Frequently asked questions
What is PulseChecker?
PulseChecker is a monitoring tool for developers. It watches URLs, cron jobs (via heartbeat check-ins), and AI agent runs, and can also run real multi-step user journeys — like logging in and checking out — in a headless browser. When something goes down, it alerts by email, Slack/Discord webhook, SMS, or an actual phone call to an on-call chain, depending on your plan.
How much does PulseChecker cost?
There are 5 plans: Free ($0/mo, 10 monitors), Monitoring Only ($9/mo, 50 monitors), Starter ($15/mo, 50 monitors + 3 journeys), Growth ($39/mo, 150 monitors + 10 journeys + on-call phone escalation), and Scale ($89/mo, unlimited monitors + 25 journeys + on-call phone escalation). No credit card is required to start on the Free plan.
Is there really a free plan, or is it a trial?
It's a genuinely free plan, not a time-limited trial. Free includes 10 monitors, 5-minute checks, a public status page, email alerts, and Slack/Discord webhook alerts, for as long as you use it.
What is synthetic journey monitoring?
A journey is a scripted, multi-step flow — navigate to a page, fill in a field, click a button, assert some text appears — that PulseChecker runs in a real headless browser on a schedule. A basic uptime ping only proves a server responded; a journey proves an actual user flow (like login or checkout) still works end to end.
Does PulseChecker call me if something goes down?
On the Growth and Scale plans, yes. You can flag a monitor to "page on-call," and if it goes down, PulseChecker calls an ordered list of on-call contacts by phone — pressing 1 during the call, or a link in the alert email, acknowledges it and stops further calls. If nobody answers, it escalates through the whole on-call chain, with an optional weekly rotation and manual override for who's up.
How is PulseChecker different from UptimeRobot, Pingdom, or Better Stack?
See the full comparison at pulsechecker.dev/compare. In short: PulseChecker bundles multi-step synthetic journey testing into every plan (including Free), rather than treating it as a separate product or add-on, and its on-call phone-call escalation is included in a mid-tier plan rather than priced as a separate incident-management product.
Can I use my own domain for my public status page?
Yes — status pages get a free pulsechecker.dev/s/<slug> URL by default, and you can point your own custom domain at it (e.g. status.yourcompany.com) from the dashboard.
Does PulseChecker monitor AI agent runs?
Yes. An agent monitor tracks a run's start and finish check-ins, flags runs that hang past an expected duration, and flags runs that error out, time out, or return empty/malformed output — not just whether the process crashed.
Is there a contract, or can I cancel anytime?
Billing is month-to-month with no contract. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel from the dashboard's Billing page at any time.
Still have a question? Email us, or start free and try it yourself.