Pulse
How Pulse Compares
The only monitoring platform that tests from real residential connections. See how we stack up against every alternative.
Feature Comparison
A detailed breakdown of Pulse vs the most popular monitoring tools.
| Feature |
Pulse
| Pingdom | UptimeRobot | Datadog | Better Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Probe Locations | 2,000+ residential | ~120 data centres | ~30 data centres | ~70 data centres | ~30 data centres |
| Residential IPs | | | | | |
| Check Frequency | 30s | 1 min | 30s (paid) | 1 min | 30s (paid) |
| HTTP/HTTPS Checks | | | | | |
| DNS Monitoring | | | | | |
| SSL Monitoring | | | | | |
| Multi-step API | | | | | |
| Page Speed | | | | | |
| Status Pages | Free shared, $2/mo custom | $29/mo extra | $7/mo extra | | Included |
| Starting Price | $0 (150k runs/mo free) | $15/mo | $0 (5 min) | $5/check/mo | $0 (5 monitors) |
| Usage-based Pricing | | | | | |
| Multi-location Confirmation | | | | | |
| Slack Integration | | | | | |
| PagerDuty Integration | | | | | |
What makes Pulse different
It's not just more locations. It's a fundamentally different approach to monitoring.
Residential vs data centre
Every competitor runs probes from data centres — the same networks that CDNs, cloud providers, and infrastructure companies use. Pulse runs from real homes on real ISPs. If your users can't reach your site but AWS can, only Pulse will catch it.
See what your users see
Data centre probes benefit from direct peering, cloud allowlists, and optimised routing. Your users don't. Pulse tests from the same residential resolvers, ISP routes, and network conditions your actual visitors experience.
2,000+ locations, not 30
Competitors offer 30–120 probe locations in major cities. Pulse has 2,000+ locations in cities, suburbs, and rural areas worldwide — because Edge Hosts are community-contributed machines on real broadband connections.
Pay per run, not per monitor
No plans and no per-monitor fees. Every account gets 150,000 standard check runs free each month; beyond that, usage is deducted hourly from the same prepaid balance as Edge compute. Tune checks, frequency, and locations freely.
Detailed Comparisons
How Pulse stacks up against each competitor, head to head.
Pulse vs Pingdom
One of the original uptime monitoring services, now owned by SolarWinds.
Pingdom Pros
- Well-established brand
- Good feature set
- Reliable infrastructure
Pingdom Cons
- Data centre probes only
- Status pages cost $29/mo extra
- Starting at $15/mo
- Owned by SolarWinds (enterprise pricing)
Edge Advantage
Pulse offers 16x more probe locations on residential networks, a free shared status page, and 150,000 free check runs every month — no plan required.
Pulse vs UptimeRobot
Popular for its generous free tier and simplicity.
UptimeRobot Pros
- Free tier (50 monitors)
- Simple interface
- Affordable paid plans
UptimeRobot Cons
- Only ~30 probe locations
- No DNS or SSL monitoring on free
- No multi-step API checks
- No page speed monitoring
Edge Advantage
Pulse provides residential probes, DNS/SSL/API/Page Speed monitoring, and status pages — all from 2,000+ locations.
Pulse vs Datadog Synthetic
Enterprise-grade synthetic monitoring as part of the Datadog observability platform.
Datadog Synthetic Pros
- Deep APM integration
- Browser testing
- Comprehensive dashboards
Datadog Synthetic Cons
- $5 per API test/month
- $12 per browser test/month
- Complex pricing
- Data centre probes only
Edge Advantage
With per-run pricing, Pulse works out around 70x cheaper than Datadog synthetics at scale — and uniquely offers residential probe locations no enterprise tool can match.
Pulse vs Better Uptime
Modern uptime monitoring with a focus on incident management.
Better Uptime Pros
- Clean interface
- Incident management built in
- Free status pages
Better Uptime Cons
- Only ~30 data centre probes
- Limited check types
- No API workflow monitoring
- No page speed monitoring
Edge Advantage
Pulse offers 60x more probe locations, all on residential networks, with full DNS, SSL, API, and page speed monitoring.
Why choose Pulse?
The numbers speak for themselves.
2,000+
Residential probe locations
150,000
Free check runs every month
Free
Shared status page on every account