Comparison
ZeusQA vs Checkly: on-demand runs against scheduled monitoring
Scheduled synthetic monitoring, against a one-off run you describe. Different jobs.
Checkly is synthetic monitoring: you write Playwright checks, Checkly runs them on a schedule from global locations and alerts you when they break. ZeusQA has no scheduler and no alerting. If you want a check every minute in production, use Checkly. If you want a one-off look at a flow nobody has scripted, 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.
| ZeusQA | Checkly | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | On-demand runs: describe a test, a model drives a real browser once and reports | Synthetic monitoring and uptime: your Playwright checks run on a schedule from global locations, with alerting and status pages |
| How a check is written | A paragraph of English | Playwright scripts in TypeScript or JavaScript, versioned in your repo. Monitoring as code, with a CLI, Terraform and Pulumi. |
| Price | Free for 5 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 unit | A run | A check run, metered in 30-second units, so a 45-second suite consumes two |
| Free tier | 5 runs, lifetime | Hobby: 1,000 browser check runs a month, 10 uptime monitors, 1 user, 2-minute minimum frequency, hard-capped |
| Scheduling | None. There is no scheduler in the product. | The entire point — down to 30-second frequency, from many locations |
| Alerting | Email, Slack and webhooks on every plan; SMS and phone on paid | |
| Browsers | Chromium only | Also effectively Chromium only — the docs list Chromium and Chrome |
| Who writes the check | The model, from your prompt | You, in Playwright |
| Findings beyond the assertion | Console errors, page errors and failed or 4xx/5xx requests on every run, with severities | Screenshots, video, logs and Playwright traces on failure, plus AI root-cause analysis over them |
| Visual regression | Yes, on the higher tiers | |
| CI | Yes, plus a public MCP server for agents | |
| Deterministic | Yes — it is your own Playwright code |
Competitor details checked 2026-09-17.
A cost shape worth checking yourself
Checkly bills per check run, which compounds with frequency and location count in a way a monthly quota does not. One browser check at 30-second frequency from three regions is on the order of 259,000 billable runs a month. That arithmetic is ours, from Checkly's published rates — work it out against your own plan before committing.
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 the check to run without you, on a schedule, and to wake someone up when it fails. ZeusQA cannot do this at all.
- 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.
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?
- No. There is no scheduler and no alerting. A run is something a person starts.
- Will ZeusQA add scheduling?
- It is not in the product today, and we are not going to imply a date.
- 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
Paste a URL, describe the flow in plain English, and watch a real browser do it. Five runs free, no card.