/ vs / better-stack
Fettle vs Better Stack
Better Stack prices per responder licence and bundles logs, traces and on-call into one product. Here is how the two ladders and check models compare.
Choose Better Stack if
- the whole observability stack — logs, metrics, traces, on-call and incident management — in one product
- call routing and phone escalation on every responder licence, not sold as an add-on
- 30-second checks from their cheapest paid plan, where ours start on Max
- incidents confirmed by majority consensus — at least 3 of at least 4 locations — a larger location count per check than Fettle's unanimity model uses
Choose Fettle if
- 50 monitors are $50 there — a $29 responder licence plus $21 for a pack of 50 more — against $7 on Plus here
- a licence-plus-packs model grows the bill faster than a flat plan as monitor count climbs
- extra status pages and heartbeat packs bill separately there; our higher tiers include more of both at no added charge
Fettle and Better Stack, side by side
| Metric | Fettle | Better Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 50 monitors, $/mo billed yearly | $7Plus, billed yearly — 50 monitors | $50billed annually: $29 per responder licence, which carries 10 monitors, plus $21 for a pack of 50 more; a second responder adds another $29, and the monthly-billed rates are $34 and $25 |
| Shortest interval on that plan | 60 secondsPlus and Pro; 30 seconds on Max | 30 secondspublished as the check-frequency ceiling; the page names no uptime tiers |
| Cheapest plan with 30-second checks | $31Max, billed yearly — 300 monitors | $29one responder licence, billed annually, which covers 10 monitors; $34 billed monthly |
| Check model | Fan-outevery selected region checks the monitor every interval | Fan-out with consensusevery monitor is checked from at least 4 locations, and an incident opens only after the check fails from at least 3 of them |
| Location pool | 3eu-central, us-east, ap-southeast | Not publishedno total location count is printed on their pricing page or in their uptime documentation |
| Locations used per interval | 2 on Plus, 3 on Pro and Maxevery selected region must fail before an incident opens — unanimity, not majority — confirmed over 2 consecutive check cycles by default | At least 4an incident opens after a failure from at least 3 of them |
| Status pages | 1 / 3 / 10Plus / Pro / Max | 1 included, $12/mo for each further one |
| Heartbeat / cron monitoring | 20 / 50 / 150Plus / Pro / Max; 3 on the free plan | 10 included, $17/mo per pack of 10 |
| Integrations | 5 typesemail, Telegram, webhook, Slack, Discord | Allthe number is not printed |
| REST API | On every plan, including free30 to 300 requests per minute by tier | Yes |
| History retention | 90 / 180 / 365 daysPlus / Pro / Max | Not published |
The licence-plus-packs price
Better Stack prices per responder licence, not per monitor tier. A licence is $29 a month billed annually ($34 monthly) and carries 10 monitors on its own; a pack of 50 more monitors is $21 a month billed annually ($25 monthly). Their published 50-monitor figure — one licence plus one pack — comes to $50 a month billed annually. Plus is a flat $7 a month billed annually and already covers 50 monitors, no packs to add. At 50 monitors that works out to about $1.00 a monitor on Better Stack against about $0.14 on Plus — dividing a plan's price by its monitor count is ours to do, not a rate either vendor publishes. The shapes diverge further as monitor count grows: Better Stack's is licence-plus-packs, stacking a further $21 for every 50 more monitors past the first ten, while Fettle's stays one flat rung per tier.
What 30 seconds costs
Better Stack's published check-frequency ceiling is 30 seconds, and it's available from their cheapest paid plan — a single $29-a-month responder licence covering 10 monitors. That figure isn't matched on our side at the same price point: Fettle's 30-second floor sits on Max, at $31 a month for 300 monitors. On this one axis, the cheaper Better Stack plan gets there faster than the cheaper Fettle plan does.
Consensus versus unanimity
The two products also differ in how a check counts as confirmed. Better Stack's model is fan-out with consensus: every monitor is checked from at least 4 locations, and an incident opens only after the check fails from at least 3 of them — a majority. Fettle's model is fan-out with unanimity instead of majority: every selected region must fail before an incident opens — unanimity, not majority — confirmed over 2 consecutive check cycles by default. Locations checked per interval run 2 on Plus, 3 on Pro and Max on our side against at least 4 on theirs — their consensus draws on a larger set of locations than ours does. Their total location pool itself is not published anywhere on their pricing page or in their uptime documentation, so no comparison of overall pool size is possible in either direction.
Questions
- How much does Better Stack charge for 50 monitors?
- $50 a month billed annually: a $29 responder licence covering 10 monitors, plus $21 for a pack of 50 more (a further licence adds another $29). Billed monthly the two add up to $34 and $25. Fettle's Plus plan is a flat $7 a month and already covers 50 monitors, no packs to add.
- Does Better Stack check faster than once a minute?
- Yes. Their published check-frequency ceiling is 30 seconds, and it's available from their cheapest paid plan — a single $29-a-month responder licence covering 10 monitors. Fettle's 30-second floor sits higher up the ladder, on Max at $31 a month for 300 monitors.
- How does Better Stack confirm an incident?
- By majority consensus: every monitor is checked from at least 4 locations, and an incident opens only after the check fails from at least 3 of them. Fettle's model is unanimity instead of majority: every selected region must fail before an incident opens — unanimity, not majority — confirmed over 2 consecutive check cycles by default. Their consensus draws on a larger set of locations than ours does — at least 4 against our 2 on Plus, 3 on Pro and Max.
Prices verified on 2026-08-25 against Better Stack's public pricing page. Vendors change prices; check theirs before deciding — Better Stack pricing.
Try Fettle free
The free plan monitors 20 endpoints from 2 regions and emails you when one breaks — no card. See pricing for the paid intervals, or compare every tool side by side.