CertWatch vs Better Stack

The Unbundling Argument

Better Stack (formerly Better Uptime) is impressive. It combines:

• Uptime monitoring
• Incident management
• On-call scheduling
• Status pages
• Log management

It's the "Apple of monitoring"—beautifully designed, thoughtfully integrated.

But here's the question: Do you need all of that just to monitor certificates?

The Reality for Most Teams

If you already have an incident management workflow, buying Better Stack "just for SSL monitoring" means:

• Paying for features you won't use
• Learning a new platform
• Potentially migrating existing workflows

CertWatch takes the opposite approach: We do one thing deeply and integrate with the tools you already use.

Feature Comparison

The "Checkbox Feature" Problem

In Better Stack, SSL monitoring is a secondary feature—a checkbox on an HTTP monitor.

When you create an HTTP monitor in Better Stack:

1. Configure the URL
2. Check "Monitor SSL certificate" ✓
3. Set expiration threshold (default: 30 days)

That's it. You get:

• Expiration date monitoring
• Basic validity check

You don't get:

• Full certificate chain validation
• Intermediate certificate verification
• OCSP/CRL revocation status
• Cipher suite analysis
• Weak cryptography warnings
• Certificate inventory across all monitors

In CertWatch, certificates are the CORE product, not a checkbox.

The Private Network Gap

Better Stack is fundamentally a cloud-based scanner. For private infrastructure, they offer "Heartbeats"—essentially cron jobs that ping Better Stack to confirm a service is running.

The Heartbeat Limitation

# Better Stack Heartbeat approach
*/5 * * * * curl -s https://betterstack.com/api/heartbeat/abc123

What this tells Better Stack: "The server is running." What this doesn't tell Better Stack: Anything about the certificate on that server.

Your internal PostgreSQL database could have an expired certificate, and the heartbeat would still be green.

CertWatch's Agent Approach

# certwatch.yaml
endpoints:
  - address: postgres.internal:5432
    protocol: tls
  - address: kafka.internal:9093
    protocol: tls
  - address: redis.internal:6379
    protocol: tls

The cw-agent actively scans certificate validity, chain integrity, and expiration. It provides actual certificate intelligence, not just liveness.

Pricing: The Observability Tax

Better Stack's pricing reflects its comprehensive platform:

Better Stack Pricing

For SSL monitoring specifically:

• Free tier: 10 monitors with basic SSL checkbox
• Useful SSL monitoring: $29+/month minimum

Hidden complexity: Better Stack charges per-seat. If you want 3 team members to see alerts, that's $87/month minimum.

CertWatch Pricing

Key difference: CertWatch doesn't charge per user. Your whole team can access the dashboard without multiplying the bill.

The Depth vs. Breadth Trade-off

Better Stack: Broad but Shallow (for certificates)

Better Stack monitors many things—uptime, logs, incidents. For certificates specifically:

• Checks expiration date ✓
• Triggers alert if invalid ✓
• That's about it

CertWatch: Narrow but Deep

CertWatch only monitors certificates—but does it thoroughly:

Real-World Scenario: The Intermediate Gap

Your certificate: ✅ Valid, expires in 300 days
Intermediate cert: ❌ Expired yesterday

Better Stack: "SSL OK" ✅
Chrome Desktop: Works (cached intermediate)
iOS Safari: "Cannot Verify Server Identity" ❌
Your customers: Frustrated, leaving

Better Stack only checks if YOUR certificate is valid. CertWatch walks the entire chain from your certificate → intermediate(s) → root CA.

This catches the "works on my machine" errors that happen when:

• Intermediate certificates expire
• Chain order is wrong
• Cross-signed roots rotate
• New devices don't have cached intermediates

Integration Philosophy

Better Stack: Replace Your Stack

Better Stack wants to be your single pane of glass. That's great if you're starting fresh, but challenging if you already have:

• PagerDuty for incidents
• Slack for team communication
• Datadog/New Relic for observability
• Statuspage.io for public status

CertWatch: Complement Your Stack

CertWatch integrates with what you have:

# Alert channels - use any or all
notifications:
  slack:
    webhook_url: ${SLACK_WEBHOOK}
  pagerduty:
    routing_key: ${PD_KEY}
  teams:
    webhook_url: ${TEAMS_WEBHOOK}
  webhooks:
    - url: https://your-automation.example.com/cert-events

You don't have to migrate. CertWatch sends alerts to your existing incident workflow.

When to Choose Better Stack

Better Stack is the right choice if:

• You're building a new team/project from scratch
• You want uptime + incidents + logging in one platform
• You prefer an all-in-one solution over best-of-breed
• You're willing to migrate from PagerDuty/Datadog
• SSL monitoring is a small part of your overall needs

Better Stack excels at unified observability. If you need the whole stack, it's excellent.

When to Choose CertWatch

CertWatch is the right choice if:

• ✅ You already have incident management (PagerDuty, Opsgenie)
• ✅ You primarily need certificate security, not general uptime
• ✅ You want deep certificate analysis (chain, revocation, crypto)
• ✅ You have private infrastructure to monitor
• ✅ You want to avoid per-seat pricing
• ✅ You prefer best-of-breed tools that integrate

Migration Considerations

If You're Using Better Stack for SSL Today

You probably have HTTP monitors with "Monitor SSL" checked. To evaluate CertWatch:

1. Parallel Run: Add the same domains to CertWatch
2. Compare Alerts: See if CertWatch catches issues Better Stack misses
3. Add Private Endpoints: Deploy cw-agent to monitor internal infrastructure Better Stack can't reach
4. Decide: Keep Better Stack for uptime, use CertWatch for certificates

You Don't Have to Choose

Many teams run:

• Better Stack (or Pingdom, Uptime Robot) for uptime monitoring
• CertWatch for certificate security

They solve different problems. Use both.

FAQ

Is CertWatch trying to replace Better Stack?

No. Better Stack is a comprehensive platform. CertWatch is a specialized tool. They serve different needs.

Can I use CertWatch with Better Stack?

Absolutely. Use Better Stack for uptime and incidents, CertWatch for deep certificate monitoring.

What about Better Stack's design quality?

Better Stack has beautiful UI/UX. We focus on functional design for DevOps workflows, but we're not trying to win design awards.

Does CertWatch have status pages?

No, and we won't add them. Use Better Stack, Statuspage.io, or similar. We focus on certificates.

What about Better Stack's logging?

Use it, or use Datadog, Loki, whatever. CertWatch is not a logging platform.

The Bottom Line

Don't pay for features you don't use. Don't sacrifice depth for breadth.

Ready for Focused Certificate Security?

Start Free Trial →

• Deep certificate analysis (not checkbox monitoring)
• Private network agent included
• Integrates with PagerDuty, Slack, Teams
• Free during beta
• No per-seat pricing

Last updated: January 2026. Better Stack is a trademark of Better Stack, Inc. We respect their excellent platform and recommend it for teams needing comprehensive observability.