Nova Uptime and Checkly solve monitoring from opposite ends. Checkly is a developer-first platform where you define checks in code, run Playwright browser tests, and store your monitoring configuration in version control. Nova Uptime is a UI-first tool where you add a domain and get monitoring, email health analysis, and content change detection without writing a single line of code. This comparison breaks down where each approach wins, what each lacks, and which fits your situation.

Quick Verdict#

Nova Uptime is the better choice for website owners, agencies, and SMBs that need affordable uptime monitoring, email deliverability analysis, and content change detection through a simple interface. Checkly is the better choice for developers, QA engineers, and DevOps teams that want Monitoring as Code, Playwright-powered browser checks, and API monitoring with programmatic assertions across 22 global locations.

TL;DR: Nova Uptime costs 82-86% less than Checkly for basic uptime monitoring, includes email health and content change monitoring that Checkly lacks entirely, and requires zero code. Checkly wins on synthetic monitoring depth — Playwright browser checks, API monitoring with assertions, Monitoring as Code in version control, and 22 check locations. Different audiences, different strengths.

At a Glance#

Feature	Nova Uptime	Checkly
Uptime monitoring	Yes	Yes (Playwright + API checks)
SSL expiry alerts	Yes	Yes
Domain expiry tracking	Yes	No
Email health (MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC)	Yes — full analysis + grade	No
Blacklist checking (60+ lists)	Yes	No
CLI Tool	`npm i -g novauptime` (all plans, including Free)	CLI available (Monitoring as Code)
Bulk Import	Up to 100 domains at once	Not available
Activity Log / Audit Trail	Full audit trail with diffs	Not available
Incident Codes	Unique INC-XXXXXX per incident	Not available
Ongoing "Still Down" Alerts	Hourly reminders until recovery	Not available
Notification Pause	Mute alerts during maintenance (monitoring continues)	Maintenance windows available
Domain Folders / Tags	Color-coded tags + filtering	Not available
Content change monitoring	Yes — text diffs, line-level	No
Playwright browser checks	No	Yes
API monitoring with assertions	No	Yes
Monitoring as Code (CLI/Terraform)	No	Yes
Multi-location checks	No	Yes (22 locations)
OpenTelemetry integration	No	Yes
Status pages	No	Yes
Failure screenshots	Yes (down + recovery)	Yes (Playwright captures)
WhatsApp alerts	Yes	No
Slack / Teams / PagerDuty	No	Yes
Webhooks	Yes — HMAC signed	Yes
Email alerts	Yes	Yes
Embeddable status widget	Yes	No (full status pages instead)
API access	Yes (all plans, including Free)	Yes
Team members	Yes (Agency: 20)	Yes
One-time annual payment	Yes	No (subscription)
Check interval (fastest)	59 seconds	10 seconds (API), 1 minute (browser)

Pricing Comparison#

Nova Uptime#

Free: $0/year — 5 domains, 5 URLs, 5 email health checks, 15-minute intervals
Pro: $99/year — 100 domains, 100 URLs, 5-minute intervals, screenshots, WhatsApp alerts, API access
Agency: $699/year — 1,000 domains, 1,000 URLs, 59-second intervals, 20 team members, all features

One-time annual payments. No subscription. No auto-renewal.

Checkly#

Hobby (Free): $0/month — 10 API checks, 5 browser checks, limited browser check runs
Team: $30/month ($360/year) — 20 API checks, 10 browser checks, more runs, 3 team seats
Enterprise: Custom pricing — unlimited checks, SSO, SLA, dedicated support

Checkly's pricing scales with the number of checks and browser check runs consumed. Heavy Playwright usage increases costs.

Cost at 100 Monitors#

	Nova Uptime Pro	Checkly Team
Annual cost	$99	$360+ (scales with usage)
Email health checks	Included	Not available
Content change monitoring	Included (full diffs)	Not available
Playwright browser checks	Not available	Included
API monitoring with assertions	Not available	Included
Status pages	Not available	Included

At the 100-monitor mark, Nova Uptime Pro costs significantly less while including email health and content change monitoring that Checkly does not offer at any tier.

Where Nova Uptime Wins#

1. Pricing and Billing Model#

Nova Uptime Pro at $99/year versus Checkly Team at $360+/year is a substantial difference for teams that need straightforward uptime monitoring. Nova Uptime also uses one-time annual payments with no auto-renewal — you renew because the tool works, not because you forgot to cancel. Checkly uses recurring subscriptions with usage-based scaling.

