--- title: Checkly Alternative description: WatchFor compared with Checkly: when a Playwright-first, code-defined monitoring workflow is the right answer, and when it is more than you need. canonical: https://watchfor.io/checkly-alternative --- [← All comparisons](/comparisons) # The Checkly alternative with Playwright checks on a flat plan Checkly built the best version of a specific idea: your checks are Playwright scripts, they live in your repository, they run in CI, and a deploy can be gated on them. If that workflow is what you want, they are the right tool and this page will not talk you out of it. WatchFor runs Playwright too — one test file per browser check, written in the editor, imported, or created over the API — next to 26 other check types on a flat monthly plan, without the repository and CI machinery. ## Where Checkly is better than us - Playwright Check Suites: your whole repository, lockfile and real playwright.config, run as one check. - Monitoring defined as code, versioned in your repository and run in CI. - Deploy gating — a failing check can stop a release. Feature WatchFor Checkly Free plan 15 monitors, 9 check types, commercial use allowed 10 uptime monitors, plus limited check runs Free plan check interval 3 minutes 2 minutes Entry paid plan €7/mo — 50 monitors, 1-minute checks $24/mo (Starter) — 50 uptime monitors Fastest check interval 30 seconds 30 seconds (Team), 1 second on Enterprise Status pages 3 on Free, 25 from €7/mo Included; custom domain on Team and above Team seats Included on every plan, no per-seat fee Included Monitor types 30 incl. Playwright browser checks, CDN, MCP, MTR, NTP, IMAP/POP3, email round-trip, blacklist, email policy; 9 on the free plan — plus Linux server monitoring with the open-source watchfor-agent on paid plans Uptime, API checks, Playwright browser checks, heartbeats Probe locations 20 locations across 7 regions; 1 region per monitor on Free, 2 from €7/mo, 7 on Business 6 on Free and Starter, 22 on Team Playwright browser checks Yes — one test file per check The core of the product Multi-file Playwright suites with your own config Playwright Check Suites Monitoring as code, run in CI REST API, SDKs and MCP, but not a CI-run repo Yes, first class Billing model Flat plan by monitor count Per check run Probe locations on the entry paid plan 2 regions on Starter (€7), all 7 on Business 6 Free diagnostic tools [64 tools, no signup](/free-tools) None found Agent-readiness score (ora.ai) [96/100 · A+](https://ora.ai/score/watchfor.io) watchfor.io · 4 Nov 2026 [82/100 · B](https://ora.ai/score/checklyhq.com) checklyhq.com · 10 Oct 2026 Agent-readiness score (is-agentic.com) [100/100](https://is-agentic.com/scan/watchfor.io) watchfor.io · 4 Nov 2026 [98/100](https://is-agentic.com/scan/checklyhq.com) checklyhq.com · 10 Oct 2026 Checkly details checked on 11 September 2026 against [their published pricing](https://www.checklyhq.com/pricing/). Plans change — see the note at the end of this page. ## Choose Checkly if - Your browser tests already live in a Playwright repository and you want to run the suite as it is, helpers and config included. - You want checks reviewed in pull requests like the rest of your code. - You want a failing synthetic to block a deploy. ## Choose WatchFor if - You want monitoring configured in a UI, an API or a chat message rather than in a repository. - You want a flat plan instead of per-run billing, with the automatic retry and the confirmation re-run before an alert not counted. - Your risk is in the infrastructure layer — DNS, TLS, CDN, mail, network path — not in page rendering. - You want probes in two regions on the €7 entry plan rather than on the third tier. ## Moving over Monitors → Import brings your Checkly API checks over directly (beta), mapped onto our API monitor type with assertions on JSON fields, headers and status, previewed before creation. A Checkly browser check is a single Playwright Test file, so it pastes into a WatchFor browser check (Checkly's stock example ran unmodified in our tests); move its environment variables to organization variables. Check Suites and CLI-defined checks do not import. ## Questions people ask Can WatchFor run browser tests? Yes. A browser check is a Playwright Test file, TypeScript or JavaScript, run on a schedule in a sandboxed Chromium with per-step timings, screenshots and a trace. What we do not have is Checkly's repository workflow: no CLI deploy, no multi-file suites and no deploy gating. If those are the point for you, Checkly is the better tool. Why would I not want monitoring as code? It is a genuine strength when a team owns the repository and reviews changes. It is friction when the person who needs a monitor added is in support, or when you want to add a check from your phone at two in the morning. What does per-run billing mean in practice? Cost scales with frequency. Checking every 30 seconds costs twice what checking every minute costs. Our plans are priced by monitor count, so interval changes do not move the bill. ## Try it on the thing you are actually worried about 15 monitors free, commercial use allowed, no card. If it does not beat what you have, keep what you have. [Start free](/auth/sign-up)[See pricing](/pricing) ## About these figures Everything stated here about Checkly was read from [their published pricing](https://www.checklyhq.com/pricing/) on 11 September 2026 . Pricing, limits and features in this market change often and without notice, so treat this as a starting point and confirm the current terms with both vendors before you buy. We are not affiliated with Checkly , and product names belong to their owners. Agent-readiness scores are published by [ora.ai](https://ora.ai) and [is-agentic.com](https://is-agentic.com) for the domain named under each score, as of the date shown. They grade a domain, not a product: a vendor whose developer surface lives on a subdomain can score lower than its product deserves. We show each service's own cached result and never request a scan of another company's site, so a domain neither service has scanned reads as not scanned. Scoring rules change over time; compare the dates as well as the numbers. If something here is wrong or out of date — including if you work at Checkly — email [hello@watchfor.io](mailto:hello@watchfor.io) and we will correct the page and update the date on it. This page is provided for information only and is not advice. See our [Terms of Service](/legal/terms) for the full position on published information. --- Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/checkly-alternative · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt