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The Best Synthetic Monitoring Tools

Best Synthetic Monitoring Tools

Diego Asturias UPDATED: August 20, 2024

Synthetic monitoring tools allow businesses to simulate user interactions with their website. They help identify and troubleshoot issues before they impact real users. But, with so many options on the market, choosing the best synthetic monitoring tool for your unique needs and resources can be challenging.

We have compiled a list of the ten best synthetic monitoring tools to help you make an informed decision. With this information in hand, you can take proactive steps to maintain your website’s uptime and user experience!

Here is our list of the best synthetic monitoring tools:

  1. Pingdom – FREE TRIAL Provides unique features, including 24/7 monitoring and a global network of monitoring locations for comprehensive testing. Start a 30-day free trial.
  2. Dynatrace Offers a popular Synthetic Monitoring tool that simulates user interactions and proactively identifies performance issues.
  3. Nagios Offers comprehensive web transaction monitoring capabilities that can help improve website performance, availability, and more.
  4. Datadog’s Synthetic monitoring solution identifies performance issues in applications, websites, or APIs from various locations worldwide.
  5. Site 24×7 A cloud-based monitoring platform that helps ensure resource uptime and performance in real-time.
  6. AppDynamics Offers Browsing Synthetic Monitoring to monitor applications, APIs, user experience, and infrastructure.
  7. New Relic Allows users to simulate interactions and detect performance issues before impacting real users.
  8. Zabbix A powerful free and open-source monitoring platform that can monitor networks, infrastructure, services, and more.
  9. Sematext Offers a robust cloud-based full-stack monitoring and analytics platform with a top-notch Synthetic Monitoring Tool.
  10. Uptrends Offers robust synthetic monitoring solutions to monitor the uptime, performance, and accuracy of websites, APIs, and servers from over 230 worldwide locations.

Our methodology for selecting the best synthetic monitoring tools

We've broken down our analysis for you based on these key criteria:

  • Ease of Setup and Use: Ensures that the tool can be quickly deployed and easily managed.
  • Comprehensive Monitoring Capabilities: Covers a wide range of application types and environments.
  • Alerting and Reporting Features: Offers customizable and actionable insights.
  • Scalability: Supports growing infrastructures and varied user demands.
  • Integration with Existing Systems: Seamless operation alongside other tools and platforms.

The Best Synthetic Monitoring Tools

If you’re serious about providing a top-notch online experience for your users, you need to equip yourself with the best synthetic monitoring tools available.

1. Pingdom – FREE TRIAL

Pingdom is a SolarWinds platform for website monitoring with real-time alerts and reporting. It provides complete visibility into uptime, availability, and performance. If you're looking for a reliable synthetic monitoring tool, consider checking out Pingdom— a fantastic service for checking website uptime, page speed, and other performance metrics.

Key Features:

  • Visitor Interaction Simulation: Simulate visitor interaction to ensure website availability, speed, and functionality.
  • Webpage Load Time Monitoring: Identify issues causing slow performance by monitoring webpage load times.
  • Developer-Friendly API: Leverage performance insights from synthetic monitoring within existing systems using Pingdom's developer-friendly API.
  • 24/7 Website Uptime Monitoring: Receive immediate alerts if your website experiences downtime, ensuring continuous availability.
  • Global Network of Monitoring Locations: Test website performance from different locations worldwide, ensuring optimal user experience for global audiences.
  • Customizable Status Pages: Provide real-time status updates to visitors with customizable status pages, enhancing transparency and communication.

Why do we recommend it?

Pingdom, a SolarWinds platform, stands out as an exceptional choice for website monitoring needs, offering real-time alerts and comprehensive reporting capabilities. We recommend Pingdom for its ability to provide complete visibility into uptime, availability, and performance, ensuring optimal website functionality. With its reliable synthetic monitoring features, Pingdom offers invaluable insights into website uptime, page speed, and overall performance, making it an indispensable tool for businesses prioritizing online presence and user experience. Pingdom's unique feature set, including visitor interaction simulation and developer-friendly API, sets it apart from other monitoring tools, providing users with actionable insights to enhance website performance and reliability.

Pingdom's unique feature set is what differentiates it from other synthetic monitoring tools. First and foremost, it offers 24/7 monitoring to ensure your website is always up and running. It also provides a global network of monitoring locations, allowing you to test your website's performance from different locations.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Pingdom to businesses and website owners seeking a dependable solution for website monitoring and performance optimization. It caters to organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, looking to ensure their websites are always available, fast, and functioning correctly. Pingdom is an ideal choice for developers, IT professionals, and digital marketers who require real-time insights into website performance metrics to enhance user experience and maintain brand reputation. Whether you're managing a single website or multiple online properties, Pingdom offers the flexibility and functionality to meet your monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring: Pingdom offers 24/7 monitoring and continuous page speed monitoring, ensuring optimal website performance at all times.
  • Global Monitoring Network: Benefit from a global network of monitoring locations, allowing you to test website performance from various geographical regions.
  • Developer-Friendly API: Integrate Pingdom's performance insights into existing systems seamlessly, enhancing workflow efficiency.
  • Customizable Status Pages: Communicate real-time status updates to visitors effectively, fostering trust and transparency.

