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Comparison

ZeusQA vs Checkly: described tests against synthetic monitoring

Synthetic monitoring by the minute, against tests you describe and rerun at most hourly.

The short answer

Checkly is synthetic monitoring: you write Playwright checks, Checkly runs them on a schedule from global locations and alerts you when they break. ZeusQA runs a test you describe, on demand, on a pull request, or on a schedule of at most once an hour on Pro and Team, and alerts by email only. If you want a check every minute in production with paging, use Checkly. If you want a flow nobody has scripted checked before release or once a day, use ZeusQA.

Side by side

Checkly: Synthetic monitoring that runs your Playwright checks on a schedule from global locations. Every cell below traces to a source at the foot of this page, and the rows where ZeusQA is worse are not softened.

DimensionZeusQACheckly
What it isTests you describe, run on demand, per pull request or on a schedule: a model drives a real browser and reportsSynthetic monitoring and uptime: your Playwright checks run on a schedule from global locations, with alerting and status pages
How a check is writtenA paragraph of EnglishPlaywright scripts in TypeScript or JavaScript, versioned in your repo. Monitoring as code, with a CLI, Terraform and Pulumi.
PriceFree for 3 runs. Pro $39/mo for 300 runs. Team $149/mo for 1,500.Modular. Monitoring: Hobby $0, Starter $24/mo, Team $64/mo, Enterprise not public. Status pages and AI root-cause are priced separately.
Billing unitA runA check run, metered in 30-second units, so a 45-second suite consumes two
Free tier3 runs, lifetimeHobby: 1,000 browser check runs a month, 10 uptime monitors, 1 user, 2-minute minimum frequency, hard-capped
SchedulingPro (10 schedules) and Team (50): hourly, daily, on weekdays or weekly, in your time zone, from one location. Free has none.The entire point — down to 30-second frequency, from many locations
AlertingRun alerts by email only: after every run, or when a schedule starts failing or passes again. Slack and Discord carry vulnerability advisories only. No SMS or phone.Email, Slack and webhooks on every plan; SMS and phone on paid
BrowsersChromium onlyAlso effectively Chromium only — the docs list Chromium and Chrome
Who writes the checkThe model, from your promptYou, in Playwright
Findings beyond the assertionConsole errors, page errors, failed or 4xx/5xx requests and passive security checks on every run, with severitiesScreenshots, video, logs and Playwright traces on failure, plus AI root-cause analysis over them
Visual regressionYes, on the higher tiers
CIA run on each pull request through the GitHub App. No CLI. An MCP server lets Claude Code or Cursor start tests and read findings with an organization API token.Yes, plus a public MCP server for agents
DeterministicYes — it is your own Playwright code

Competitor details checked 2026-09-17.

When to pick Checkly instead

These are real recommendations. If one of them describes you, Checkly is the better tool and you should use it.

  • You want a check every few minutes from several regions, and an alert that wakes someone up by phone, SMS or Slack. ZeusQA's fastest schedule is hourly and it only sends email.
  • You already write Playwright and want those same tests monitoring production.
  • You want monitoring defined in your repo alongside the app.
  • You need a public status page or uptime SLAs.

When ZeusQA is the better fit

  • The flow has no script yet, and writing one is the bottleneck.
  • You want a judgement about what the screen actually showed, not a green tick from an assertion.
  • You are testing before release, not watching production.
  • You want a described flow rerun every day, with an email when it starts failing, and no script to keep alive.

Using both

The natural stack is worth saying out loud: ZeusQA to explore a flow and find out what matters, Playwright to encode the one check that must never break, Checkly to run that check forever.

What we could not confirm

Rather than quote a number we could not source, here is what we left out and why.

  • Checkly's annual discount. The pricing page shows a monthly/annual toggle with a 'save up to 20%' banner but renders the same figures under both, so we do not quote an annual price.
  • Which plan includes AI root-cause analysis. Checkly's product page and pricing table disagree, so we state no plan restriction for it.

Questions

Can ZeusQA monitor my site?

Loosely. Pro and Team can rerun a test hourly, daily, on weekdays or weekly and email you when it starts failing. That is a scheduled QA run, not uptime monitoring: no minute-level checks, no regions, no status page.

Does ZeusQA replace Checkly?

No. For production monitoring at minute-level frequency, with paging and status pages, use Checkly. ZeusQA schedules suit an hourly or daily look at a flow nobody has scripted.

Can I use both?

That is the usual answer. ZeusQA before release, Checkly in production.

Sources

Checked 2026-09-17. If something here has gone out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Try it on your own site

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