Top 40 Commercial Alternatives to Checkly

Introduction and Context

Checkly emerged as synthetic monitoring and end-to-end (E2E) testing converged into “checks as code.” Built around modern browser automation (notably Playwright), Checkly lets teams codify API and browser checks, schedule them globally, and plug the results into CI/CD pipelines. It rose in popularity by combining headless browser checks, API validations, and developer-friendly workflows in one place—bridging ops and QA needs for production monitoring and pre-production testing.

Why did Checkly get traction? It aligned with the shift to:

• Code-first test authoring (e.g., Playwright/JavaScript).

• Synthetic monitoring that reflects real user journeys.

• Seamless CI/CD integrations and alerting.

• A developer-centric approach to reliability engineering.

Still, organizations often look beyond a single platform because their needs can include deeper mobile coverage, visual regression testing, enterprise desktop automation, heavy-load performance testing, DAST security scanning, or large device clouds. The following sections explore when and why teams seek alternatives—and the top 40 commercial options to consider.

Overview: Top 40 Checkly Alternatives Covered

Here are the top 40 alternatives to Checkly we’ll cover:

• Applitools Eyes

• Applitools for Mobile

• Automation Anywhere

• BitBar

• BlazeMeter

• Blue Prism

• BrowserStack Automate

• Burp Suite (Enterprise)

• Cypress Cloud

• Datadog Synthetic Tests

• Eggplant Test

• Functionize

• Happo

• IBM Rational Functional Tester

• Kobiton

• LambdaTest

• LoadRunner

• Mabl

• Micro Focus Silk Test

• Microsoft Playwright Testing

• NeoLoad

• New Relic Synthetics

• Percy

• Perfecto

• Pingdom

• RPA Tools (UiPath)

• Ranorex

• ReadyAPI

• Repeato

• Sahi Pro

• Sauce Labs

• Squish

• TestCafe Studio

• TestComplete

• Testim

• Tricentis Tosca

• UFT One (formerly QTP)

• Virtuoso

• Waldo

• testRigor

Why Look for Checkly Alternatives?

• Broader platform coverage: Need native mobile, desktop, SAP/legacy apps, or embedded UI support beyond web and APIs.

• Visual quality gates: Require AI-powered visual diffs, component-level snapshot testing, or pixel-accurate baselines in CI.

• Performance and security: Need dedicated load testing at scale or automated DAST scanning not covered by synthetics.

• Device clouds and real-world conditions: Want massive browser/device grids with geolocation, network shaping, and real devices.

• Different authoring styles: Prefer no-code/low-code, model-based, or natural-language test authoring for faster adoption.

• Cost and scalability: Need different pricing, capacity planning, or data residency for large fleets and enterprise governance.

• Specialized workflows: RPA-driven UI automation, SAP-heavy environments, or protocol-level testing that synthetics do not address directly.

Detailed Breakdown of Alternatives

Applitools Eyes

• What it is: AI-driven visual testing for web, mobile, and desktop with Ultrafast Grid for parallel cross-browser snapshots.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Applitools for Mobile

• What it is: Visual AI testing for iOS and Android, part of the Applitools platform.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Automation Anywhere

• What it is: RPA platform for Windows with overlap into test automation.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

BitBar

• What it is: Cloud device/browser grid (SmartBear) for mobile and web, including real devices.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

BlazeMeter

• What it is: SaaS platform for performance/load testing across web, APIs, and protocols with popular tool compatibility.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Blue Prism

• What it is: Enterprise RPA for Windows, used to automate repeatable UI workflows.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

BrowserStack Automate

• What it is: Large cloud for web and real mobile devices supporting multiple automation frameworks.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Burp Suite (Enterprise)

• What it is: DAST security scanning for web and APIs via the Enterprise edition.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Cypress Cloud

• What it is: SaaS runner, parallelization, insights, and flake detection for Cypress tests.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Datadog Synthetic Tests

• What it is: Browser and API synthetics embedded in the Datadog observability platform.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Eggplant Test

• What it is: Model-based test automation with computer vision for desktop, web, and mobile.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Functionize

• What it is: AI-assisted E2E testing for web and mobile with ML-powered selectors.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Happo

• What it is: Visual regression testing for web components with CI snapshots.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

IBM Rational Functional Tester

• What it is: Enterprise UI automation for desktop and web.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Kobiton

• What it is: Real-device mobile testing cloud with automation support.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

LambdaTest

• What it is: Cross-browser and mobile testing cloud supporting popular frameworks.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

LoadRunner

• What it is: Enterprise performance/load testing for web, APIs, and many protocols.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Mabl