Cons:

  • Limited Free Trial Period: The free trial period may be relatively short, limiting the time available for evaluating Pingdom's full capabilities.

Pricing Plans: The price for Pingdom's Synthetic monitoring starts from $10 /month with 10 Uptime, 1 Advanced, and 50 SMS.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Pingdom is our top synthetic monitoring tool because it provides comprehensive and reliable website monitoring, with real-time alerts and detailed reporting. As part of the SolarWinds platform, Pingdom offers exceptional visibility into uptime, availability, and performance, making it a go-to tool for ensuring websites are always running optimally.

We particularly appreciate Pingdom’s ability to simulate visitor interactions, which helps in diagnosing and resolving performance issues before they impact users. Additionally, the global network of monitoring locations ensures that your website is performing well no matter where your audience is located, making it a standout choice for businesses of any size.

Official Site: https://www.pingdom.com/synthetic-monitoring/

OS: Cloud-Based

2. Dynatrace

Dynatrace

Dynatrace is a leading software intelligence company with various products and services. One of their most popular offerings is the Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring tool. This tool is popular among industry experts and customers for its comprehensive capabilities and ease of use.

Key Features:

  • AI-Powered Causation: Employs AI-driven causation-based technology to power its modules, providing advanced insights into system performance.
  • Simplicity in Pricing: Offers straightforward pricing without numerous SKUs and limitations, ensuring businesses have access to the necessary solutions for their use cases.
  • Predictable and Transparent Pricing: Businesses can benefit from predictable scalability and volume discounts, allowing them to grow their operations with confidence.
  • Flexibility: Provides flexibility in monitoring solutions, allowing businesses to utilize a combination of Full-Stack, Infrastructure, and Digital Experience Monitoring as needed.
  • Collaboration: Facilitates effective collaboration with shared dashboards and reports, providing a unified view of system performance for teams.

Why do we recommend it?

Dynatrace stands out as a leading software intelligence company renowned for its innovative products and services. We recommend Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring for its comprehensive capabilities and user-friendly interface, making it a top choice among industry experts and customers alike. Powered by AI-driven causation-based technology, Dynatrace modules provide unparalleled insights into system performance, enabling businesses to proactively identify and address performance issues before they impact users. With Dynatrace, businesses benefit from simplicity in pricing, predictable scalability, and flexibility in monitoring solutions, ensuring they have the necessary tools to optimize their digital properties effectively.

Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring allows businesses to simulate user interactions with their digital properties, including websites, mobile applications, and APIs. It enables them to identify performance issues proactively and gives them ways to optimize their systems to provide the best possible user experience.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring to businesses and organizations seeking advanced monitoring solutions for their digital properties, including websites, mobile applications, and APIs. It caters to a diverse range of industries, from e-commerce to financial services, providing actionable insights to enhance user experience and maximize performance. Dynatrace is ideal for IT professionals, developers, and digital experience teams looking to proactively monitor and optimize system performance to meet the demands of modern digital environments. Whether you're managing a single website or a complex digital ecosystem, Dynatrace offers the flexibility, scalability, and collaboration features to drive continuous improvement and business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Capabilities: Offers comprehensive capabilities for simulating user interactions across digital properties, enabling proactive identification of performance issues.
  • Ease of Use: Renowned for its user-friendly interface, Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring is popular among industry experts and customers alike for its ease of use.
  • AI-driven Insights: Powered by AI-driven technology, Dynatrace modules provide advanced insights into system performance, empowering businesses to optimize user experience effectively.
  • Predictable Scalability: With predictable and transparent pricing, businesses can scale their operations confidently, benefiting from volume discounts as they grow.
  • Flexibility in Monitoring: Offers flexibility in monitoring solutions, allowing businesses to tailor their monitoring approach to suit their specific needs and use cases.

Cons:

  • Initial Learning Curve: Some users may experience an initial learning curve when getting started with Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring due to its advanced capabilities.
  • Cost Consideration: While Dynatrace offers predictable pricing and volume discounts, businesses should consider their budgetary constraints when opting for the platform.
  • Integration Complexity: Integrating Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring into existing systems may require careful planning and execution to ensure seamless integration and minimal disruption.

Pricing Plans: Synthetic Monitoring is covered in Digital experience monitoring. The pricing starts at $11/ month for ten annual units.

Free Trial: Start a 15-day free trial.

3. Nagios Core

Nagios Core

Nagios is one of the industry’s most reliable and trusted names. It has provided enterprise-level IT infrastructure monitoring solutions since 2015 with Nagios XI and open-source and free solutions with Nagios Core. Nagios Core makes monitoring the health of servers, applications, and network devices easy and quick— responding to issues before they become significant problems.

