BoxWatch vs Checkly
Checkly is a developer-focused synthetic monitoring platform: you define API checks, browser automation scripts, and heartbeat monitors as code, and Checkly runs them from 22 global locations (or your own private locations). BoxWatch is a Linux server monitoring tool that watches host metrics, processes, disk trends, and cron jobs via a lightweight push-model agent. The two tools solve different problems, though they share some overlap in uptime checks and heartbeat monitoring.
Quick verdict
Choose Checkly when your primary concern is testing whether your application behaves correctly from the outside: HTTP assertions, Playwright browser flows, OpenTelemetry tracing, and API contract checks. Choose BoxWatch when you need to know what is happening inside your servers: CPU, memory, disk, running processes, and scheduled jobs on Linux hosts. Teams building web applications often need both: Checkly for end-to-end synthetic checks, BoxWatch for the underlying server health.
Pricing
| Plan | Checkly | BoxWatch |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Hobby: 10 uptime monitors, 1,000 browser checks/mo, 10,000 API checks/mo | Hobby $0: 5 servers, 20 cron checks, 10 processes/server |
| Entry paid | Starter $24/mo (billed annually): 50 uptime monitors, 3,000 browser checks/mo | Pro $13/mo: 25 servers, 100 uptime checks |
| Mid tier | Team $64/mo: 75 uptime monitors, 12,000 browser checks/mo | Team $29/mo: 100 servers |
| Scale | Enterprise: custom pricing, 1-second frequency, dedicated support | Scale $79/mo: unlimited servers |
| Pricing model | Per-check metered (not per server) | Flat per plan, not per server or per check |
| Status pages | Add-on module ($9-30/mo extra) | Included in all paid plans |
Feature comparison
When Checkly is the better choice
Checkly clearly wins when your use case is application-layer synthetic monitoring. Its Playwright browser check support, OpenTelemetry distributed tracing, infrastructure-as-code workflow (TypeScript constructs, Terraform, Pulumi), and 22 global probe locations are purpose-built for teams testing web apps and APIs. If you need to run checks from a specific region, assert on response bodies, or replay failing user flows with traces, Checkly is the stronger tool. Its SAML SSO (enterprise tier) and RBAC also make it a better fit for larger engineering organizations.
When BoxWatch is the better choice
- You monitor Linux servers and need host metrics (CPU, memory, disk, load, network) without writing code or managing external probe infrastructure.
- Your disk-full prediction and process monitoring requirements cannot be met by a synthetic tool that only tests from the outside.
- You want flat, predictable billing: BoxWatch charges per plan regardless of how many checks or servers you add within the tier, while Checkly meters browser runs, API runs, and uptime monitors separately with add-on costs that compound as you scale.
- You need cron/heartbeat monitoring, weekly scheduled reports, a TV wall dashboard, and uptime SLA badges all included out of the box at $13/mo without assembling separate add-on modules.
FAQ
Does Checkly monitor server CPU, memory, or disk usage?
No. Checkly is a synthetic monitoring platform: it runs checks against your application endpoints from the outside. It has no concept of a host agent, so it cannot report on CPU load, memory pressure, disk usage, or running processes. For host-level visibility you need a separate tool like BoxWatch.
Can Checkly monitor internal or firewalled services?
Yes, through Private Locations. You deploy the Checkly Agent container (via Docker or Kubernetes) inside your network, and Checkly routes checks through it to reach endpoints not accessible from the public internet. This is a paid-tier feature and requires maintaining the container deployment yourself. BoxWatch achieves the same for synthetic HTTP/TCP checks by default, since checks run directly from your own agent.
Is Checkly priced per server like BoxWatch?
Checkly is not server-based at all. It meters check runs (API checks per 10,000 runs, browser checks per 1,000 runs) and uptime monitor slots. This makes cost estimation harder as you scale check frequency. BoxWatch uses flat per-plan pricing tied to server count, which makes monthly costs fully predictable.