Free status pages + monitors-as-code in any stack
The Best Oh Dear Alternative for Monitors as Code
Looking for an Oh Dear alternative? DevHelm gives you 50 free monitors with a custom-domain status page, language-agnostic monitors-as-code via CLI and Terraform, and per-monitor pricing that undercuts Oh Dear's per-site tiers — without requiring PHP 8.4+ in your CI pipeline.
Switch to DevHelm if you want monitors-as-code in any language, a free custom-domain status page, or per-monitor pricing below Oh Dear's per-site tiers.
Stay with Oh Dear if Laravel Pulse integration, bundled SSL + broken-link + cron per site, EU hosting, or SSO from $15/mo are non-negotiable.
Last verified July 5, 2026
Why People Leave Oh Dear
The recurring pain points that drive teams to look for an alternative.
No permanently free tier after trial
Oh Dear offers a 10-day trial with all features, then Mini at $15/mo for 5 sites — no ongoing free plan. DevHelm Free includes 50 monitors, a custom-domain status page, webhook alerts, and full CLI + Terraform access at $0 indefinitely.
Source: Oh Dear pricing page — trial and Mini tierPHP-only CLI and archived Terraform provider
Oh Dear's official CLI requires PHP 8.4+ installed via Composer — a natural fit for Laravel shops, but a friction point for Node, Go, or Python teams. The Terraform provider (articulate/terraform-provider-ohdear) is archived with no further updates. DevHelm ships first-party YAML, Terraform, a 73-command CLI, Python and JS SDKs, and a GitHub Action on every tier including Free.
Source: Oh Dear CLI documentation — PHP 8.4 requirementPer-site pricing outpaces per-monitor economics
Oh Dear Plus is $50/mo for 25 sites; Pro is $77/mo for 50. DevHelm Starter is $12/mo for 75 monitors and Pro is $29/mo for 250. Teams monitoring many staging URLs, API routes, or microservice endpoints across fewer domains often pay 3–4× less — Oh Dear's per-site model wins when you need SSL + broken links + cron bundled per client site, not when you need many monitors.
Source: Oh Dear pricing page — per-site tiersNo dependency-aware alert correlation
When AWS or Cloudflare has an outage, Oh Dear alerts on your Laravel app monitors like any other downtime. DevHelm correlates alerts against live dependency status across 80+ vendors — suppressing noise when the root cause is upstream and surfacing dependency incidents on your status page automatically.
Status page locked behind paid plans
Oh Dear includes custom-domain status pages on every paid plan — but there is no free ongoing tier after the 10-day trial. DevHelm includes a custom-domain status page on Free alongside 50 monitors, so teams evaluating alternatives to Oh Dear's agency pricing can start at $0.
Source: Oh Dear status pages feature pageWhen Oh Dear Is the Right Call
Not every team needs to switch. Stay with Oh Dear if:
- You're a Laravel shop that relies on Pulse cards, spatie/laravel-schedule-monitor sync, or the official PHP SDK — Oh Dear is purpose-built for that ecosystem; DevHelm is language-agnostic.
- You need SSL + broken-link crawling + Lighthouse + cron bundled per client site without configuring separate monitors — Oh Dear's per-site model covers all of that in one slot.
- EU data residency in Belgium with ISO 27001-certified hosting is a compliance requirement — Oh Dear is EU-native; DevHelm is US-hosted.
- You need SAML SSO from the cheapest tier — Oh Dear includes SSO on $15/mo Mini; DevHelm requires Business at $249/mo.
- You're mid-contract on Oh Dear — run DevHelm in parallel on a staging subdomain and cut over when the term ends.
DevHelm vs Oh Dear at a Glance
What DevHelm Looks Like
The live monitor list, rendered with the same components as the production dashboard.
What You Actually Pay
A real-world setup, priced on both platforms.
Real-world cost comparison
Save $38/mo — 76% less25 sites/endpoints, custom-domain status pages, SSL + uptime + cron monitoring
DevHelm
$12/mo
DevHelm Starter — 75 monitor slots at 1-minute checks, custom-domain status page, PagerDuty + Slack + webhooks. Map Oh Dear's bundled checks to separate HTTP, heartbeat, and DNS monitors.
Oh Dear
$50/mo
Oh Dear Plus — 25 sites with all check types bundled (uptime, SSL, broken links, cron, DNS, Lighthouse).
Pricing, Side by Side
Oh Dear prices as of July 2026. Per-site pricing; all features on every plan. Annual billing gives 1 month free. 10-day trial, no credit card.