2. Email Health Monitoring#

Checkly does not check email deliverability. Nova Uptime analyses every domain's MX records, SPF policy, DKIM selectors (scanning 50+ common selectors), DMARC policy, and IP reputation against 60+ real-time blacklists. Each domain gets a letter grade and a scored breakdown showing exactly what is losing points and how to fix it. For agencies managing client websites, this eliminates an entire class of "emails going to spam" support tickets.

3. Content Change Monitoring#

Checkly monitors whether endpoints return expected responses, but it does not track page content changes over time. Nova Uptime monitors full text content via SHA-256 hashing, stores line-level diffs showing exactly what was added and removed, and alerts on unexpected changes. This matters for detecting unauthorized modifications, tracking competitor pages, or verifying deployment outcomes.

4. SSL and Domain Expiry Tracking#

Nova Uptime tracks both SSL certificate expiry and domain registration expiry with RDAP/WHOIS lookups. Checkly handles SSL through its browser checks but does not monitor domain registration dates. Forgotten domain renewals have taken down production sites — this is a gap worth noting.

5. Ease of Use#

Nova Uptime requires zero code. Add a domain, configure your alert channels, and monitoring starts. Checkly is designed for developers who are comfortable writing Playwright scripts, using a CLI, and managing check configurations in code. For non-technical website owners or agencies with mixed technical ability, the learning curve difference is significant.

Where Checkly Wins#

1. Synthetic Monitoring with Playwright#

This is Checkly's core differentiator. You write real Playwright browser tests — login flows, checkout processes, multi-step user journeys — and Checkly runs them on a schedule from 22 global locations. If your checkout flow breaks at 3am, Checkly catches it before your customers do. Nova Uptime checks HTTP responses and content hashes. It does not execute browser-based user flow tests.

2. Monitoring as Code#

Checkly lets you define all your checks, alert channels, and maintenance windows in code (JavaScript/TypeScript), store them in version control, and deploy via CLI or Terraform. Your monitoring configuration lives alongside your application code, reviewed in PRs, versioned, and repeatable. Nova Uptime is configured through its web UI. For DevOps teams that want infrastructure-as-code consistency, Monitoring as Code is a genuine workflow advantage.

3. API Monitoring with Assertions#

Checkly's API checks go beyond simple HTTP status code verification. You can write assertions against response bodies, headers, and timing — verifying that your API returns the correct data structure, not just a 200 status. Nova Uptime monitors HTTP endpoints but does not support programmatic response validation.

4. Free Tier Generosity#

Checkly's free tier includes 10 API checks and 5 browser checks with actual Playwright execution. Nova Uptime's free tier offers 5 domains with basic monitoring. For developers evaluating tools or running personal projects, Checkly's free offering provides more synthetic monitoring capability out of the box.

Our Take: Checkly built an excellent product for developers who want to treat monitoring like code — Playwright browser tests, API assertions, version-controlled configurations, and 22 global check locations. Nova Uptime built a sharper tool for a different audience: website owners, agencies, and SMBs that need reliable uptime monitoring, email health analysis, and content change detection without a code-first workflow. The overlap between these tools is smaller than it appears. If you write Playwright tests and want Monitoring as Code, Checkly is hard to beat. If you manage websites and want monitoring that covers uptime, email deliverability, and content integrity in one affordable package, Nova Uptime delivers more value per dollar.

Who Should Choose Which#

Choose Nova Uptime if:#

You manage websites for clients and need uptime + email health monitoring in one tool
Email deliverability matters to your business and you want automated analysis
You want simple, UI-based setup with no code required
You prefer one-time annual payments over recurring subscriptions
Content change detection with full diffs is valuable for your use case

Choose Checkly if:#

You are a developer or DevOps engineer who wants Monitoring as Code in version control
You need Playwright browser checks for complex user flow testing (login, checkout, multi-step)
API monitoring with programmatic assertions matters for your backend services
Multi-location checks from 22 regions are important for your global application
You want native Slack, PagerDuty, and OpsGenie integrations

Consider both if:#

You need Checkly for synthetic browser monitoring of critical user flows AND Nova Uptime for email health analysis and content change detection on your portfolio of sites

Bottom Line#

Nova Uptime and Checkly are built for different people solving different problems. Checkly gives developers code-level control over synthetic monitoring. Nova Uptime gives website owners and agencies comprehensive site health monitoring — uptime, email deliverability, SSL, domain expiry, and content changes — at a fraction of the cost and without writing code. The right choice depends on whether you need a developer testing tool or a website monitoring tool. For many teams, the answer is clear the moment they ask the question.

Nova Uptime vs Checkly: Full Comparison & Best Alternative