website issue monitoring
Your Monitoring Tool Waits For Users to Complain. Synthetic Checks Do Not.
Visual Sentinel checks from EU and US on a plan-based schedule, with regional request timing, SSL, DNS, and optional visual or content monitoring.
Permanent Free plan, or a 10-day card trial of paid coverage from $15/month.
definition
What Is Synthetic Monitoring?
Synthetic monitoring uses automated checks from external locations on a fixed schedule, so it can detect problems even when no real visitor is active. That makes it useful for low-traffic sites, staging systems, overnight coverage, and consistent regional baselines. Real User Monitoring (RUM) answers a different question. It collects performance data from actual visitors and reflects their devices, networks, and locations, but it only produces evidence when users are present. Many teams use synthetic checks for proactive coverage and RUM for field experience. Visual Sentinel can combine uptime availability, regional request timing, SSL certificate health, DNS state, visual regression, and content validation in one dashboard. The layers and schedules are plan-specific: Free includes 10-minute uptime and SSL checks, Solo and Starter use 5-minute uptime checks, Business and Agency use 1-minute uptime checks, Solo captures visuals every 30 minutes, and Starter or higher captures visuals every 15 minutes. EU and US check regions help surface location-specific failures. Alert-channel availability also depends on the plan, with email and browser push on Free and additional integrations on paid tiers.
what you get
Built for issues customers actually notice.
Proactive Detection
Run scheduled checks around the clock, including during low-traffic periods. The exact uptime and visual intervals depend on the plan.
Multi-Region Testing
Automated checks from EU and US regions surface location-specific failures that single-region tools miss entirely.
No Traffic Required
Unlike RUM, synthetic monitoring works on staging sites, low-traffic pages, and brand-new launches with zero visitors.
Consistent Baselines
Fixed-interval checks from controlled infrastructure produce clean performance trends without the noise of variable user conditions.
6-Layer Depth
Eligible plans combine uptime, performance, SSL, DNS, visual regression, and content evidence in one dashboard.
10 Channels + Web Push
Free includes email and Web Push. Starter adds Slack, Discord, and Telegram. Solo, Business, and Agency add WhatsApp, Teams, incident tools, webhooks, and Prometheus.
how it works
Three steps, no extensions.
Add Your URLs
Enter the public pages or endpoints you want monitored and choose the checks relevant to each target.
We Check From EU and US
Regional uptime checks follow your plan interval. Visual captures and scheduled performance checks run on their own documented cadences.
Route Confirmed Alerts
A result that passes the configured confirmation, retry, and delay rules enters the notification workflow for channels available on your plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is synthetic monitoring?
Synthetic monitoring uses automated agents to check a website from external locations on a fixed schedule. It can detect availability, response-time, SSL, DNS, content, or visual issues even when no real visitor is active. In Visual Sentinel, uptime schedules range from 10 minutes on Free to 1 minute on Business and Agency, while visual captures use a separate 30-minute or 15-minute schedule.
What is the difference between synthetic monitoring and real user monitoring?
Synthetic monitoring runs automated checks from controlled infrastructure on a set schedule, providing consistent baselines and 24/7 coverage even when your site has no traffic. Real user monitoring (RUM) passively collects data from actual visitors, showing real-world performance across diverse devices and networks. Synthetic catches issues proactively; RUM reflects actual user experience. Most production sites benefit from both, but synthetic monitoring is the essential baseline.
What are the best synthetic monitoring tools?
The best synthetic monitoring tool matches the failure modes and schedules you need. Compare regional coverage, request assertions, browser checks, alert routing, retention, and price. Visual Sentinel combines up to six monitoring layers in one dashboard. Datadog Synthetics, Pingdom, UptimeRobot, and other tools offer different mixes of browser, API, uptime, and real-user features.
What is synthetic transaction monitoring?
Synthetic transaction monitoring simulates multi-step workflows such as login or checkout. Visual Sentinel focuses on page-level and endpoint monitoring rather than scripted multi-step transactions. Depending on the plan and target, a monitor can combine uptime, request timing, SSL, DNS, visual, and content evidence.
How does synthetic monitoring work?
Check agents in EU and US send HTTP requests at your plan interval, measure status and response timing, validate SSL, and record DNS evidence. Visual captures run separately for enabled web pages. A confirmed failure is routed through the notification channels available on your plan.
Do I need synthetic monitoring or RUM?
If you need scheduled checks when your site has no traffic, synthetic monitoring provides that independent evidence. Detection begins on the next scheduled check and may require confirmation before notification. If you want to understand how real users experience your site across devices and networks, you need RUM. Many production teams use both because they answer different questions.
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Start Synthetic Monitoring in 60 seconds.
Permanent Free plan, or a 10-day card trial of paid coverage from $15/month.
- permanent Free plan
- 10-day paid trial
- cancel before billing