Key Features:

  • Availability Monitoring: Excels in monitoring the availability of web-based applications and services, providing real-time visibility into system health.
  • URL Monitoring: Monitor specific URLs to ensure they are accessible and functioning correctly, enhancing website reliability and user experience.
  • HTTP Status Monitoring: Detects issues with web applications by monitoring HTTP status codes, such as 404 errors or server responses, enabling proactive issue resolution.
  • Content Monitoring: Keep track of web application content to ensure it loads correctly and provides the intended user experience, minimizing disruptions and downtime.
  • Hijack Detection: Alert administrators to unauthorized web applications or website content changes, enhancing security and integrity.
  • Real-Time Performance Visibility: Gain insights into web application performance in real-time, enabling quick detection and response to issues with minimal delays, optimizing user experience and satisfaction.

Why do we recommend it?

Nagios Core stands as one of the industry's most reliable and trusted names in enterprise-level IT infrastructure monitoring. With its extensive experience since 2015, Nagios Core offers both open-source and free solutions, making monitoring the health of servers, applications, and network devices easy and efficient. We recommend Nagios Core for its robust feature set, including monitoring the availability of web-based applications and services, which sets it apart in the industry. With Nagios Core, businesses can proactively respond to issues before they escalate into significant problems, ensuring uninterrupted operations and enhanced reliability.

Regarding synthetic monitoring tools, Nagios offers a comprehensive solution for web transaction monitoring, which includes monitoring websites, web apps, web transactions, and web services. Nagios’ web transaction monitoring capabilities can help increase web form and website availability, improve website performance, and provide valuable capacity planning information for future upgrades.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Nagios Core to businesses and organizations seeking a reliable and comprehensive solution for IT infrastructure monitoring. It caters to a wide range of industries and sectors, providing essential monitoring capabilities for servers, applications, and network devices. Nagios Core is ideal for IT professionals, system administrators, and DevOps teams looking to streamline monitoring processes and ensure the continuous availability of critical systems and services. Whether you're managing a small business or a large enterprise, Nagios Core offers the flexibility and scalability to meet your monitoring needs and support your business objectives effectively.

Pros:

  • Reliable Monitoring Solution: Offers a reliable and trusted solution for IT infrastructure monitoring, ensuring uninterrupted operations and enhanced reliability.
  • Extensive Monitoring Capabilities: With its comprehensive feature set, Nagios Core provides essential monitoring capabilities for servers, applications, and network devices, catering to diverse monitoring needs.
  • Proactive Issue Resolution: Enables proactive issue resolution by identifying and responding to issues before they escalate into significant problems, minimizing downtime and disruptions.
  • Flexible Deployment Options: Offers both open-source and free solutions, providing flexibility in deployment options to suit varying business requirements and budgets.

Cons:

  • Steep Learning Curve: Some users may experience a steep learning curve when initially setting up and configuring Nagios Core due to its advanced features and customization options.
  • Limited User-Friendly Interface: The user interface of Nagios Core may be perceived as less intuitive compared to other monitoring solutions, requiring some familiarity with the platform for efficient navigation and utilization.

Pricing Plans: Nagios Core is open-source, and the product is 100% free with a single license. On the other hand, the price for Nagios XI starts at $1,995 (Standard Edition) and $3,495 (Enterprise Edition).

Free download: You can download the latest and most stable version of Nagios Core from its official site or Sourceforge’s repository.

4. Datadog

Datadog

Datadog is a cloud-based monitoring and analytics software. It provides businesses the tools they need to keep track of their applications, infrastructure, network, synthetic, and logs in one place. It is also worth mentioning that Datadog has been recognized (for consecutive years) as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for APM and Observability.

Key Features:

  • Turn-Key Integrations: Easily aggregate metrics and events across the full DevOps stack with Datadog's turn-key integrations, enhancing visibility and insights.
  • End-to-End User Experience Visibility: Monitor user journeys and detect performance issues with end-to-end user experience visibility, ensuring optimal user satisfaction.
  • High-Resolution Metrics and Events: Gain insights into performance metrics with human-readable tags, facilitating understanding and analysis.
  • Proactive Endpoint Monitoring: Verify responses meet expected criteria with proactive endpoint monitoring using API tests, ensuring system reliability and performance.
  • Validation of System Layers: Validate all system layers from multiple locations worldwide, including HTTP, SSL, DNS, WebSocket, TCP, UDP, ICMP, and gRPC, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage.
  • Step-by-Step Screenshots and Waterfall Visualizations: Monitor critical workflows and end-user viewpoints with step-by-step screenshots and waterfall visualizations, enhancing visibility into system performance and user experience.

Why do we recommend it?

