Cron Monitoring Pricing Compared: Every Tool Ranked by Cost

Choosing a cron monitoring tool often comes down to one question: what will this actually cost me? The answer isn't always straightforward. Pricing models vary wildly across the industry, from simple per-monitor charges to complex hybrid models that combine user seats, monitor counts, and feature tiers. This guide breaks down the pricing of every major cron monitoring tool so you can make an informed decision without surprise bills.

Table of Contents

1. Pricing Models Explained
2. Complete Pricing Comparison Table
3. Free Tier Comparison
4. Best Value by Team Size
5. Hidden Costs to Watch For
6. Price-to-Feature Value Analysis
7. Our Pricing Philosophy

Pricing Models Explained

Before diving into specific prices, it helps to understand the different pricing structures you'll encounter.

Per-Monitor Pricing

The simplest model: you pay based on how many cron jobs you monitor. For a deep dive into how this compares to user-based pricing, see our guide on per-monitor vs per-seat pricing.

How it works:

• Base price includes X monitors
• Additional monitors cost $Y each
• Usually no user limits

Examples: Cronly ($1/monitor), WebGazer (per-monitor tiers)

Pros:

• Easy to predict costs
• Scales linearly with usage
• Fair for small teams with many jobs

Cons:

• Can get expensive at scale
• May discourage monitoring everything you should

Per-Seat/User Pricing

You pay based on how many team members need access.

How it works:

• Base price includes X users
• Additional users cost $Y/month each
• Monitor limits vary by tier

Examples: Cronitor ($5/user), Better Stack ($29/responder)

Pros:

• Predictable if team size is stable
• Often includes more features

Cons:

• Gets expensive as teams grow
• May limit who gets dashboard access
• Punishes collaboration

Flat Tier Pricing

Fixed price for a bundle of features and limits.

How it works:

• Choose a tier (Starter, Pro, Business)
• Each tier has set limits for monitors, users, retention
• Upgrade to next tier when you hit limits

Examples: UptimeRobot, Healthchecks.io

Pros:

• Very predictable monthly cost
• Simple to understand
• Often generous limits at each tier

Cons:

• May pay for capacity you don't use
• Can feel like a cliff when you hit tier limits

Usage-Based Pricing

Pay based on actual consumption (pings, API calls, data).

How it works:

• Base fee plus usage charges
• Metered by events, requests, or data volume
• Bill varies month to month

Examples: AppSignal (host-based), some enterprise tools

Pros:

• Pay only for what you use
• Can be economical for light usage

Cons:

• Unpredictable bills
• Hard to budget accurately
• Can discourage proper monitoring coverage

Hybrid Models

The most complex: combinations of the above.

How it works:

• Base price for X monitors AND Y users
• Overage charges for both
• Feature-gating by tier

Examples: Cronitor (monitors + users + features)

Pros:

• Flexibility for different use cases

Cons:

• Hard to calculate true cost
• Easy to underestimate spend
• Comparison shopping is difficult

Complete Pricing Comparison Table

Here's what you'll actually pay for the major cron monitoring tools as of 2026.

Quick Comparison

Detailed Breakdown by Tool

Cronitor

• Free: 5 monitors, 1 user
• Starter: $20/mo for 10 monitors + 1 user
• Pro: $49/mo for 25 monitors + 3 users
• Enterprise: $120+/mo
• Add-on: $5/user/month for additional users
• Note: Per-user fees can add up quickly for teams

Healthchecks.io

• Free: 20 monitors, 3 team members
• Hobbyist: $20/mo for 100 monitors
• Business: $80/mo for 1,000 monitors
• Enterprise: $320/mo for 10,000 monitors
• Note: Best value for high monitor counts, open-source option available

UptimeRobot

• Free: 50 monitors (uptime only, no heartbeat/cron)
• Solo: $7/mo for 50 monitors with heartbeat
• Pro: $29/mo for 100 monitors
• Enterprise: $54/mo for 200 monitors
• Note: Heartbeat (cron) monitoring requires paid plan

