What is Pingdom?
Pingdom is a veteran uptime monitoring service that has been tracking website availability since 2007. While it pioneered basic HTTP monitoring and alerting, it was built for an era of simpler web applications and has been through an acquisition (by SolarWinds).
What is OnlineOrNot?
OnlineOrNot helps software teams monitor their websites, APIs, and scheduled jobs with 30-second checks from multiple global locations.
Every check runs from multiple regions before alerting—eliminating false positives. When something actually breaks, you get notified instantly via Slack, SMS, PagerDuty, or email.
Status pages are included on all paid plans. And when you need help, you email the founder directly.
Pingdom often presents three critical challenges that hold engineering teams back:
1. Expensive per-monitor pricing
Pingdom's pricing model charges per monitor, which quickly adds up as your infrastructure grows. Teams often find themselves choosing between comprehensive monitoring and budget constraints.
2. Slow check intervals
Pingdom's standard checks run every 60 seconds at minimum. In today's fast-paced environment, a full minute of downtime before detection can mean significant user impact and revenue loss.
3. Missing modern features
Pingdom lacks cron job monitoring, and its status pages and team collaboration features come at premium tiers. You end up paying enterprise prices for features that should be standard.
Compare Pingdom vs OnlineOrNot
| Feature | Pingdom | OnlineOrNot |
|---|---|---|
| Check frequency | 60 seconds minimum | 30 seconds on all plans |
| Pricing model | Per-monitor pricing | $2/check/month, usage-based |
| False-alarm prevention | Basic retry | Multi-location verification |
| Cron job monitoring | ||
| Status pages | Expensive add-on | Included on all paid plans |
| Team collaboration | Enterprise tier | All plans |
| SSL certificate monitoring | Basic | Advanced with expiry tracking |
| Custom HTTP headers | ||
| Support | Tiered support | Direct founder access |
How OnlineOrNot improves reliability
Faster detection without the noise
30-second checks catch issues before users notice. Multi-location verification filters out false positives. You get speed without alert fatigue.
Everything in one place
Monitor websites, APIs, cron jobs, and heartbeats from one dashboard. Track SSL certificate expiry on every check. No need to stitch together multiple tools.
Status pages included
Keep customers informed with hosted status pages on your domain. Subscribers get automatic notifications when incidents are created or resolved. Included on all paid plans—not an upsell.
Unlimited team members, real support
Add your whole team on any plan. When you need help, email the founder directly—no ticket queues, no tiered support, responses within hours.
The migration process
1. Sign up free
Create your account with a 14-day trial. No credit card required.
2. Add your critical monitors
Start with your most important endpoints—core URLs, key APIs, any cron jobs that can't fail silently.
3. Run in parallel
Run OnlineOrNot alongside your current tool for 1-2 weeks. Compare alert quality and response times.
4. Migrate fully
Move all monitors over. We offer white-glove migration support—email the founder directly.
5. Cancel the old tool
Turn off your previous monitoring. You'll likely save money while getting faster, more reliable alerts.
Need to pitch OnlineOrNot to your bosses?
Here are the key points to help you get stakeholder buy-in:
"We'll catch issues before customers report them"
30-second checks detect outages 10x faster than 5-minute intervals. Multi-location verification means we only get real alerts.
"We're going to save money"
Transparent per-check pricing. No surprise overages. Status pages included, not an add-on.
"We get everything in one tool"
Uptime, API monitoring, cron jobs, heartbeats, and status pages. One subscription, one dashboard.
"We can actually get support"
Direct access to the founder. No tickets, no tiers, no waiting days for answers.