Datadog emerges as a leading cloud-based monitoring and analytics software, offering businesses comprehensive tools to track applications, infrastructure, network, synthetic, and logs seamlessly in one centralized platform. We recommend Datadog for its turn-key integrations, providing easy aggregation of metrics and events across the full DevOps stack, enhancing visibility and insights into system performance. With its end-to-end user experience visibility and proactive endpoint monitoring capabilities, Datadog enables businesses to detect and address performance issues proactively, ensuring optimal user satisfaction and operational efficiency. Additionally, Datadog's recognition as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for APM and Observability for consecutive years underscores its reliability and industry leadership, making it a trusted choice for businesses worldwide.

One of the most popular Datadog monitoring solutions is its Synthetic Monitoring Solution, for many good reasons. First, this solution helps identify performance issues before they impact end users. It accomplished this by simulating user interactions with an application, website, or API from various locations worldwide.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Datadog to businesses and organizations seeking a comprehensive monitoring and analytics solution to manage their applications, infrastructure, and network effectively. It caters to a wide range of industries and sectors, including IT, finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, providing essential tools for DevOps teams, IT professionals, and system administrators. Datadog is ideal for businesses looking to streamline monitoring processes, enhance user experience visibility, and detect and address performance issues proactively. Whether you're managing a small startup or a large enterprise, Datadog offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring Solution: Offers a comprehensive monitoring and analytics solution, providing essential tools for tracking applications, infrastructure, network, synthetic, and logs in one centralized platform.
  • Turn-Key Integrations: Benefit from easy aggregation of metrics and events across the full DevOps stack with Datadog's turn-key integrations, simplifying monitoring workflows and enhancing insights.
  • End-to-End User Experience Visibility: Ensure optimal user satisfaction with end-to-end user experience visibility, enabling proactive detection and resolution of performance issues.
  • Proactive Endpoint Monitoring: Detect and address performance issues proactively with proactive endpoint monitoring using API tests, ensuring system reliability and uptime.

Cons:

  • Complexity for New Users: Some users may find Datadog's extensive feature set and capabilities overwhelming initially, requiring time and effort to familiarize themselves with the platform and optimize its usage.
  • Cost Consideration: While Datadog offers comprehensive monitoring solutions, businesses should consider their budgetary constraints when opting for the platform, as costs may vary based on usage and features utilized.

Pricing Plans: There are three pricing plans, Free ($0 with one-day metric retention and 5 Hosts), Pro ($15 per month /Host), and Enterprise ($23 per month /Host)

Free Trial: Register with Datadog to try their free trial for 14 days.

5. Site 24×7

Site 24x7

Site24x7 is a powerful monitoring platform for websites, servers, end-users, networks, the cloud, and applications. It is fully deployed and based on the cloud, so its monitoring is flexible and scalable. The goal of Site24x7, as the name implies, is to help ongoing monitoring of resources' uptime, reliability, availability, health, and performance in real-time.

Key Features:

  • Web Code Scanning: Detect errors and vulnerabilities in website code with web code scanning, ensuring optimal website security and performance.
  • SSL Certificate Monitoring: Ensure website security and avoid downtime due to certificate issues with SSL certificate monitoring, providing continuous monitoring and alerts.
  • DNS Monitoring: Ensure website availability via DNS and resolve problems quickly with DNS monitoring, minimizing downtime and disruptions.
  • Domain Expiry Monitoring: Avoid unexpected downtime due to expired domain registration with domain expiry monitoring, ensuring uninterrupted website operations.
  • Website Defacement Monitor: Detect unauthorized changes to website code with website defacement monitoring, enhancing security and integrity.
  • Customizable Alerts and Notifications: Get notified of any issues promptly with customizable alerts and notifications via email, SMS, or push notifications options, enabling quick response and resolution.

Why do we recommend it?

Site24x7 emerges as a powerful monitoring platform for websites, servers, networks, and applications, offering comprehensive monitoring capabilities to ensure uptime, reliability, availability, health, and performance in real-time. We recommend Site24x7 for its cloud-based deployment, providing flexibility and scalability in monitoring solutions, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes and industries. With Site24x7, businesses can benefit from ongoing monitoring of resources, enabling proactive detection and resolution of issues before they impact operations. The platform's leading Synthetic Monitoring tool and service further enhance its value, allowing businesses to monitor websites and web applications from around the world, ensuring optimal performance and user experience.

Site24x7 provides a leading Synthetic Monitoring tool and service. It monitors websites and web applications and tests them from around the world. Site 24×7 tracks website uptime, response time, and transaction performance. One of the highlights of Site 24×7 is its extensive network. They provide about 110 data centers distributed across the globe and offer both Ping-based tests and browser-based synthetics.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Site24x7 to businesses and organizations seeking a powerful and scalable monitoring platform for their websites, servers, networks, and applications. It caters to a diverse range of industries and sectors, providing essential monitoring capabilities for IT professionals, system administrators, and DevOps teams. Site24x7 is ideal for businesses looking to ensure uptime, reliability, and performance across their digital infrastructure, regardless of scale or complexity. Whether you're managing a single website or a complex network of applications, Site24x7 offers the flexibility, scalability, and reliability to meet your monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring Platform: Offers a comprehensive monitoring platform for websites, servers, networks, and applications, providing essential tools for ensuring uptime, reliability, and performance.
  • Cloud-Based Deployment: Benefit from flexible and scalable monitoring solutions with Site24x7's cloud-based deployment, enabling seamless monitoring of resources from anywhere, anytime.
  • Leading Synthetic Monitoring Tool: Allows businesses to monitor websites and web applications globally, ensuring optimal performance and user experience.
  • Extensive Network Coverage: With about 110 data centers distributed globally, Site24x7 offers extensive network coverage for Ping-based tests and browser-based synthetics, providing comprehensive monitoring capabilities.
  • Customizable Alerts: Customize alerts and notifications to suit your specific requirements, ensuring prompt notification of any issues and enabling quick response and resolution.