Better Stack (formerly Logtail/Better Uptime)

• Free: 10 heartbeat monitors
• Freelancer: $29/mo base + $29/responder
• Small Team: $85/mo + responders
• Business: Custom pricing
• Note: Responder licenses add up for on-call teams

Dead Man's Snitch

• Free: 1 snitch (monitor)
• Basic: $5/mo for 5 snitches
• Standard: $19/mo for 25 snitches
• Premium: $49/mo for 100 snitches
• Note: Simple and focused, no extras

Cron Crew

• Free: 15 monitors, unlimited users
• Starter: $15/mo for 50 monitors
• Pro: $29/mo for 150 monitors
• Business: Custom pricing
• Note: No per-user fees, all integrations included

Free Tier Comparison

If you're looking to start without spending, here's how free tiers stack up. For a comprehensive look at no-cost options, check out our guide to free cron monitoring tools. If you're weighing whether to stay free or upgrade, our free vs paid cron monitoring comparison can help.

Ranked by Generosity

What Free Tiers Actually Include

Full-featured free tiers (best for evaluation):

• Healthchecks.io: All features, just lower limits
• Cron Crew: All features, just lower limits

Limited free tiers (good for side projects):

• Cronitor: Basic features, strict user limit
• Better Stack: Basic heartbeats, limited integrations

Free-ish tiers (read the fine print):

• UptimeRobot: 50 monitors but heartbeat requires paid
• WebGazer: High count but limited functionality

Hidden Free Tier Limitations

Things that might not be obvious from the marketing page:

• API rate limits: Free tiers often throttle API access
• No integrations: Slack, PagerDuty may be paid-only
• Support: "Community support" means forum posts, not email
• Branding: Status pages may show the tool's branding
• Data export: May not be able to export your data
• Single user: Team access often requires paid plans

Best Value by Team Size

Different tools make sense at different scales. Here's what we recommend.

Solo Developer (1-10 monitors)

Best options:

1. Healthchecks.io Free - 20 monitors with full features
2. Cron Crew Free - 15 monitors, great DX
3. Dead Man's Snitch - $5/mo if you need just 5

Avoid: Cronitor (too expensive per monitor), Better Stack (responder fees)

Monthly budget: $0-15

For bootstrapped founders watching every dollar, see our guide on cron monitoring on a bootstrap budget.

Small Team (2-5 people, 15-30 monitors)

Best options:

1. Cron Crew Starter - $15/mo, no per-user fees
2. Healthchecks.io Hobbyist - $20/mo for 100 monitors
3. Dead Man's Snitch Standard - $19/mo for 25 monitors

Avoid: Per-user pricing tools (costs multiply quickly)

Monthly budget: $15-30

Growing Startup (10-20 monitors, 5-10 team members)

Best options:

1. Cron Crew Starter/Pro - $15-29/mo, unlimited users
2. Healthchecks.io Hobbyist - $20/mo, 3 team members
3. UptimeRobot Pro - $29/mo if you also need uptime monitoring

Avoid: Cronitor (per-user fees add $25-50/mo for team), Better Stack (responder fees)

Monthly budget: $20-50

Scale-Up (50-100+ monitors, 10+ team members)

Best options:

1. Healthchecks.io Business - $80/mo for 1,000 monitors
2. Cron Crew Pro/Business - $29/mo+ with volume pricing
3. UptimeRobot Enterprise - $54/mo for 200 monitors (if bundled with uptime)

Avoid: Per-monitor pricing at this scale (costs add up)

Monthly budget: $50-150

Enterprise (100+ monitors, compliance needs)

Best options:

1. Contact vendors for custom pricing
2. Consider Healthchecks.io self-hosted for data control
3. Better Stack or Cronitor for unified observability

Key requirements: SSO, audit logs, SLA guarantees, dedicated support

Monthly budget: $150-500+

Hidden Costs to Watch For

The advertised price isn't always the real price. Here's what catches people off guard. We cover this topic in depth in our article on hidden costs in cron monitoring.

Per-User Fees That Multiply

Cronitor example:

• Advertised: $20/mo for Starter
• Reality with 5 team members: $20 + (4 x $5) = $40/mo
• That's double the headline price

Better Stack example:

• Advertised: $29/mo for Freelancer
• With 3 on-call responders: $29 + (2 x $29) = $87/mo
• Nearly 3x the base price

SMS and Phone Alert Credits

Most tools charge extra for SMS and phone call alerts:

The trap: You set up SMS alerts, forget about them, then get a surprise bill when jobs start failing frequently.

Integration Paywalls

Common pattern: Slack is free, but PagerDuty requires a paid plan.

Data Retention Limits

How long can you see historical data?

The problem: You're debugging an issue from last month, but your data is already gone. Time to upgrade.

Feature-Gating Surprises

Features that seem basic but are often paid-only:

• Multi-environment support (separate staging/production)
• Duration tracking (how long did the job take?)
• Payload/log capture (send data with pings)
• Custom schedules (beyond simple cron expressions)
• API access (automation and custom integrations)

Price-to-Feature Value Analysis

What do you actually get per dollar spent?

What $20/Month Gets You

Best value at $20: Healthchecks.io for monitor count, Cron Crew for team access

What $50/Month Gets You

Best value at $50: UptimeRobot for monitor count (if you need uptime too), Cron Crew for team features

When Premium Pricing Makes Sense

Sometimes paying more is justified:

Choose Cronitor or Better Stack when:

• You need unified observability (logs, metrics, traces)
• Enterprise compliance is required (SOC 2, etc.)
• You have budget and need advanced features

Choose Healthchecks.io when:

• You have many monitors (100+)
• You want to self-host for data control
• Budget is the primary concern

Choose Cron Crew when:

• You have a team and hate per-user fees
• You want simplicity over features
• You're an SMB wanting good value

Our Pricing Philosophy

At Cron Crew, we believe cron monitoring pricing shouldn't require a spreadsheet to understand.

Simple Per-Monitor Pricing

We charge based on how many jobs you monitor. That's it.

• Free: 15 monitors
• Starter: $15/mo for 50 monitors
• Pro: $29/mo for 150 monitors

No per-user fees. No SMS credits. No integration upsells.

No Per-Seat Fees

Your whole team can access the dashboard. We don't punish collaboration.

Why? Because limiting who can see your monitoring data is counterproductive. When something breaks at 2 AM, you want everyone to have access, not just the one person who "owns" the seat.

All Integrations Included

Slack, webhooks, email, and more. On every plan, including free.

We don't believe in holding basic functionality hostage to force upgrades.

Why We Chose This Model

We built Cron Crew for small businesses and growing teams. We know what it's like to:

• Calculate whether adding a team member is "worth" the extra seat cost
• Wonder if you should skip monitoring a job because you're at your limit
• Get a surprise bill because you forgot about SMS overage charges

Our pricing is designed to remove those friction points. Monitor what you need, invite who you need, and know exactly what you'll pay.

Conclusion

Cron monitoring pricing varies wildly across the market. The "cheapest" option on paper might cost you more once you factor in per-user fees, SMS charges, and feature paywalls. The most expensive option might be overkill for your needs.

Key takeaways:

1. Calculate total cost, not just the base price. Factor in team size and required integrations.
2. Start with free tiers to evaluate the tool before committing.
3. Watch for per-user fees if you have or expect a growing team.
4. Match the tool to your scale. Solo developers and enterprises have different optimal choices.
5. Consider the hidden costs: SMS credits, data retention, integration access.

Ready to try simple, transparent pricing? Start free with Cron Crew and monitor up to 15 cron jobs with no credit card required. Upgrade only when you need more.