Compared: Better Stack
A Better Stack alternative for agencies that only need expiry monitoring
Better Stack and ExpiryOwl compared on pricing model, free plan, SSL and domain expiry checks, alert channels and API, each fact sourced.
What Better Stack is
Better Stack is an observability platform covering uptime monitoring, incident management, status pages, logs, tracing, infrastructure monitoring, error tracking and real user monitoring.
betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25Side by side
Everything in the Better Stack column was read on Better Stack's own website on the date shown next to it. Prices and plans change; follow the link to see today's version. Where we couldn't confirm something, we say so instead of guessing.
| Topic | Better Stack | ExpiryOwl |
|---|---|---|
| Starting paid price | Responder license: $34 per license per month, or $29 on annual billing, with uptime, incident management, on-call, monitoring and status pages.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Freelancer: $9/month or $90/year for 50 domains and 10 clients. |
| Free plan | 10 monitors, 10 heartbeats and a status page with 3-minute checks, free.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Free: 5 domains, 1 client, 1 seat, uptime every 15 minutes and a read-only API. |
| SSL certificate expiry | SSL monitoring is included in uptime monitoring.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Every certificate checked every 6 hours: issuer, SANs, chain and hostname match. Alerts at 30, 14, 7, 3, 1 and 0 days. |
| Domain expiry | TLD expiration monitoring is included in uptime monitoring.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Daily RDAP lookups: expiry date, registrar, statuses, transfer lock and nameservers, plus DNS change alerts. |
| Pricing model | Per responder license plus usage: 10 monitors included, additional 50 monitors $25 per month ($21 on annual billing).betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Flat per agency, sized by domain count, not per monitor: Agency is $29/month for 250 domains, unlimited clients and 5 seats. |
| Alert channels | Phone calls, SMS, push notifications, e-mail, Slack, MS Teams, Zapier and webhooks.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram, signed webhooks (Zapier, Make, n8n) and an iCal feed of expiry dates. |
| Status pages | 1 status page included, on your own status.yourdomain.com; each additional public status page is $15 per month.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | White-label client status pages and an embeddable widget on Agency ($29/month); custom domains on Agency Pro ($79/month). |
| API | REST API and a Terraform provider.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25 | REST API and an MCP server on paid plans; a read-only API on Free. |
When Better Stack is the better choice
- You want monitoring, logs, tracing, error tracking and incident management from one vendor.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25
- You run on-call rotations and want unlimited phone call and SMS alerts per responder.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25
- You need checks as often as every 30 seconds or Playwright transaction monitoring.betterstack.com · verified 2026-09-25
When ExpiryOwl fits better
- Flat pricing per agency, not per monitor: Agency is $29/month or $290/year for 250 domains, and Agency Pro is $79/month for 1,000.
- We look for renewals that should have happened. ACME certificates (Let's Encrypt, ZeroSSL, Google Trust Services) normally renew when about a third of their lifetime remains; when one passes that point we flag it as renewal overdue. For Let's Encrypt we use its ACME Renewal Information (ARI) window. That is usually weeks before the certificate expires.
- ExpiryOwl is organised around clients: group domains per client, send each one a white-label monthly PDF report and give them a status page. Unlimited clients from Agency ($29/month).
- A 47-day readiness score per domain for the CA/B Forum SC-081 schedule: maximum certificate lifetime drops to 200 days from 15 March 2026, 100 days from 15 March 2027 and 47 days from 15 March 2029.
Better Stack is a trademark of its owner. We are not affiliated with them. If something here is out of date, email [email protected] and we'll correct it.
Start with five domains, free.
The free plan watches 5 domains for one client: certificates, domain registration, DNS and uptime every 15 minutes. No card, no trial clock.