Slow websites simply translate into clients’ frustration and a happy competition. In a nutshell, an online business is only as good as the website itself. And 100% uptime is not enough; you have to be quick. Even some extra microseconds can result in abandoned carts and high bounce rates. And not just your customers, even Google punishes you for a slow-loading website. To put it all together, Speed Brings Business. In brief, commonly expected features in every page-speed monitoring service are:
Uptime monitoring Detailed HTML lookups SSL and Domain expirations checks Resource usage inspection Real-time user experience observation API and Transaction monitoring
In addition, integration with other services like Zapier, Slack, etc., is always helpful. So, without any ado, let’s start our round-up of some of the best website monitoring tools. Please note this isn’t any ranking list.
StatusCake
Statuscake is a London-based website monitoring service. It makes sure you stay updated on any possible issue well ahead of time. Statuscake keeps tabs on uptime, page speed monitoring, SSL and domain expiration, server resources, etc. And they also save your face with a StatusCake page if your website goes down. Quite generously, they have a free plan with all features (limited) except server monitoring. Paid subscriptions start from USD 20.41 a month.
Sematext Synthetics
Sematext Synthetics is a simple yet reliable synthetic monitoring tool that monitors the availability of your APIs and website uptime from different locations across the world. Sematext synthetics also measures the performance of your site from across a multitude of devices and browsers and identifies issues with third-party resources, including their APIs. Sematext Synthetics can be used to measure over 25 website performance metrics, including Core Web Vitals, page speed and load times, number of requests, and time to first byte. You can try Sematext Synthetics for free for 14 days. Available plans include a pay-as-you-go one that starts at $2/month, a Standard plan for $29/month and a Pro plan which costs $99/month.
Cronitor
Cronitor goes one step ahead and comes up with website & API monitoring. It scans for uptime, SSL expiration, performance, and page content for specific keywords. Cronitor also has a limited-powered free plan. Its paid plans start from USD 2 per month for Website and API monitoring with USD 5 per user. Additionally, you can activate extra monitors like a corn job monitor and a heartbeat monitor with an overhead of 2$ per month per monitor.
Calibre
Calibre is a very comprehensive web-page speed monitoring service. It lets you assign specific roles to your team, set multiple test profiles, check the impact of third-party tools, and much more, all the while keeping your data saved for the lifetime of your account. Besides, it comes with a built-in google lighthouse. And it keeps your data encrypted and gives a 99.9% uptime guarantee for their service availability. Moreover, you can integrate it with Zapier, Geckoboard and receive alerts on email and Slack. Unfortunately, their subscription doesn’t come with any free tier. But they do have a 15-day free trial to get you started. The introductory plan starts from USD 70 a month for three users. And you can add users for USD 15 per person per month for bigger teams.
Dotcom-Monitor
Dotcom-Monitor has a global network to test your website from every corner. This website monitoring service can be a great choice if you get significant clients from a single network channel like a specific browser or device. Interestingly, it gives page-load videos (and screenshots) with synced errors inside the page code. This can help in swiftly identifying the issue and applying remedial measures. In addition, you can match certain network speeds to check how your website behaves in real-time. You can integrate Dotcom-monitor with the likes of Zapier, Asana, etc. This service also lets you schedule monitoring and include/exclude specific groups or devices. This web-page speed monitoring has a 30-day free trial. Afterward, you’ll be paying a minimum of USD 19.95 per month.
Uptrends
Uptrends is also an advanced monitoring service that keeps note of various performance metrics. Its long list of features will keep you notified should anything goes awry. Uptrends monitors your Uptime, users interactions, server performance, transactions, API, etc., depending upon your subscription package. Uptrends has the most complicated pricing model. Each plan comes with a base fee with upgrades carrying separate price tags. And yes, it also has a fully-fledged 30-day free trial subscription. Uptrends has a free website monitoring plan as well, which can be found under the free tools section sitting along with other free services.
Treo
Treo is Google monitoring prowess in disguise. It takes data from Lighthouse, Page Speed Insights, and Chrome UX report and presents you in a handy format. For instance, I ran a live demo on our Geekflare (the website on which you’re reading right now), and here are the results: This report is for all devices. You could have also checked that for mobile, desktop, and tablet separately. And that’s just one report, you can also check the parameters mentioned earlier for a specific month in a particular location. Treo sets you back by at least USD 75 per month if you pay annually. This base plan is for 50 website pages and five seats. Higher tiers increase these limitations along with Single Sign-On, priority support, and custom invoicing. Finally, Treo page-speed monitoring starts with a free 14-day trial.
DebugBear
DebugBear is somewhat similar to Treo in that it relies heavily on Lighthouse, though it has other performance monitoring tools as well. In addition to a full Lighthouse report, it checks for HTML code, debugging logs by website pages, help you track core web vitals, etc. DebubBear can be integrated with GitHub and Vercel. You can also set performance thresholds for alerts that can be sent via email and shared on Slack. This web-performance monitoring comes with a 14-day free trial. Afterward, the introductory tier is valued at USD 59 per month if paid annually.
Pingdom
Pingdom’s website page-speed monitoring automates the inspection of page load time, performance grade, page size, etc. In addition, you can check the effect of different page elements and apply course correction accordingly. This is excellent page-speed monitoring that assists in identifying and rectifying specific issues. Pingdom has worldwide servers to monitor website performance. And like the other services in this list, Pingdom will alert you if anything goes down the hill. They have two subscription plans–Synthetic Monitoring and Real-user Monitoring. Page speed monitoring falls under the former and comes bundled with uptime and transaction monitoring. The base plan is pegged at USD 10 per month paid annually. Although, you can increase the testing parameters to the point that the bill can touch as high as USD 18,300 a month! And let’s not forget, Pingdom has a 30-day free trial for you to make an informed decision.
Conclusion
Website page speed monitoring is a necessary evil for your online business. It tracks your website’s health, speed, uptime, and so much more to keep your business stay alive and ahead. And you don’t even need a credit card to try most of them. Besides, some services come with a free-forever plan. Ultimately, they are definitely recommended for small to big businesses to help you survive and thrive. You may also be interested in tools to monitor your web application.