Cons:

  • Learning Curve: Some users may experience a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring Site24x7 due to its extensive feature set and customization options.
  • Cost Consideration: While Site24x7 offers scalable pricing plans, businesses should consider their budgetary constraints when opting for the platform, as costs may vary based on usage and features utilized.

Pricing: Site24x7 pricing plans for the all-in-one edition (with Synthetics Monitoring) are Pro ($35/month), Classic ($89/month), Elite ($225/month), and Enterprise ($449/month).

Free trial: Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Site 24×7.

6. AppDynamics

AppDynamics

AppDynamics (by Cisco) is a leading application performance monitoring and management APM solution. It is designed for businesses of any size and industry wanting full-stack monitoring and observability.

Key Features:

  • Insights into User Behaviors: Gain insights into user behavior by simulating complete user journeys, enhancing understanding and optimization of user experience.
  • User Experience Monitoring: Understand synthetic and real user performance across customers' browsers, ensuring optimal user satisfaction and engagement.
  • API Monitoring: Proactively monitor API availability and performance across the entire application stack, ensuring seamless integration and operation of critical services.
  • Error Code Pinpointing: Pinpoint erroneous code by using synthetic jobs that trigger correlated back-end snapshots, enabling quick identification and resolution of code-related issues.
  • Global Site Observability: Leverage globally distributed sites to observe locations critical to your business, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage and insights into performance across diverse geographical regions.

Why do we recommend it?

AppDynamics, a leading application performance monitoring and management solution by Cisco, stands out for its comprehensive full-stack monitoring and observability capabilities, making it suitable for businesses of any size and industry. We recommend AppDynamics for its ability to provide valuable insights into user behaviors, synthetic and real user performance, and API availability across the entire application stack. With AppDynamics, businesses can gain proactive monitoring capabilities, pinpoint erroneous code, and leverage globally distributed sites to observe locations critical to their operations, ensuring optimal performance and user experience.

AppDynamics is one of the leading names in synthetic monitoring, with their Browsing Synthetic Monitoring. It provides the right tools for proactively monitoring applications, APIs, user experience, and infrastructure. AppDynamics uses synthetic agents to keep track of business transactions and performance across essential services, ranging from the browser to APIs and the back end.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend AppDynamics to businesses and organizations seeking a robust application performance monitoring and management solution to ensure the reliability and performance of their applications across the entire stack. It caters to businesses of any size and industry, providing essential monitoring capabilities for IT professionals, developers, and DevOps teams. AppDynamics is ideal for businesses looking to gain valuable insights into user behavior, user experience, and API performance, enabling proactive monitoring and optimization of critical services. Whether you're managing a small startup or a large enterprise, AppDynamics offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your application monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring Solution: Offers a comprehensive solution for application performance monitoring and management, providing essential tools for full-stack monitoring and observability.
  • User Behavior Insights: Gain valuable insights into user behaviors, synthetic and real user performance, and API availability, enabling proactive optimization of user experience and application performance.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Enables proactive monitoring of applications, APIs, and infrastructure, ensuring issues are identified and addressed before they impact operations.
  • Global Site Observability: Leverage globally distributed sites to observe locations critical to your business, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage and insights into performance across diverse geographical regions.

Cons:

  • Complexity for New Users: Some users may experience a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring AppDynamics due to its extensive feature set and customization options.
  • Cost Consideration: While AppDynamics offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities, businesses should consider their budgetary constraints when opting for the platform, as costs may vary based on usage and features utilized.

Pricing Plans: Enterprise edition (including End User Monitoring – Synthetic Monitoring and Real User Monitoring) costs $11/ month for ten annual units.

Free trial: Start a 15-day SaaS-based free trial now!

7. New Relic

New Relic

New Relic is a leading software analytics company with powerful full-stack monitoring tools. Aside from their robust application monitoring, they also cover infrastructure, Kubernetes, log management, network, browser, mobile, synthetics, and serverless monitoring. The company's flagship product, New Relic One, is an all-in-one platform for observability that provides users with a comprehensive view of their entire software environment.

