, 1 status page, 3 members | Hobby $0 — 10 uptime monitors, 10,000 API + 1,000 browser check runs/mo, 1 user |
| Entry paid plan | Pro $29/mo — unlimited monitors & status pages, 25 members | Starter $24/mo — 50 uptime monitors, 3 users, metered check runs |
| Pricing model | Flat per plan — unlimited monitors on Pro | Metered by check run — overage $2.60/10k API, $6.50/1k browser |
| Check frequency | 1-minute (Free and Pro) | Down to 10-second (Team plan) |
| Scripted checks | Synthetic & custom-JavaScript monitors — a sandboxed script with fetch, no browser or DOM | Playwright scripts in a real browser, kept in your repo and deployed by CLI; visual regression on Team |
| Probe locations | One vantage point | 6 public locations (Hobby, Starter); all 22 plus a private location (Team) |
| Team members | 3 (Free) / 25 (Pro) | 1 (Hobby) · 3 (Starter) · 10 (Team) |
| Status pages | 1 (Free) / unlimited (Pro); custom domains | 1 dashboard (Hobby, Starter) / 10 (Team), by service & subscriber count |
| On-call / escalation | Included on all plans, incl. Free | — routes to PagerDuty, Opsgenie, incident.io, Rootly and similar |
| Alert channels | Slack, Discord, email, SMS, voice call, web push | Email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, SMS, phone call, Teams, webhooks + incident tools |
| Telemetry / APM | OTLP logs, traces & metrics; Prometheus /metrics | — (synthetic check results, not an OTLP backend) |
| Self-hosting | No (SaaS) | No (SaaS) |
Checkly plan names, prices, quotas, locations, user counts and overage rates are quoted from Checkly's own pricing page, and the alert-channel list plus the absence of built-in on-call scheduling from its own alerting documentation, the pricing page re-read 2026-09-15 and the alerting documentation read 2026-09-02: https://www.checklyhq.com/pricing/ and https://www.checklyhq.com/docs/alerting-and-retries/alert-channels/ — those figures are the ANNUAL rates, as that page now prints the billing period in the price line itself (“$24 per month, billed annually”); month-to-month billing is higher, and the page states annual saves up to 20%. Uptimely figures reflect its current plans.
Uptimely's Free plan has 10 monitors, 1 status page and 1-minute checks, with no credit card. Pro comes with a 14-day free trial.
Start free →Is Uptimely a good Checkly alternative?
It depends on what you are actually monitoring. If you need scripted browser journeys — sign in, add to cart, check out — Uptimely is not an alternative to Checkly at all and you should not treat this page as saying otherwise. If what you need is always-on availability checking with the operations layer around it — status pages, incidents, on-call escalation — on a flat bill that does not move with check volume, Uptimely is the simpler and cheaper answer.
Does Uptimely run Playwright browser checks like Checkly?
No. Uptimely does run scripted checks — its Synthetic Monitor and Custom JavaScript Code types execute a script you write, with network access, in a sandbox — but there is no browser and no DOM behind them, so they can walk an API sequence and cannot test the page a customer actually sees. Checkly's browser checks are Playwright scripts driving a real browser, versioned alongside your application. That is a different and deeper capability, and if it is your requirement, Checkly is the right tool.
How does Checkly's pricing compare to Uptimely's?
They are priced on different axes, so the answer depends on volume rather than on which is "cheaper". Checkly meters check runs: its Starter plan is $24/month for 25,000 API and 3,000 browser runs, with overage at $2.60 per 10,000 API runs and $6.50 per 1,000 browser runs, so shortening a check interval increases the bill. Uptimely's Pro is a flat $29/month with unlimited monitors at 1-minute checks. Checkly's own pricing page notes that annual billing saves up to 20%, so check the current rate for the billing period you want.
Does Checkly include on-call escalation?
Not of its own. Checkly's alerting documentation describes alert channels as determining how notifications reach your team, and lists PagerDuty, Opsgenie, incident.io, Rootly, ilert, Splunk On-Call and others under incident management — those tools own the schedules, rotations and escalation policies. Uptimely includes on-call duty policies with escalation rules on every plan, including Free.
Which one checks from more locations?
Checkly, clearly. Its Hobby and Starter plans run from 6 public locations and its Team plan from all 22, with a private-location option. Uptimely probes from a single vantage point today; a second network is on the roadmap and is not shipped. If telling a regional outage apart from a global one matters to you, that is a real reason to choose Checkly.