API Status Check vs Better Stack: Which Monitoring Tool is Right for You?

When it comes to monitoring, Better Stack and API Status Check solve fundamentally different problems. Better Stack is a comprehensive observability platform built for monitoring your infrastructure. API Status Check specializes in tracking third-party APIs like Stripe, OpenAI, and AWS.

This isn't a "which is better?" article—it's a guide to help you understand which tool (or combination of both) makes sense for your setup.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature	API Status Check	Better Stack
Primary Focus	Third-party API status aggregation	Full-stack observability & monitoring
Starting Price	$0 (free forever)	~$18/mo (paid plans)
Best For	Monitoring external APIs	Monitoring your own infrastructure
Uptime Monitoring	100+ pre-configured APIs	Your custom endpoints
Log Management	❌ No	✅ Yes (powerful ingestion)
Incident Management	❌ No	✅ Yes (full platform)
On-call Scheduling	❌ No	✅ Yes (with rotations)
Status Pages	✅ Free badges	✅ Customizable pages
Alerts	Email, Slack, Discord, webhooks	Phone, SMS, email, integrations
Setup Time	< 2 minutes	Varies (depends on integration)
API Access	✅ Free tier included	✅ Yes
Learning Curve	Minimal	Moderate (feature-rich)
Free Tier	✅ Full dashboard access	✅ Available (limited)
Enterprise Features	❌ No	✅ Yes (SOC 2, SSO, custom data locations)

TL;DR:

• API Status Check = "Are the APIs I depend on working right now?"
• Better Stack = "Is my entire infrastructure healthy, and how do I manage incidents?"

What API Status Check Does Best

API Status Check is laser-focused on a single problem: "Are the third-party APIs I depend on working?"

Here's where we excel:

1. Pre-Configured Third-Party API Monitoring

The biggest difference: you don't need to configure anything. We already monitor 100+ critical developer APIs:

• AI/ML: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replicate, Midjourney, Perplexity, Hugging Face
• Cloud: AWS, GCP, Azure, Cloudflare, Vercel, Render, Fly.io
• Payments: Stripe, PayPal, Square, Plaid
• Communication: Slack, Discord, Twilio, SendGrid, Resend
• Developer Tools: GitHub, GitLab, npm, Docker Hub, Supabase, PlanetScale
• Social: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Why this matters: You can't monitor AWS's API with Better Stack unless you build a custom health check. With API Status Check, it's already done—just click to enable alerts.

2. Instant Setup (No Configuration)

• Better Stack: Install agents, configure log shippers, set up monitors
• API Status Check: Enter email, select APIs, done

For developers who just want to know "Is Stripe down?", this is a massive time-saver.

3. Free Dashboard for Everyone

Our entire dashboard is free forever:

• Real-time status for 100+ APIs
• Public JSON API access
• RSS feeds per service
• Historical outage data

No credit card. No trial limits. Just free access.

4. Embeddable Status Badges

Free status badges for GitHub READMEs, documentation sites, and internal dashboards:

![OpenAI Status](https://apistatuscheck.com/api/openai/badge)

Better Stack charges for status pages; ours are free for third-party APIs.

5. Affordable Alert Pricing

• Alert Pro ($9/mo): Monitor 10 APIs with email alerts
• Team ($29/mo): Monitor 50 APIs + Slack/Discord webhooks
• Developer ($49/mo): Unlimited APIs + premium features

Compare this to Better Stack's starting price of ~$18/mo (which doesn't include third-party API monitoring—you'd still need to configure that yourself).

6. Focus on Developer Experience

• Public status pages for every API (no login required)
• Browser extension for quick checks
• REST API for integrating with your own tools
• Webhook callbacks for custom workflows

Bottom line: If you're monitoring external dependencies (not your own infrastructure), API Status Check is simpler, faster, and cheaper.

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Pricing Breakdown: Better Stack vs API Status Check

Better Stack Pricing

Better Stack uses usage-based pricing. Here's a rough breakdown (prices vary based on data volume):

Plan	Price	What's Included
Free	$0	Limited uptime monitoring, basic logs
Starter	~$18/mo	1 responder, 10 monitors, limited log retention
Growth	~$50-80/mo	More monitors, longer log retention, incident management
Enterprise	~$118+/mo	Custom limits, SSO, dedicated support, SLA

Note: Better Stack's pricing scales with data volume (logs ingested, metrics stored, etc.). High-traffic applications can see costs increase significantly.

API Status Check Pricing

Plan	Price	What's Included
Free	$0	Dashboard, badges, RSS feeds, JSON API
Alert Pro	$9/mo	Email alerts for 10 APIs
Team	$29/mo	50 APIs + Slack/Discord + custom status page
Developer	$49/mo	Unlimited APIs + premium API access

Note: Our pricing is flat and predictable. No surprise bills based on data volume.

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Use Cases: When to Choose Which

Choose Better Stack If...