Key Features:

  • Traffic Simulation: Proactively identify issues by simulating traffic from multiple public and private locations, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage.
  • Alerting for Underperforming URLs and APIs: Receive alerts for underperforming URLs, APIs, and services, enabling quick identification and resolution of performance issues.
  • Detection of Issues from Public Cloud Outages: Detect issues arising from public cloud outages, slow third-party resources, or backend services and infrastructure, ensuring seamless operation and user experience.
  • Enhanced End-User Experience Metrics: Track metrics like first content paint and long-running tasks to enhance the end-user experience, optimizing performance and satisfaction.
  • Synthetic Testing for Error Detection: Use synthetic tests to find and eliminate errors and issues before production, minimizing downtime and disruptions.
  • Benchmarking and Page Speed Measurement: Measure page speed vs. competitors, isolate slow third-party resources, and fine-tune live pages for optimal performance and user experience.
  • Next-Gen Browser Synthetic Tests: Utilize next-gen runtime on browsers to perform synthetic tests with fast speeds, ensuring accurate and efficient monitoring of applications.

Why do we recommend it?

New Relic stands as a leading software analytics company, offering powerful full-stack monitoring tools for businesses seeking comprehensive observability of their software environment. We recommend New Relic for its robust suite of monitoring solutions covering application, infrastructure, Kubernetes, log management, network, browser, mobile, synthetics, and serverless monitoring. With New Relic One, the company's flagship product, users gain access to an all-in-one platform for observability, providing a comprehensive view of their entire software environment. New Relic's proactive approach to monitoring enables users to simulate traffic from multiple locations, receive alerts for underperforming URLs and APIs, and detect issues arising from public cloud outages, slow third-party resources, or backend services and infrastructure.

Regarding synthetic monitoring, New Relic's product won't fall short. Their tool enables users to simulate user interactions with their applications and proactively detect issues before they affect real users.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend New Relic to businesses and organizations seeking powerful and comprehensive monitoring solutions for their software environment, regardless of size or industry. It caters to a diverse range of industries and sectors, providing essential tools for IT professionals, developers, and DevOps teams. New Relic is ideal for businesses looking to enhance their observability capabilities across the entire stack, including applications, infrastructure, and network, enabling proactive detection and resolution of issues before they impact operations. Whether you're managing a small startup or a large enterprise, New Relic offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring Solutions: Offers a comprehensive suite of monitoring solutions covering applications, infrastructure, Kubernetes, log management, network, browser, mobile, synthetics, and serverless monitoring.
  • Proactive Monitoring Approach: Enables proactive detection and resolution of issues by simulating traffic, alerting for underperforming URLs and APIs, and detecting issues from public cloud outages and slow third-party resources.
  • Enhanced End-User Experience Metrics: Track metrics to enhance the end-user experience, ensuring optimal performance and satisfaction.
  • Synthetic Testing for Error Detection: Use synthetic tests to find and eliminate errors and issues before production, minimizing downtime and disruptions.
  • Next-Gen Browser Synthetic Tests: Utilize next-gen runtime on browsers to perform synthetic tests with fast speeds, ensuring accurate and efficient monitoring of applications.

Cons:

  • Learning Curve: Some users may experience a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring New Relic due to its extensive feature set and customization options.
  • Cost Consideration: While New Relic offers comprehensive monitoring solutions, businesses should consider their budgetary constraints when opting for the platform, as costs may vary based on usage and features utilized.

Pricing Plans: New Relic is based on three plans: Standard ($0 /month with 100 GB data ingested), Pro, and Enterprise. For Pro and Enterprise pricing, contact New Relic to get a quote.

Free Download: Sign up to start the free New Relic Standard edition today.

8. Zabbix

Zabbix

Zabbix is a powerful open-source and enterprise-level monitoring platform capable of monitoring the full stack. It can monitor networks, infrastructure, servers, services, apps, and the cloud. Being enterprise-ready, Zabbix can scale to any infrastructure— from small home setups to large multi-tenant enterprise environments.

Key Features:

  • Smart Alerts for Anomalies: Get automatic notifications for unusual events or trends in data, enabling proactive detection and resolution of issues.
  • Native Support for IoT Monitoring: Benefit from built-in support for tracking and analyzing IoT device-generated data, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage.
  • Load Balancing for UI and API: Ensure optimal performance by balancing user interface and API loads, enhancing user experience and responsiveness.
  • Usability Improvements: Improve user experience and ease of use with various usability improvements, making it easier to navigate and utilize the platform effectively.
  • Seamless Integrations: Integrate with external alerting systems and ITSM systems, enabling seamless collaboration and workflow automation.
  • Testing Environments: Test applications and services in a controlled environment before they impact real users, minimizing downtime and disruptions.

Why do we recommend it?