• What it is: Low-code, AI-augmented E2E testing for web and APIs.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Micro Focus Silk Test

• What it is: Legacy enterprise UI automation for desktop and web.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Microsoft Playwright Testing

• What it is: Managed cloud service to run Playwright tests at scale.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

NeoLoad

• What it is: Enterprise load and performance testing for web, APIs, and protocols.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

New Relic Synthetics

• What it is: Scripted browser and API checks integrated into the New Relic observability suite.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Percy

• What it is: Visual testing for web; snapshot diffs integrated into CI.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Perfecto

• What it is: Enterprise device/browser cloud for mobile and web testing.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Pingdom

• What it is: Web and API synthetics focused on uptime and simple transactions.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

RPA Tools (UiPath)

• What it is: RPA for Windows/macOS, often used for regression UI automation.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Ranorex

• What it is: Codeless/scripted E2E testing for desktop, web, and mobile with an object repository.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

ReadyAPI

• What it is: API testing for SOAP/REST/GraphQL with advanced features.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Repeato

• What it is: Codeless, computer-vision-based UI testing for iOS and Android.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Sahi Pro

• What it is: E2E UI automation for web and desktop, tuned for complex enterprise apps.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Sauce Labs

• What it is: Cloud for web and mobile testing with real devices, emulators, and rich analytics.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Squish

• What it is: GUI E2E automation for Qt/QML, desktop, embedded, and web.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

TestCafe Studio

• What it is: Codeless IDE variant of TestCafe for web E2E automation.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

TestComplete

• What it is: Codeless/scripted E2E testing for desktop, web, and mobile by SmartBear.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Testim

• What it is: AI-assisted web E2E testing with self-healing locators (SmartBear).

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Tricentis Tosca

• What it is: Model-based test automation for web, mobile, desktop, and SAP.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

UFT One (formerly QTP)

• What it is: Enterprise GUI automation for desktop and web by OpenText.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Virtuoso

• What it is: AI-assisted E2E for web and mobile with vision/NLP-driven authoring.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Waldo

• What it is: No-code mobile UI testing for iOS and Android with cloud execution.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

testRigor

• What it is: Natural-language E2E testing for web and mobile.

• Core strengths:

• How it compares to Checkly:

Things to Consider Before Choosing a Checkly Alternative

• Scope and platforms: Do you need web-only, or also mobile, desktop, SAP, or embedded?

• Authoring style: Code-first (Playwright/Selenium), low-code, model-based, or natural-language?

• Execution model: SaaS runner, self-hosted, or hybrid? Need global locations and real devices?

• Speed and stability: Parallelization, test flakiness controls, self-healing, and retry strategies.

• CI/CD integration: Native support for your pipeline, containerization, and artifact management.

• Debugging and insights: Logs, videos, snapshots, network traces, and root-cause analysis.

• Observability: Do you need APM/infra correlation with synthetics?

• Performance/security needs: Load testing, DAST scanning, or protocol-level coverage.

• Data and compliance: Data residency, SSO/SAML, RBAC, audit trails, and governance.

• Cost and scale: Pricing for concurrency, seats, test minutes, and long-term TCO.

Conclusion

Checkly helped popularize “checks as code” by pairing Playwright-powered browser checks with API synthetics and CI-friendly workflows. It remains a strong option for many teams. However, if you need mobile device clouds, AI-driven visual baselines, enterprise desktop coverage, heavy-load performance testing, or automated security scanning, one of the 40 commercial alternatives above may be a better fit.

• Choose visual testing tools (e.g., Applitools, Percy, Happo) when UI appearance is a primary quality gate.

• Pick device clouds (e.g., BrowserStack Automate, Sauce Labs, Perfecto, LambdaTest, Kobiton) for broad browser and real-device coverage.

• Opt for performance suites (e.g., BlazeMeter, LoadRunner, NeoLoad) when you need to validate scale and resiliency under load.

• Adopt AI/low-code platforms (e.g., Mabl, Testim, Functionize, Virtuoso, testRigor) to speed authoring and minimize maintenance.

• Use RPA and desktop-centric tools (e.g., UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UFT One, Ranorex, Silk Test, Squish, Tosca) for non-web workflows and packaged apps.

• Consider observability-integrated synthetics (e.g., Datadog Synthetic Tests, New Relic Synthetics) if you want monitoring and testing in a single pane of glass.

Ultimately, the best alternative depends on your stack, team skills, compliance needs, and release velocity. Map your requirements to the strengths above, run a small proof of concept, and validate both the day-1 setup and day-90 maintenance experience before you commit.