--- title: WebSocket Monitoring & Connection Alerts description: WebSocket monitoring by WatchFor. Open real WebSocket connections from around the world, verify the handshake completes, and get alerts when your real-time endpoints stop accepting connections. Included from the Starter plan. canonical: https://watchfor.io/websocket-monitoring --- # WebSocket Monitoring for Real-Time Apps When a WebSocket drops, live features go dead while HTTP checks stay green. WatchFor opens real connections from several locations and alerts when they fail. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View pricing](/pricing) ## Checks built for real-time endpoints More than an HTTP check with a different port. ### Full handshake verification Each check performs the complete ws:// or wss:// upgrade handshake — the exact path a browser takes — not just a TCP connect. ### Ping/pong liveness After connecting, the check exchanges WebSocket ping/pong frames and measures round-trip time — proving the connection is alive, not just open. ### Message pattern matching Optionally send a message and assert the response matches an expected pattern — verifying your socket API answers correctly, not just accepts connections. ### TLS (wss://) support Secure WebSocket endpoints are validated end to end, including the TLS layer your clients depend on. ### Connect-time tracking Watch how long the upgrade takes over time — a slowly degrading handshake is often the first sign of a saturated socket server. ### Multi-region checks Real-time apps are latency-sensitive. See connection health from several regions, not just one vantage point. ### Confirmed alerts Failures are verified from multiple locations before an incident opens — no pages for a single flaky path. ### Uptime history & SLA Connection success history and trends for every endpoint, ready for SLA reporting. ## A closer look Each check stores the frame the server sent back and whether it matched. Send a message after the handshake and alert if the reply doesn't match. ## Why HTTP checks aren't enough WebSocket infrastructure fails in its own ways: load balancers that drop upgrade headers, proxies that time out long-lived connections, socket servers that exhaust file descriptors while the web server stays healthy. An HTTP 200 from your homepage says nothing about whether clients can open a socket. Dedicated WebSocket monitoring closes that gap. [Start monitoring now](/auth/sign-up) Catch broken upgrade handshakes your HTTP checks can't see Ping/pong round-trips prove the socket is alive end to end Pattern-match responses to verify the API actually answers Detect load balancer and proxy misconfigurations that kill sockets Track handshake time as an early sign of server saturation Validate secure wss:// endpoints including TLS Confirmed multi-region alerts — no single-path false alarms Works alongside your HTTP monitors on the same platform Alerts to Slack, PagerDuty, email and 13 other channels Uptime history per endpoint for SLA reporting ## How WebSocket monitoring works Real connections, on a schedule you choose. 1 ### Add your endpoint Point WatchFor at any ws:// or wss:// URL — your chat gateway, live-feed server or notification service. 2 ### We open real connections On every check, probes perform the full WebSocket upgrade handshake from your selected regions. 3 ### Failures get confirmed A failed handshake is re-checked every 30 seconds from other locations, so only real outages open incidents. 4 ### You get alerted with detail See which endpoint failed, from which regions, and how connect time trended before the failure. ## Who needs WebSocket monitoring Anywhere a live connection is the product. ### Chat and collaboration apps When the socket is down, messages stop flowing and users notice within seconds. Get the alert before support tickets arrive. ### Live dashboards and feeds Trading prices, sports scores, IoT telemetry — a silent socket outage means stale data presented as live. Monitoring keeps 'real-time' honest. ### Multiplayer games Connection failures translate directly to players leaving. Watch handshake success and connect latency across regions where players actually are. ### Push and notification gateways Your app looks fine while notifications silently stop being delivered. A dedicated WebSocket check catches the exact broken layer. ## WebSocket monitoring FAQ Common questions about monitoring real-time connections. [All questions→](/faq)[Ask us directly](/contact) What is WebSocket monitoring? WebSocket monitoring opens a real WebSocket connection to your endpoint on a schedule and checks that the upgrade handshake completes. If connections start failing or slowing down, an incident opens before users notice a dead real-time feature. Why isn't a normal HTTP check enough? Do you support secure (wss://) endpoints? Can it verify messages, not just the connection? Can I monitor endpoints that need a specific path, header or subprotocol? Does it hold a connection open to catch drops? How often are checks performed, and on which plans? How do alerts reach my team? ## Keep your real-time layer really live Add a WebSocket monitor in under a minute. WebSocket monitoring is included from the Starter plan. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View documentation](/docs/monitors/performance#websocket) --- Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/websocket-monitoring · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt