Checkly
Checkly sells code-first monitoring, using Playwright scripts to check if websites and APIs work.
On the record
Checkpoint: Whether Checkly announces a Series C or discloses accelerated ARR growth
The call
Checkly has real customers and real infrastructure, but two years without a new funding round and wide-open competition from Datadog and AI coding agents leave its next chapter unwritten.
Checkly helps developers write tests that check if websites work correctly from 22 different locations around the world, using a coding style others prefer. The problem: Datadog and New Relic are copying this approach, and AI tools like Claude can now write these tests automatically, which removes the main reason companies hired Checkly in the first place. The one thing that could save Checkly is if its new bet works out, which is becoming the safety checker that catches problems when AI agents write and deploy code on their own, but this strategy has not yet proven it makes real money.
Why
01
AI pressure: Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot. Coding agents can write and run their own monitoring scripts, shrinking the reason to pay Checkly for authoring checks. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Datadog and New Relic. Both already run synthetic monitoring and could add Playwright-native, code-first checks to keep customers from ever trying Checkly. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Deep integrations with Vercel, Terraform, Pulumi, and OpenTelemetry make Checkly checks hard to rip out once wired into a deploy pipeline.
What would change this call
Checkly announces a Series C or discloses accelerated ARR within 12 months. Would show the 'reliability layer for agents' pivot is converting into growth.
Datadog or New Relic ships native Playwright-based synthetic monitoring. Would show the incumbent is closing the code-first feature gap Checkly relies on.
Vercel or Cloudflare bundles native synthetic monitoring into their platforms. Would show distribution partners disintermediating Checkly as a standalone vendor.
Datadog or New Relic ships native Playwright-based synthetic monitoring. Would show the incumbent is closing the code-first feature gap Checkly relies on.
Vercel or Cloudflare bundles native synthetic monitoring into their platforms. Would show distribution partners disintermediating Checkly as a standalone vendor.
Key numbers
- $20M Series B raised
- 1,000+ paying customers at Series B
- ARR estimates range $561K to $6.7M
Named risks
- Datadog or New Relic ship credible code-first, Playwright-native synthetics and win renewals.
- AI coding agents commoditize the config-authoring layer that was Checkly's original value proposition.
- No verified ARR figure and wildly inconsistent third-party revenue estimates cloud growth trajectory.
- Better Stack actively courts Checkly's existing customers via head-to-head marketing.
- No new funding round since July 2024 Series B, raising runway questions roughly two years later.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Better Stack | gaining on | Publishing 'vs Checkly' comparison pages targeting its customer base as of 2026-07-13 |
| Datadog | contesting | Sells synthetics to same enterprise buyers; no structural barrier stops it copying Checkly's code-first DX |
| New Relic | contesting | Offers competing Synthetics product with large existing free-tier customer base |
| AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) | gaining on | Increasingly author and self-heal monitoring configs, commoditizing Checkly's original authoring layer by 2026 |
Questions people ask
- Is Checkly profitable in 2026?
- No public financials confirm profitability. Third-party revenue estimates range wildly from about $561K to $6.7M ARR, and Checkly last raised a $20M Series B in July 2024, patterns typical of a growth-stage, VC-funded company still burning capital rather than profitable.
- Who owns Checkly?
- Checkly is privately held and venture-backed, founded in 2018 in Berlin by Tim Nolet with co-founders Hannes Lenke (CEO) and Timo Euteneuer (COO). It reincorporated as a Netherlands entity, Pink Robots B.V., in 2023. Investors include Accel, CRV, and Balderton Capital.
- Who is Checkly's biggest competitor?
- Checkly competes directly with Better Stack, Datadog Synthetics, and New Relic Synthetics. As of July 13, 2026, Better Stack was actively publishing 'vs Checkly' comparison content aimed at Checkly's customer base, while Datadog and New Relic already sell synthetics to the same enterprise buyers.
- Could AI replace Checkly?
- AI coding agents like Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot can already generate monitoring configs, commoditizing part of Checkly's original authoring layer. Checkly responded by shipping an MCP Server and 'Checkly Skills' for Claude, Cursor, and Codex by June 26, 2026, betting its execution infrastructure stays defensible.
- How much funding has Checkly raised?
- Checkly has raised $32.25M total: a $2.25M seed led by Accel in April 2020, a $10M Series A led by CRV in June 2021, and a $20M Series B led by Balderton Capital announced July 31, 2024, which added partner Colin Hanna to its board.
- Is Checkly a safe company to join?
- No layoffs or financial distress have been publicly reported through July 2026. TechCrunch reported a 35-person team at the July 2024 Series B, and the company has continued shipping new products (Uptime Monitors, Playwright Check Suites, AI agent tooling) into 2026, suggesting active growth rather than contraction.
Timeline
- 2026-06-26Ships MCP Server and Checkly Skills for Claude, Cursor, Codex coding agents
- 2026-03-26Publishes 'Agentic Software Layer' positioning and Agentic Checks feature
- 2025-10-23Launches Playwright Check Suites for running full test suites as monitors
- 2025-07-08Launches Checkly Uptime Monitors (URL/TCP/heartbeat monitoring)
- 2024-07-31Raises $20M Series B led by Balderton Capital, total funding $32.25M
- 2024-07Launches Checkly Traces linking OpenTelemetry data to synthetic checks
- 2023-04-30Reincorporates as Netherlands entity Pink Robots B.V.
- 2021-06-30Raises $10M Series A led by CRV, with Accel and Guillermo Rauch
- 2020-04Raises $2.25M seed round led by Accel
- 2018Founded in Berlin, Germany as bootstrapped side project by Tim Nolet
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Checkly secures $10M for continuous API and web app testing (2021-06-29)
- Checkly is growing, some changes afoot
- Enabling Engineers to Detect and Resolve Issues 10x Faster: Our Investment in Checkly
- $10M for Developer Owned Operations (2021-06-30)
- Checkly secures $20M Series B for code error detection (2024-08-01)
- Checkly - Overview, News & Similar companies (2026-06-06)
- $561K Est. ARR, $163.9K Valuation (2025-05-02)
- Checkly Revenue, Funding & Valuation (2024-08-30)
- Balderton Capital leads $20M round in Checkly (2024-08-01)
- Checkly for Vercel
- Checkly tests software by mimicking the way people use it (2024-07-31)
- Checkly Raises $20M to Accelerate Issue Detection & Fixes (2024-10-24)