Checkly vs Dynatrace
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Checkly and Dynatrace.
Quick Verdict
4.1/5
Checkly
0 reviews
3.8/5
Dynatrace
0 reviews
Checkly is rated higher (4.1 vs 3.8). Checkly enables monitoring as code using Playwright for E2E browser checks and HTTP API checks. Define checks alongside your code in TypeScript. Global check locations. Dynatrace uses Davis AI to automatically detect problems, root causes, and dependencies across your full technology stack. Full-stack observability with minimal manual configuration.
Checkly Monitoring as code with Playwright and API checks | Dynatrace AI-powered observability and AIOps platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.1 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.8 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | paid |
| Starting price | Free tier available✓ | From $7/mo |
| Best for | Engineering teams who want to define synthetic and API monitoring tests as code in their repository and run them from global locations | Large enterprise teams wanting AI-driven automatic problem detection across their entire technology stack, where incident cost justifies platform spend |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceapi access | api accessteam featuressso |
| Visit Checkly → | Visit Dynatrace → | |
Checkly
Pros
- + True monitoring as code: TypeScript + Playwright checks versioned in your repo and deployed via CLI
- + Useful free Hobby tier and clear published plan pricing
- + 22 global check locations plus private locations for internal services on Team+
- + Full check types (HTTP, TCP, DNS, ICMP, SSL/TLS, gRPC, traceroute, heartbeat) with rich alerting and status pages
- + Local test mode in CI catches broken checks before deploy; SOC 2 since 2022
Cons
- - Usage-based billing scales with frequency x locations x checks — overage at $4 per 1,000 runs adds up
- - Developer-only tool: no point-and-click path for non-technical teams
- - Synthetic monitoring only — not a replacement for APM, logs, or metrics platforms
- - No public uptime SLA for the platform itself; best features (1-second checks, parallel scheduling) gated to Enterprise
Dynatrace
Pros
- + Davis causal AI and OneAgent auto-discovery replace manual alert wiring with root-cause answers
- + Single platform for APM, infrastructure, logs, RUM, synthetics and runtime security
- + Published rate card with no per-seat fees and no overage premiums on DPS commitments
- + Deep compliance packaging (ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP Moderate, HIPAA) and unlimited seats
- + 900+ supported technologies, OpenTelemetry ingest, hybrid and mainframe coverage
Cons
- - Expensive: annual commitment required, bills scale with host memory (4 GiB floor)
- - No permanent free plan (15-day trial) and no month-to-month option
- - Capability sprawl means many meters to forecast; renewal conversations get complex
- - SaaS-only — no self-hosted deployment for strict data-residency or air-gapped environments
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