Comparison

The Checkly Alternative for API Monitoring Without Playwright Limits

Both monitor user flows. Checkly uses Playwright browser scripting; PerkyDash uses API-based monitoring with flat pricing, status pages, and white-label included.

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Choose PerkyDash if:

You primarily need API-level monitoring
You want status pages included (emergency + permanent)
Visual diff monitoring matters to you
Flat, predictable pricing is important
You don't need browser-based UI testing

Choose Checkly if:

You need to test actual browser interactions (clicks, forms, JavaScript)
You want Playwright scripting power
Frontend/UI testing is critical
You want monitoring-as-code in CI/CD

The Fundamental Difference

Two philosophies for the same goal

Checkly

Code-First Approach

const { test } = require('@playwright/test');

test('checkout flow', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://shop.com');
  await page.click('[data-test="add-to-cart"]');
  await page.fill('#email', 'test@test.com');
  await page.fill('#card', '4242424242424242');
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  await page.waitForSelector('.success');
  // ... 50 more lines
});

Write Playwright scripts, version control them, run in CI/CD

PerkyDash

API-Based Approach

Step 1: POST /api/login
  Body: { email, password }
  Extract: auth_token from response

Step 2: POST /api/cart/add
  Headers: Authorization: Bearer {auth_token}
  Body: { product_id: 123 }
  Extract: cart_id from response

Step 3: POST /api/checkout
  Headers: Authorization: Bearer {auth_token}
  Body: { cart_id: {cart_id} }
  Assert: status === "success"

Configure HTTP requests, extract values, chain steps together

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side breakdown

Feature	PerkyDash	Checkly
Setup & Approach
Flow monitoring approach	API-based	Browser-based
Technical knowledge required	Yes (API config)	Yes (Playwright)
Best for	API/backend flows	UI/frontend flows
Monitoring Types
Process/flow monitoring	✅	✅
Uptime monitoring	✅	✅
API monitoring	✅	✅
Visual diff monitoring	✅	❌
SSL monitoring	✅	❌
Heartbeat/cron monitoring	✅	✅
Status Pages
Built-in status pages	✅	✅
Emergency status page tool	✅	❌
Pricing
Starting price	€9/mo	$0 (limited)
Pro equivalent	€9/mo	$24/mo
Team/Agency	from €49/mo	$64/mo
Pricing model	Flat	Per-check runs
Browser check runs	Unlimited	Limited by plan
Advanced
CI/CD integration	Basic	Advanced
Monitoring as code	❌	✅
Private locations	❌	✅
Playwright scripting	❌	✅
Best For
API/backend testing	✅	⚠️
Browser UI testing	❌	✅
Flat pricing needs	✅	❌
CI/CD integration	Basic	Advanced

Pricing: Flat vs Per-Run

Understanding the cost models

PerkyDash Approach

Pro: €9/mo

• 10 flow monitors
• Unlimited checks (run as often as you want)
• All monitoring types included

Agency: from €49/mo

• Unlimited checks
• White-label status pages
• Granular client permissions

No surprises. No overage charges. Pay one price, check as often as needed.

Checkly Approach

Free Tier

• 10 uptime monitors
• 1,000 browser check runs/month

Starter: $24/mo

• More monitors and runs

Team: $64/mo

• 12,000 browser check runs included
• Additional runs charged per 1k

Usage-based. Need more checks? Pay for additional runs.

Verdict

If you run checks frequently (every 5 minutes across multiple flows), Checkly costs can add up with overage charges. PerkyDash flat pricing means predictable bills — no surprises at month-end.

Best Tool for Your Situation

Real scenarios, honest recommendations

Scenario 1

"I'm a solo founder with an e-commerce site"

Winner: PerkyDash

API-based monitoring, flat pricing, status pages included. Perfect if your checkout is API-driven. Choose Checkly if you need to test actual UI clicks and forms.

Scenario 2

"I'm a developer who wants monitoring in my GitHub workflow"

Winner: Checkly

Monitoring-as-code, Playwright native, CI/CD integration. Version control your checks alongside your code.

Scenario 3

"I run an agency managing 20+ client sites"

Winner: PerkyDash

Flat pricing across all clients. White-label status pages included. Client views for easy reporting. Lower total cost for managing multiple sites.

Scenario 4

"I'm a DevOps engineer at a startup"

Winner: Depends

Checkly if you need browser-based testing and CI/CD integration. PerkyDash if you want API monitoring with flat pricing and included status pages.

What Checkly Does Better

Being honest about trade-offs

Browser-Based Testing

Checkly's Playwright integration lets you test actual browser interactions - clicks, forms, JavaScript execution. If you need to verify UI behavior rather than just API responses, Checkly is the right choice.

Monitoring-as-Code

If your team uses CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code, Checkly fits naturally. Version control your monitors, run them in pull requests, and manage everything from your repo.

Private Locations

Need to monitor internal services behind a firewall? Checkly offers private locations. PerkyDash currently only supports public-facing sites.

Advanced Scripting

Complex authentication flows, dynamic data extraction, custom assertions — if you need this level of control, Checkly's scripting gives you that power.

Bottom line: If you need to test actual browser UI interactions or want monitoring-as-code, Checkly is excellent. If you need API-level monitoring with flat pricing and included status pages, choose PerkyDash.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about the comparison

What's the main difference in how they monitor flows?

PerkyDash uses API-based monitoring - you configure HTTP requests, extract values, and chain steps together. Checkly uses browser-based monitoring with Playwright scripts that can test actual UI clicks and forms. Both require technical knowledge, just different approaches.

Which one should I choose?

Choose Checkly if you need to test actual browser UI interactions (clicks, forms, JavaScript). Choose PerkyDash if you need API-level monitoring with flat pricing, included status pages, and visual diff monitoring. Both are powerful tools, just for different use cases.

What about API monitoring?

Both tools offer API monitoring. PerkyDash specializes in API-based flow monitoring with request chaining, value extraction, and assertions. Checkly can also do API monitoring but is primarily designed for browser-based testing with Playwright.

Can I try both?

Absolutely. Checkly has a free tier and PerkyDash has a 7-day free trial. Test both with your actual flows and see which fits better. You'll know quickly which approach feels right for your team.

Checkly for Agencies: What's Missing

Checkly is a powerful tool for DevOps and SaaS teams who write Playwright scripts for browser-based synthetic monitoring. But if you're a web agency managing monitoring for 10-30 client sites, Checkly wasn't designed for you.

No white-label dashboard. Checkly is a developer tool — it shows Checkly branding everywhere. There's no way to present monitoring under your agency's name, on your custom domain, with your colours. Agencies that bill clients for monitoring-as-a-service need their brand in the client-facing experience.

No per-client workspace isolation. Checkly doesn't separate monitoring by client. All checks live in one account. You can't give a client a read-only view of only their own monitors, which makes self-service client dashboards impossible.

No built-in status pages. Checkly focuses on synthetic testing — it doesn't include status pages. An agency running client monitoring needs to communicate incidents to end users, and that requires a status page on the client's domain with the client's branding. That's a separate subscription with Checkly, built into every plan with PerkyDash.

PerkyDash Agency: built for this use case

PerkyDash's Agency plan gives you a fully branded monitoring platform — your domain, your logo, your colours — with per-client workspace isolation, status pages on client domains, and API monitoring included. No Playwright expertise required, no usage-based billing surprises. Plans from €49/month.

See Agency Plans