Zabbix emerges as a powerful open-source and enterprise-level monitoring platform, capable of monitoring the full stack, from networks and infrastructure to servers, services, apps, and the cloud. We recommend Zabbix for its scalability and versatility, making it suitable for environments of any size, from small home setups to large multi-tenant enterprise environments. With Zabbix, users benefit from smart alerts for anomalies, native support for IoT monitoring, load balancing for UI and API, various usability improvements, and seamless integrations with external alerting systems and ITSM systems. Zabbix's enterprise readiness and comprehensive feature set make it a reliable choice for businesses seeking robust monitoring capabilities across their entire infrastructure.

Zabbix has also earned an excellent reputation as one of the best synthetic monitoring tools. Their solution makes it ideal for testing the performance and reliability of critical applications and services before they go live. It can collect data from complex scenarios and perform availability checks. It can keep track of the cloud, microservices, apps, and devices with HTTP endpoints.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Zabbix to businesses and organizations seeking a powerful and versatile monitoring platform capable of monitoring their entire stack, including networks, infrastructure, servers, services, apps, and the cloud. It caters to a diverse range of industries and sectors, providing essential monitoring capabilities for IT professionals, system administrators, and DevOps teams. Zabbix is ideal for businesses looking to scale their monitoring capabilities to meet the demands of their infrastructure, from small-scale setups to large-scale enterprise environments. Whether you're managing a small home network or a complex multi-tenant infrastructure, Zabbix offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your monitoring needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Scalable and Versatile Monitoring Platform: Offers scalability and versatility, making it suitable for environments of any size, from small home setups to large multi-tenant enterprise environments.
  • Comprehensive Feature Set: Benefit from a comprehensive feature set, including smart alerts, IoT monitoring, load balancing, usability improvements, and seamless integrations, ensuring robust monitoring capabilities across the entire stack.
  • Enterprise Readiness: Offers the reliability and scalability required to meet the demands of complex infrastructure environments.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Enables proactive detection and resolution of issues with smart alerts for anomalies, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.
  • Testing Environments: Test applications and services in a controlled environment, minimizing risks and ensuring smooth deployments.

Cons:

  • Steep Learning Curve: Some users may experience a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring Zabbix due to its extensive feature set and configuration options.
  • Resource Intensive: May require significant resources, particularly in large-scale deployments, which may impact performance and scalability if not properly configured and optimized.

Pricing Plans: Zabbix synthetic monitoring tool is free to download and use. However, if you use it in a commercial context, buying some level of commercial support is recommended to help in the Zabbix development.

Download Zabbix: Download Zabbix. It is free and open-source.

9. Sematext

Sematext

Sematext is a cloud-based full-stack monitoring and analytics platform. It can be used by businesses of any industry and size to stay on top of their application’s performance, user experience, and infrastructure health.

Sematext is a well-known provider with a top-notch Synthetic Monitoring Tool. Their solution is designed to provide fast and consistent websites and API to your visitors or end-users. It offers synthetic monitoring and testing tools to track the availability and accessibility of your APIs, websites, and web transactions. Additionally, Sematext’s synthetic monitoring can check SSL certificates and Certificate Authority.

Key Features:

  • HTTP, API, and Browser Monitor: Track website, API, and application availability from designated checkpoints worldwide, ensuring optimal performance and accessibility.
  • Website Performance Monitoring: Receive alerts when your website is unavailable or a transaction is slow or failing, enabling quick identification and resolution of performance issues.
  • SSL/TLS Certificate Validation: Check the validity of SSL/TLS certificates to ensure website reliability and accessibility, minimizing security risks and ensuring compliance.
  • End-to-End Visibility: Monitor application performance metrics, logs, site uptime, APIs, and frontend user experience all in one place, enabling comprehensive monitoring and analysis.
  • Notification Alerts: Receive notifications on your preferred channel (email, Slack, WebHooks, etc.) for performance issues, ensuring timely response and resolution.
  • Certificate Authority Checks: Perform Certificate Authority (CA) checks to ensure the authenticity of certificates, enhancing website security and trustworthiness.
  • Core Web Vitals Monitoring: Monitor Core Web Vitals to provide an optimal user experience, ensuring fast and responsive websites and applications.

Why do we recommend it?

Sematext emerges as a cloud-based full-stack monitoring and analytics platform, offering businesses of any industry and size the tools they need to stay on top of their application's performance, user experience, and infrastructure health. We recommend Sematext for its comprehensive suite of monitoring solutions, including its top-notch Synthetic Monitoring Tool. Designed to provide fast and consistent websites and APIs to visitors or end-users, Sematext's synthetic monitoring and testing tools enable businesses to track the availability and accessibility of their APIs, websites, and web transactions effectively. With Sematext, businesses can ensure website reliability and accessibility through SSL/TLS certificate validation, monitor application performance metrics, logs, site uptime, APIs, and frontend user experience all in one place, and receive timely notifications for performance issues, ensuring seamless operations and optimal user experience.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Sematext to businesses and organizations of any industry and size seeking a comprehensive monitoring and analytics platform to optimize their application's performance, user experience, and infrastructure health. It caters to a diverse range of industries and sectors, providing essential monitoring capabilities for IT professionals, developers, and DevOps teams. Sematext is ideal for businesses looking to ensure fast and consistent websites and APIs to visitors or end-users, track the availability and accessibility of their APIs, websites, and web transactions effectively, and monitor application performance metrics, logs, site uptime, APIs, and frontend user experience all in one place. Whether you're managing a small startup or a large enterprise, Sematext offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your monitoring and analytics needs and drive business success.

