Monitoring-as-code synthetics

Checkly

A synthetic monitoring platform for API checks, Playwright browser checks, monitoring as code, CI integration, and run-based operations.

Editorial verdict

Choose Checkly when critical API assertions and browser journeys should be maintained as code and their run economics can be governed.¹ ²

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Main trade-off

High-fidelity monitoring-as-code comes with test maintenance, flakiness, run accounting, location multipliers, and plan-specific limits.¹ ²

Whether programmable API and browser checks justify test maintenance and run-based pricing.

Checkly runs external synthetic checks; it does not replace internal APM, infrastructure metrics, or application log storage.¹ ²

For: Engineering teams treating external API and browser journeys as versioned operational tests

Monitoring as codeChecks can be versioned and managed through code workflows.¹ ²
API and browser depthAssertions and Playwright journeys cover more than simple uptime.¹ ²
CI integrationOperational checks can connect to deployment workflows.¹ ²

Plan plus monitor allowances, API/browser runs, frequency, locations, retries, retention, prepaid usage, overages, and private-location terms.⁴

Synthetic executions

Model monitors, API runs, browser runs, locations, frequency, retries, retention, and overages.⁴

Pricing checked July 25, 2026View official pricing

Choose when: Choose checks integrated with incidents, on-call, and status pages.
Avoid when: Monitoring-as-code is the primary requirement.
Compared with Checkly: Incident workflow integration replaces Checkly's code-centric testing model.⁷ ⁸

Choose when: Choose k6/Grafana synthetics within a wider observability platform.
Avoid when: The wider Grafana platform is unnecessary.
Compared with Checkly: Cross-signal suite integration replaces a focused synthetic product.⁹ ¹⁰