✅ You're monitoring your own infrastructure (not third-party APIs)
✅ You need log aggregation from multiple services
✅ You need incident management with on-call schedules
✅ You're a DevOps/SRE team responsible for production systems
✅ You want application performance monitoring (APM)
✅ You need enterprise compliance (SOC 2, GDPR)
✅ You're replacing Datadog, New Relic, or Splunk
✅ You have budget for observability ($50-500+/mo)

Example scenario: You run a SaaS platform with microservices, and you need to monitor your API latency, aggregate logs from 10 services, and set up on-call rotations for your team.

Choose API Status Check If...

✅ You depend on third-party APIs (Stripe, OpenAI, AWS, etc.)
✅ You want zero-config monitoring (no agents to install)
✅ You're a solo developer or small team
✅ You're budget-conscious ($0-49/mo)
✅ You want instant alerts when external services go down
✅ You need status badges for documentation
✅ You don't need full observability—just "is X down?"
✅ You want a public status page for APIs you depend on

Example scenario: You're building a SaaS app that uses OpenAI, Stripe, and Vercel. You want to know immediately if any of those services go down so you can notify your users or pause operations.

Use Both If...

🔄 You're monitoring both your infrastructure and external dependencies
🔄 You need comprehensive observability plus third-party API tracking
🔄 You want Better Stack for logs/incidents + API Status Check for external APIs

Example scenario: Your team uses Better Stack to monitor your production servers and application logs. You also use API Status Check to track the status of Stripe, AWS, and OpenAI—the external services your platform depends on. Total cost: ~$68/mo (Better Stack starter + ASC Team).

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Migration Guide: Switching from Better Stack

If you're currently using Better Stack only for third-party API monitoring (not your own infrastructure), migrating to API Status Check is straightforward:

Step 1: Export Your Monitor List

Log into Better Stack and list which third-party APIs you're monitoring (e.g., Stripe, GitHub, OpenAI).

Step 2: Sign Up for API Status Check

1. Visit apistatuscheck.com
2. Enter your email (no password required to start)
3. Select the APIs you want to monitor

Step 3: Configure Alerts

• Choose Alert Pro ($9/mo) for up to 10 APIs
• Choose Team ($29/mo) for up to 50 APIs + Slack/Discord
• Set up webhook integrations if needed

Migration time: 5-10 minutes. No agents to uninstall.

Note: If you're using Better Stack for your own infrastructure monitoring (logs, APM, incident management), you should keep Better Stack and add API Status Check for external dependency tracking. They're complementary tools.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use both Better Stack and API Status Check?

Yes! Many teams do. Use Better Stack for your own infrastructure (logs, APM, incidents) and API Status Check for third-party API status. They solve different problems.

Does Better Stack monitor third-party APIs?

Better Stack can monitor any endpoint—including third-party APIs—but you need to manually configure each one. API Status Check has 100+ APIs pre-configured and ready to monitor with one click.

Is API Status Check cheaper than Better Stack?

For third-party API monitoring specifically, yes. API Status Check starts at $9/mo for alerts. Better Stack's uptime monitoring is part of a larger observability platform with higher baseline costs.

Does API Status Check replace Better Stack for my own infrastructure?

No. API Status Check doesn't do log management, APM, or incident management. If you need those features for your own servers/apps, Better Stack (or similar tools) is the right choice.

How accurate is API Status Check compared to Better Stack?

API Status Check monitors official status pages and performs automated health checks every 5 minutes. Better Stack monitors whatever endpoints you configure. Both are reliable—the difference is what you're monitoring (third-party vs. your own infrastructure).

What if an API goes down and Better Stack doesn't detect it?

If you're using Better Stack to monitor a third-party API, you're relying on your custom health check configuration. API Status Check monitors multiple signals (status pages, API health endpoints, community reports) to catch outages faster.

Can I get phone/SMS alerts from API Status Check?

Not yet. We currently support email, Slack, Discord, and webhooks. If you need phone/SMS alerts, Better Stack is a better fit (or use a service like PagerDuty in combination with our webhooks).

Does API Status Check have a free tier?

Yes! Our entire dashboard, status badges, RSS feeds, and JSON API are free forever. You only pay if you want email/Slack/Discord alerts.

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Conclusion: Not Competitors—Complementary Tools

Here's the key insight: Better Stack and API Status Check aren't really competitors.

• Better Stack is an observability platform for monitoring your infrastructure.
• API Status Check is a status aggregator for monitoring third-party APIs.

If you're a DevOps team running production infrastructure, Better Stack is an excellent choice for logs, APM, and incident management. If you're a developer who depends on external APIs like Stripe, OpenAI, or AWS, API Status Check gives you instant visibility without configuration overhead.

Many teams use both:

• Better Stack for internal monitoring
• API Status Check for external dependencies

The best choice depends on what you're trying to monitor. And if you're on a budget, API Status Check offers a free dashboard and affordable alerts that won't break the bank.

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Ready to monitor third-party APIs?
Start with our free tier: apistatuscheck.com

Need full-stack observability?
Check out Better Stack: betterstack.com

(Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you sign up for Better Stack through our links, but this article reflects our honest assessment of both tools.)