Can I vibecode Checkly?

KINDA · weekend project
price $24/moyou'd save $288/yrbuild time multi-daycategory 📟 monitoringreplaced by 0 people

The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Checkly, run scheduled API and browser checks from one independent worker. The hard boundary is global browser fleet, playwright operations, alerting, ci integration, and support, plus independent infrastructure and reliable alerting.

the prompt
Build a personal replacement for Checkly in an empty repository.
Use Go, PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, a Next.js 15 dashboard, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: run scheduled API and browser checks from one independent worker, receive bounded error or log events, alert through one channel, and publish an honest status page.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Implement HTTP, TCP, DNS, TLS-expiry, and heartbeat checks with explicit timeout and retry policies.
Run checks from one independently hosted worker and store raw results plus incident state transitions.
Send deduplicated alerts to email or one webhook destination with recovery notifications.
Create services, maintenance windows, incidents, subscribers, and a public status page.
Add bounded event ingestion for application errors with sampling and sensitive-field scrubbing.
Provide health checks, retention settings, exports, backups, and a test-alert function.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Deliberately leave out a worldwide probe network.
Deliberately leave out phone, SMS, and managed on-call escalation.
Deliberately leave out unbounded logs, enterprise observability, and vendor-operated incident response.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used.

$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter) or copy it raw · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR

why people still pay

People still pay for Checkly because monitoring must continue working during the exact outage it reports, which makes independent infrastructure and alert delivery the real product. The recurring cost buys probe geography, clocks, retries, deduplication, sampling, storage, paging, notification delivery, on-call rules, and its own uptime, not just the visible interface.

what you lose

xglobal browser fleet, Playwright operations, alerting, CI integration, and support

xglobal probe network

xphone and SMS delivery

xmassive retention

xadvanced incident response and support

share on X ↗"I just replaced Checkly ($24/mo) with one prompt"
the escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These folks already made it free.

OneUptimeScheduled Playwright and API checks, plus an incident system you did not ask for.7.4kaug 2026open source

no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real

the numbers

Checkly pricing

planmonthlyannual (per mo)what you get
hobby$0/workspace$0/workspace1 user; 10 uptime monitors; 2-minute minimum interval; 1,000 browser/Playwright runs; 10,000 API runs; 7-day raw retention
starter$24/workspace3 users; 50 uptime monitors; 1-minute interval; 3,000 browser runs; 25,000 API runs; 100 SMS alerts; 7-day raw retention
team$64/workspace10 users; 75 uptime monitors; 30-second interval; 12,000 browser runs; 100,000 API runs; 200 SMS + 200 phone alerts; 30-day raw retention
enterprisecustomCustom users and monitor volumes; 1-second scheduling available; 180-day raw and 25-month aggregate retention

free tier1 user; 10 uptime monitors; 1,000 browser/Playwright runs/month; 10,000 API runs/month; 6 public locations; 0 SMS and 0 phone alerts; 7-day raw and 30-day aggregate retention

billingmonthly + annual (up to 20% off); paid plans are prepaid and overages are invoiced in the next cycle

hidden costsStarter/Team charge $8 per extra block of 25 uptime monitors; browser overages are $6.50/$6.25 per 1,000 and API overages $2.60/$2.50 per 10,000; every parallel location and retry counts, and each 30 seconds of a Playwright suite consumes 1 run

verified 2026-08-14 · source ↗

questions
Can I vibecode Checkly?

Kinda. The core of Checkly is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: global browser fleet, Playwright operations, alerting, CI integration, and support, global probe network. Read the honest list above before committing.

How much does Checkly cost?

Checkly costs about $24/month (Starter, checked 2026-08-14), which is $288 per year.

What do I lose by replacing Checkly?

Honestly: global browser fleet, Playwright operations, alerting, CI integration, and support; global probe network; phone and SMS delivery; massive retention; advanced incident response and support. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Checkly?

Yes: OneUptime (Scheduled Playwright and API checks, plus an incident system you did not ask for.) The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.

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