Checkly Monitor vs Grafana OnCall: Which is Better in 2026?
Choosing between Checkly Monitor and Grafana OnCall comes down to understanding what each tool does best. This comparison breaks down the key differences so you can make an informed decision based on your specific needs, not marketing claims.
Bottom line: Grafana OnCall is our overall pick for incident management workflows. Pick Checkly Monitor if you need monitoring.
Short on time? Here's the quick answer
We've tested both tools. Here's who should pick what:
Checkly Monitor
Unify testing, monitoring, and observability with an AI-native workflow for application reliability.
Best for you if:
- • You need monitoring features specifically
- • Unifies testing, monitoring, and observability with a code-based approach.
- • Proactively detects issues with uptime and synthetic monitoring using Playwright.
Grafana OnCall
On-call management for Grafana
Best for you if:
- • You need incident management features specifically
- • Grafana OnCall is an open-source on-call management and alerting system
- • It routes alerts, manages schedules, and escalates incidents integrated with Grafana
| At a Glance |  Checkly Monitor |  Grafana OnCall |
|---|---|---|
Starts at | $0 per month/moHobby | $20/user/monthPro |
Best For | Monitoring | Incident Management |
Rating | - | - |
Choose Checkly Monitor or Grafana OnCall?
Choose Checkly Monitor if
Unify testing, monitoring, and observability with an AI-native workflow for application reliability.
- Reduces observability costs by consolidating tools.
- Accelerates developer velocity by shifting reliability left.
- Improves incident response time with contextual alerts and automated communication.
- Your work is monitoring-shaped, not incident management-shaped
Choose Grafana OnCall if
On-call management for Grafana
- Open source on-call
- Grafana integration
- Good alerting
- Your work is incident management-shaped, not monitoring-shaped
| Feature | Checkly Monitor | Grafana OnCall |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Freemium |
| User Rating | ★4.5/5 34 reviews | ★4.5/5 222 reviews |
| Categories | MonitoringTesting & QA | Incident ManagementDevOps |
In-Depth Analysis
Checkly Monitor
Unify testing, monitoring, and observability with an AI-native workflow for application reliability.
Strengths
- +Reduces observability costs by consolidating tools.
- +Accelerates developer velocity by shifting reliability left.
- +Improves incident response time with contextual alerts and automated communication.
- +Offers flexible and scalable monitoring through a code-based approach.
- +Provides deep insights with full-stack traces and AI-powered analysis.
Weaknesses
- -Requires coding knowledge for advanced monitoring as code features.
- -Reliance on Playwright might be a learning curve for teams unfamiliar with it.
Key features
Grafana OnCall
On-call management for Grafana
Strengths
- +Open source on-call
- +Grafana integration
- +Good alerting
- +Self-hostable
- +PagerDuty alternative
Weaknesses
- -Newer product
- -Less features than PagerDuty
- -Documentation improving
- -Setup complexity
- -Enterprise features limited
Key features
Pricing: Checkly Monitor vs Grafana OnCall
| Plan | Checkly Monitor | Grafana OnCall |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | $0 per month Hobby | Free Free |
| Tier 2 | $24 per month Starter | $20 /user/month Pro |
| Tier 3 | $64 per month Team | from $25K/year Enterprise |
| Tier 4 | Custom Enterprise | N/A |
Pricing verified from each vendor's public pricing page. Compare in detail on Checkly Monitor pricing and Grafana OnCall pricing.
Who Should Use What?
On a budget?
Both are freemium. Compare plans on their websites.
Go with: Checkly Monitor
Want the highest-rated option?
Neither has user reviews yet.
Go with: Checkly Monitor
Value user reviews?
Neither has user reviews yet.
Go with: Grafana OnCall
3 Questions to Help You Decide
What's your budget?
Both are freemium. Pricing won't help you decide here.
What's your use case?
Checkly Monitor is a monitoring tool. Grafana OnCall is in incident management. Pick the category that matches your needs.
How important are ratings?
Neither has user reviews yet.
Key Takeaways
Grafana OnCall
- Larger review base (222 reviews)
- Free tier available
- Our pick for this comparison
Checkly Monitor
- Better fit for monitoring
The Bottom Line
Grafana OnCall is our pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Checkly Monitor or Grafana OnCall better?
Grafana OnCall is rated in our evaluation. Both are freemium.
What are Checkly Monitor and Grafana OnCall used for?
Checkly Monitor: Unify testing, monitoring, and observability with an AI-native workflow for application reliability.. Grafana OnCall: On-call management for Grafana.
What does Checkly Monitor cost vs Grafana OnCall?
Checkly Monitor is freemium (free tier + paid plans). Grafana OnCall is freemium (free tier + paid plans). Visit their websites for detailed pricing.