Pros:

  • Comprehensive Monitoring Solutions: Offers a comprehensive suite of monitoring solutions, including synthetic monitoring, website performance monitoring, SSL/TLS certificate validation, end-to-end visibility, notification alerts, and Core Web Vitals monitoring.
  • Top-Notch Synthetic Monitoring Tool: Provides fast and consistent websites and APIs to visitors or end-users, enabling businesses to track availability and accessibility effectively.
  • End-to-End Visibility: Monitor application performance metrics, logs, site uptime, APIs, and frontend user experience all in one place, ensuring comprehensive monitoring and analysis.
  • Notification Alerts: Receive timely notifications for performance issues, enabling quick identification and resolution, and ensuring seamless operations and optimal user experience.
  • Certificate Authority Checks: Perform Certificate Authority (CA) checks to ensure the authenticity of certificates, enhancing website security and trustworthiness.

Cons:

  • Learning Curve: Some users may experience a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring Sematext due to its extensive feature set and customization options.

Pricing Plans: Sematext provides three different pricing plans: Pay-As-You-Go ($2/HTTP monitor or $7/Browser monitor), Standard ($29/month for 40 HTTP monitors and 5 Browser monitors), and Pro ($99/month for 100 HTTP monitors and 15 Browser monitors).

Free Trial: Register to try the standard free trial for 14 days.

10. Uptrends

Uptrends

Uptrends is a leading provider of synthetic monitoring solutions. They provide powerful tools for monitoring the uptime, performance, and accuracy of your websites, APIs, web applications, and servers. The goal of Uptrends is to ensure a seamless digital experience for end-users. With Uptrends, businesses can proactively identify and resolve issues before they impact these end-users.

Uptrends allow you to test multi-step API calls, verify the functionality of your websites using real browsers, and check them from more than 230 different worldwide locations. With Uptrends, you can ensure that your web properties are always accessible and performing optimally.

Key Features:

  • Website Monitoring: Monitor website availability and uptime from a global network of checkpoints, ensuring continuous accessibility and reliability.
  • Web Performance Monitoring: Gain insights into website load time, speed, and page size to optimize the user experience and enhance performance.
  • Web Application Monitoring: Monitor the performance and availability of web applications, APIs, and microservices, ensuring optimal functionality and responsiveness.
  • API Monitoring: Ensure smooth and fast API performance and receive alerts when issues arise, enabling timely resolution and optimization.
  • External Server Monitoring: Monitor servers and services outside your infrastructure, such as DNS, FTP, and email, ensuring comprehensive monitoring coverage.

Why do we recommend it?

Uptrends stands out as a leading provider of synthetic monitoring solutions, offering powerful tools for monitoring the uptime, performance, and accuracy of websites, APIs, web applications, and servers. We recommend Uptrends for its commitment to ensuring a seamless digital experience for end-users by proactively identifying and resolving issues before they impact them. With Uptrends, businesses can leverage a comprehensive suite of monitoring tools to monitor website availability, web performance, web application performance, API performance, and external server monitoring effectively. By utilizing Uptrends, businesses can optimize their digital presence and enhance user satisfaction.

Who is it recommended for?

We recommend Uptrends to businesses and organizations seeking robust synthetic monitoring solutions to monitor the uptime, performance, and accuracy of their digital properties. It caters to businesses of all sizes and industries, providing essential monitoring capabilities for IT professionals, developers, and DevOps teams. Uptrends is ideal for businesses looking to ensure a seamless digital experience for end-users by proactively identifying and resolving issues across their websites, APIs, web applications, and servers. Whether you're managing a small business website or a complex web infrastructure, Uptrends offers the scalability, flexibility, and reliability to meet your synthetic monitoring needs and drive digital success.

Pricing Plans: Uptrends come in five different plans: Starter ($17.50 /month), Premium ($50.27/month), Professional ($245.09 /month), Business (From $24.42/month), and Enterprise (From $58.36/month).

Free Trial: Register to get a fully-functional free Uptrends trial for 30 days.

Final Words

If you are a website and application owner, you wouldn't want something wrong with your website or app without knowing about it, right?

Synthetic monitoring tools help catch problems early and fix them quickly and easily. They ensure the performance, availability, and reliability of websites, applications, APIs, and digital services.

With the wide range of options available in the market, choosing the right tool can be a daunting task. We created this post to help you find the right one for your needs. We went through the ten best Synthetic monitoring tools. Our preferred choices are Pingdom, Dynatrace, Datadog, AppDynamics, Site24x7, and Sematext — they are pretty comprehensive when it comes to synthetic monitoring.

Which one is your favorite?