PingRobot / Compare / Healthchecks.io
PingRobot vs Healthchecks.io
Healthchecks.io is an excellent, focused cron job monitor. PingRobot gives you the same kind of heartbeat monitors and puts them next to website, API, DNS, TCP port, SSL certificate and domain monitoring, so one account and one $9 plan cover the jobs and the sites they keep running.
Healthchecks.io plans and prices were checked on 16 October 2026 on healthchecks.io/pricing and healthchecks.io. Prices are in US dollars before tax. Plans change, so check their page before you decide.
Free plans
| PingRobot Free | Healthchecks.io Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|
| Website, API (JSON rules), keyword, DNS and TCP port monitors | Yes | No (cron job monitoring only) |
| SSL certificate and domain expiry reminders | Yes | No |
| Status pages | 1, on yourname.pingrobot.io, with announcements and status, uptime and SLA badges | Public status badges |
| Heartbeat (cron job) monitors | Up to 10, sharing the plan's 10 monitors | 20 jobs |
| Schedule | Interval plus grace period | Period plus grace, or a cron expression |
| History | 30 days | 100 log entries per job |
| Alert channels | Email, signed webhooks | 25+ integrations, including Slack, Discord, Telegram, Teams and webhooks |
If all you watch is cron jobs, Healthchecks.io's free plan holds more of them. If the backup job belongs to a website you also need to keep up, PingRobot's Free plan watches both, plus the site's certificate and domain.
Cheapest paid plans
| PingRobot Pro | Healthchecks.io Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9/month, or $90/year ($7.50/month) | $20/month, or $192/year ($16/month) |
| What you can monitor | 50 monitors of any type: websites, APIs, DNS records, TCP ports, cron jobs | 100 cron jobs |
| Website checks | Every minute | — |
| Alert channels | Email, signed webhooks, Slack, Discord, ntfy push | 25+ integrations, plus 50 SMS/WhatsApp and 20 phone-call credits a month |
| Status pages | 5, on your own domain, with email subscribers | Status badges |
| History | 1 year | 1,000 log entries per job |
Healthchecks.io also has a $5 Supporter plan with the same limits as Hobbyist, and Business Plus at $80 a month ($768 a year) for 1,000 jobs.
Where PingRobot is ahead
- One tool for jobs and sites: heartbeats next to HTTP(S), API (JSON rules), keyword, DNS and TCP port monitors, with alerts from one place.
- SSL certificate and domain expiry reminders, including alerts for a host name mismatch, a missing intermediate or an issuer change.
- Status pages with SLA targets, an SLA badge, a monthly SLA email and incident and maintenance announcements, and on Pro your own domain and email subscribers.
- A lower first paid step: $9 a month instead of $20.
- Signed webhooks with an HMAC signature (webhook docs), and maintenance windows that silence alerts during planned work.
- Room to grow: Business is $29 a month ($290 a year) for 250 monitors checked every 30 seconds, 100 status pages, 2 years of history and 10 team members as admins or viewers, which also covers cron jobs.
- Automation on every plan: a REST API with an OpenAPI 3.1 document, and a remote MCP server so Claude, Cursor or VS Code can tell you what is down and add monitors for you.
Where Healthchecks.io is ahead
- Deeper cron features: cron expression schedules, a ping log per job and 20 free jobs.
- Many more alert integrations, with SMS, WhatsApp and phone calls on Business plans, and team access with roles per project.
- Open source (BSD 3-Clause) with a self-hosting guide, and the Business plan free for open-source projects and nonprofits.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Healthchecks.io if you only monitor scheduled jobs, have many of them, want cron-expression schedules or need Telegram, PagerDuty or phone-call alerts.
Choose PingRobot if your cron jobs sit next to websites and APIs you also need to watch, and you want heartbeats, uptime, DNS, certificates and domains in one account for free, or $9 a month for 50 monitors. Read how heartbeat monitoring works.
Start monitoring free — 10 monitors, no credit card.
Frequently asked questions
Is PingRobot a Healthchecks.io alternative for cron jobs?
Yes. PingRobot heartbeat monitors work the same way — the job calls a unique URL when it finishes, and you get an alert when the call doesn't arrive within the interval plus a grace period. PingRobot also checks websites, APIs (with JSON rules on the response), DNS records, TCP ports, SSL certificates and domains in the same account.
How do the prices compare?
Healthchecks.io is free for 20 jobs (Hobbyist), $20 a month for 100 jobs (Business, or $192 a year) and $80 a month for 1,000 jobs (Business Plus). PingRobot is free for 10 monitors and $9 a month or $90 a year for 50 monitors of any type.
What does Healthchecks.io have that PingRobot doesn't?
Cron expression schedules, more free jobs (20), a ping log per job, more than 25 integrations including Telegram, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Signal and WhatsApp, SMS and phone-call credits on Business plans, team access with roles, and an open-source version you can host yourself.
Does Healthchecks.io check websites?
Healthchecks.io describes itself as cron job monitoring: it waits for your jobs to ping it. To watch a website, an API or a certificate you need a second tool, or a service like PingRobot that does both.