Datadog alternative

Uptime monitoring
without the Datadog bill.

Datadog is a full observability platform priced per host. If what you actually need is to know when a site or endpoint goes down, PULSX does that for free.

Why teams switch
from Datadog.

Add a URL, done

No agents, no integrations to wire up. Paste a URL, pick an interval and an alert channel, and the first check runs within a minute.

Built for small teams

Startups, agencies and indie builders get the same thing: 50 monitors per team, 1-minute checks and every feature, with no bill that scales with hosts.

Status pages included

Public status pages in your branding with subscriber updates, something Datadog does not offer at all.

PULSX and Datadog,
side by side.

Feature
PULSX
Free
Datadog
from $31 per host per month
PriceFree$31 to $270 per host per month
Uptime monitoring50 monitors per teamSynthetics, billed per test run
Check interval1 minute1 minute
SSL monitoringYesPart of Synthetics, extra cost
Public status pagesYesNo
Incidents and on-callYesSeparate products
SetupPaste a URLAgent-based
Logs, traces, APMNoYes

This is not a like-for-like comparison. Datadog does a great deal PULSX does not (logs, traces, APM, infrastructure metrics). If you need those, you need Datadog. If you need to know whether things are up, you do not.

Move over
in an afternoon.

01

Create a PULSX account

Free, no card, no agent to install.

02

Add the endpoints you care about

Public URLs, health endpoints, cron heartbeats. Pick intervals and expected status codes.

03

Route alerts and publish a status page

Slack, Discord, Telegram, webhook or push, then a public status page if your users should see it too.

Questions

Is PULSX a replacement for Datadog?+
Only for uptime monitoring. Many teams run PULSX for external uptime and status pages while keeping Datadog (or nothing) for internal observability. PULSX has no logs, traces or host metrics.
Why is it free?+
Hosting costs little and there is no enterprise tier to fund. Fair-use caps (50 monitors, 25 members, 50 channels per team) keep it sustainable.
Can PULSX monitor private endpoints?+
PULSX checks from the public internet, so the endpoint needs to be reachable from outside. For internal jobs, use heartbeat monitors: the job pings PULSX and you are alerted when it stops.

Know when things are down. Pay nothing.

Uptime monitoring, SSL checks and status pages for every team, free.