DevHelm
- Free$0/mo
50 monitors · 5-min checks · custom-domain status page · webhooks · CLI + Terraform
- Starter$12/mo
75 monitors · 1-min checks · custom-domain status page · all alert channels
- Pro$29/mo
250 monitors · 30-sec checks · 2 branded status pages · email subscribers · PagerDuty + OpsGenie
- Team$79/mo
500 monitors · 25 seats · 5 status pages · password-protected pages
Oh Dear
- Mini$15/mo
5 sites · all checks bundled · SSO · unlimited users · status pages · 1-min checks
- Standard$27/mo
10 sites · uptime + SSL + broken links + cron + DNS + Lighthouse per site
- Plus$50/mo
25 sites · all features · custom-domain status pages · dual-location verification
- Pro$77/mo
50 sites · same all-inclusive feature set
- Premium$220/mo
200 sites · agency-scale monitoring
Pricing as of July 5, 2026.
Stack replacement
Two products folded into one
DevHelm
- 75 monitors at 1-minute checks across all regions
- Custom-domain status page included
- HTTP + DNS + TCP + ICMP + heartbeat checks
- PagerDuty + OpsGenie + Slack + webhook alerts
- Monitors as YAML + Terraform + CLI
- Dependency-aware alert correlation across 80+ vendors
Oh Dear bundles SSL, broken links, and Lighthouse per site — DevHelm wins on IaC, free tier, and per-monitor economics at this scale.
Switching from Oh Dear
There is no one-click importer from Oh Dear. Export monitors via their REST API or PHP SDK, map per-site checks to DevHelm monitor types, recreate as YAML or Terraform, and run both tools in parallel before cutting over.
Export monitors from Oh Dear
Use Oh Dear's REST API or PHP SDK to list monitors, cron checks, and status page bindings. Note which bundled checks (SSL, broken links, Lighthouse) you need to recreate as separate DevHelm monitors.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" https://ohdear.app/api/monitors
Map checks to DevHelm monitor types
Oh Dear bundles uptime, SSL, cron, and broken-link checks per site. In DevHelm, create separate HTTP, heartbeat, and DNS monitors. SSL expiry can use HTTP SSL assertions; broken-link crawling has no direct equivalent today.
devhelm validate -f devhelm.yml
Deploy with the CLI
Plan first to verify the config, then deploy. Future changes go through git and CI.
devhelm plan -f devhelm.yml && devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --yes
Run status pages in parallel
Point a staging subdomain (e.g. status-new.yourdomain.com) at DevHelm while Oh Dear serves production. Verify monitor-to-page automation before switching the primary CNAME.
Cut over and decommission Oh Dear
Update your public status URL in docs and client reports. Disable Oh Dear monitors once DevHelm has been stable for 48 hours. Laravel Pulse cards will stop updating — remove the ohdear-pulse package after cutover.
Full Feature Comparison
Every capability, side by side.
Monitoring
| Feature | DevHelm | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| Permanently free tier | 50 monitors | 10-day trial only |
| Pricing model | Per monitor | Per site (all checks bundled) |
| Monitors at ~$50/mo | 250 (Pro at $29/mo) | 25 sites (Plus at $50/mo) |
| Fastest check interval | 30s on Pro | 1 min (all plans) |
| HTTP / Ping / TCP | ||
| SSL certificate monitoring | Via HTTP assertions | Dedicated per-site check |
| Broken link crawler | ||
| DNS record monitoring | ||
| Cron / heartbeat monitoring | ||
| Lighthouse / performance SEO | ||
| Probe regions | 4 | 19 |
| Dual-location alert verification | Multi-region probing | Primary + secondary verify |
Developer Experience
| Feature | DevHelm | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| Monitors as YAML in your repo | ||
| First-party Terraform provider | Archived community provider | |
| First-party CLI | 73 commands, all tiers | PHP 8.4+ only |
| Official PHP SDK | ||
| Python + JS SDKs | ||
| Laravel Pulse integration | ||
| MCP server for AI agents | ||
| GitHub Action for CI/CD | ||
| Public REST API + OpenAPI |
Alerting & Incidents
| Feature | DevHelm | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| Webhook alerts | Free tier ($0) | All plans |
| Slack / Discord / PagerDuty / Opsgenie | ||
| SMS / phone-call alerts | Coming soon | Via integrations |
| Dependency-aware alert correlation | ||
| Monthly uptime reports | Aggregated history | Email reports per site |
Status Pages
| Feature | DevHelm | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| Status page on Free | 1, custom domain | No — trial only |
| Custom domain | Free tier ($0) | All paid plans ($15/mo+) |
| Auto-update from monitor state | ||
| Multilingual pages | ||
| Subscriber notifications | Pro ($29/mo) | All paid plans |
Platform
| Feature | DevHelm | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| SAML SSO | Business ($249/mo) | All plans ($15/mo+) |
| Unlimited team members | Tier limits (1–25) | Unlimited on all plans |
| EU data hosting | US-hosted | Belgium (ISO 27001) |
| Dependency intelligence | 80+ vendor services | Not available |