Softwr

Logging · head to head

Healthchecks vs PagerDuty

Healthchecks logo

Healthchecks

Logging

Simple and effective cron job monitoring

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Technology

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Healthchecks has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Healthchecks free tier limited to 20 jobs, restricting scale for small teams; PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • They diverge on capability: Healthchecks covers Ping URL monitoring, PagerDuty covers Incident response.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Healthchecks and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Healthchecks and PagerDuty differ
AttributeHealthchecksPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Pricing modelPer-job monitoring with fixed tiersUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryLoggingTechnology
Founded20152009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Healthchecks

  • Ping URL monitoring
  • Customizable schedules
  • Event logs
  • Status badges
  • Email alerts
  • SMS and phone alerts
  • Multiple integrations

Only in PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Healthchecks

  • Monitoring cron jobs that run on schedulesnot PagerDuty
  • Alerting teams when background tasks failnot PagerDuty
  • Tracking Kubernetes CronJob execution healthnot PagerDuty
  • Monitoring Jenkins builds and deploymentsnot PagerDuty

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot Healthchecks
  • On-call schedulingnot Healthchecks
  • Real-time alertingnot Healthchecks
  • Service reliabilitynot Healthchecks
  • Digital operationsnot Healthchecks

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Healthchecks

  • Free tier limited to 20 jobs, restricting scale for small teams
  • Requires explicit ping integration into each job
  • No workflow orchestration or job scheduling capabilities
  • SMS and phone credits consumed separately on paid plans
  • Limited to ping-based detection without deep job introspection

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Healthchecks

Free
  • HobbyistFree
    • Monitor 20 jobs
    • 100 log entries per job
    • Email alerts
  • Supporter$5/month
    • Monitor 20 jobs
    • 100 log entries per job
    • Support the service financially
  • Business$20/month
    • Monitor 100 jobs
    • 1000 log entries per job
    • 50 SMS and WhatsApp credits
  • Business Plus$80/month
    • Monitor 1000 jobs
    • 1000 log entries per job
    • 500 SMS and WhatsApp credits

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Healthchecks if

  • You need ping url monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want customizable schedules.
Healthchecks review

Choose PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Questions people ask

Is Healthchecks or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Healthchecks starts at Free and PagerDuty at $21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Healthchecks or PagerDuty?
Healthchecks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Healthchecks and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Healthchecks or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Healthchecks runs on Web, API. PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Healthchecks for free?
Yes. Healthchecks has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is Healthchecks best used for?
Healthchecks is most often used for monitoring cron jobs that run on schedules, alerting teams when background tasks fail, tracking kubernetes cronjob execution health, monitoring jenkins builds and deployments. Of those, monitoring cron jobs that run on schedules and alerting teams when background tasks fail are not what PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Healthchecks do that PagerDuty cannot?
Healthchecks covers Ping URL monitoring, Customizable schedules, Event logs, Status badges. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Healthchecks: What does the free Hobbyist plan include?

The Hobbyist plan ($0/month) includes monitoring for 20 jobs, 100 log entries per job, and email alerts with no credit card required.

Source
PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

Source
Healthchecks: What is the difference between Business and Business Plus?

Business ($20/month) monitors 100 jobs with 50 SMS credits. Business Plus ($80/month) monitors 1000 jobs with 500 SMS credits and priority support.

Source
PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
Healthchecks: Do nonprofits and open-source projects get special pricing?

Yes, open-source projects and nonprofits receive the Business plan at no cost.

Source
PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
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