Know when your cron jobs
stop running.
Add a curl to any scheduled task. If the ping misses its configured grace window, CheckFast marks the job late and sends alerts through the channels available on your plan.
Setup snippets
Copy-paste into your cron job, CI/CD pipeline, or scheduled task.
# Append to your cron job — pings on success
*/5 * * * * /path/to/job.sh && curl -fsS --retry 3 https://checkfast.io/api/ping/YOUR-UUID
# Or ping with exit code
*/5 * * * * /path/to/job.sh; curl -fsS -d '{"exit_code": '$?'}' https://checkfast.io/api/ping/YOUR-UUIDTry it live
See how the ping endpoint works. Click the button to send a real HTTP request.
How we compare
Three free monitors plus 44 one-off diagnostic tools.
| Feature | CheckFast | Cronhub | Healthchecks | Dead Man's Snitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heartbeat ping URL | ||||
| Cron expression validation | ||||
| Telegram alerts | ||||
| Slack alerts | Pro+ | |||
| Start / explicit failure events | ||||
| Recovery notifications | ||||
| Public status badge | ||||
| Self-hostable | ||||
| Bundled with 44 one-off tools | ||||
| Cronhub URL compatibility without editing jobs | ||||
| Free tier | 3 monitors | closed | 20 checks | |
| Starter price | $9/mo (15) | closed | $5 (25) | $5 (5) |
Everything you need
Heartbeat done right.
Heartbeat ping monitoring
Drop one curl into your cron. We watch for the ping; if it doesn't arrive on time, we alert.
Cron + interval schedules
Use five-field cron expressions ('0 4 * * *'), evaluated in UTC, or simple intervals from one minute to one day.
Explicit start + failure events
Record a start marker or report an explicit failure with query parameters on the same ping URL.
Durable dashboard alerts
Free accounts record missed and recovery events in CheckFast. External channels remain plan-dependent.
Grace-window detection
Configure a cron expression or interval plus a grace window before a missing ping becomes late.
Guided Cronhub migration
Create replacement jobs, copy their new CheckFast ping URLs, and verify both services before cutover.
Replace and verify every ping URL.
Each CheckFast job has a new /api/ping/<uuid> URL. Replace the corresponding Cronhub URL in each job, send a test ping, and keep both services active during a short verification window before cutover.
# Save the current crontab before editing
sudo crontab -l > /tmp/cronhub-before.txt
cp /tmp/cronhub-before.txt /tmp/checkfast-after.txt
# Create each CheckFast job, then replace its full Cronhub URL
${EDITOR:-vi} /tmp/checkfast-after.txt
diff -u /tmp/cronhub-before.txt /tmp/checkfast-after.txt
# Install only after reviewing every UUID mapping
sudo crontab /tmp/checkfast-after.txt
curl -fsS https://checkfast.io/api/ping/new-checkfast-uuidFrequently asked questions
CheckFast provides paid heartbeat monitoring after Cronhub's closure. Each migrated job receives a new CheckFast UUID and URL. Starter is $9/mo for 15 combined monitors and cron jobs; follow /cron/migrate-from-cronhub to map and verify every replacement URL.
Uptime monitoring tells you when a server is down. Heartbeat monitoring tells you when a job didn't run — which can happen even on a healthy server (cron daemon stopped MAILTO swallowed errors expired token deployment broke the script). Heartbeat is the only way to catch the silent failure where a backup sync or report stops happening.
The scheduler checks overdue jobs every five minutes after the configured grace window. An overdue job can be detected on the next scan; durable notification delivery follows and can take longer during scheduler database network or provider delays. CheckFast does not promise a fixed end-to-end alert SLA.
You can record?type=start?type=fail and base-URL success events. The current product does not calculate run duration historical p95 or hung-job alerts from those markers.
Healthchecks.io is open-source and self-hostable which is useful when you want full operational control. CheckFast is managed bundles cron jobs with 44 one-off diagnostic tools and offers plan-based notification channels from $9/mo.
No. The current plans are single-account subscriptions and do not provide shared workspaces team seats or per-member acknowledgement permissions.
Not for individual cron jobs. CheckFast has separate public report badges and Pro/Agency can publish a simple /status/ view but cron-job badge URLs are not implemented.
The dashboard uses session-authenticated cron-job CRUD under Endpoint Registered Free accounts can use it within the shared three-monitor allowance while heartbeat ingestion uses the unguessable Endpoint URL. Cron CRUD is not currently published in the API-key-authenticated OpenAPI contract.
Recommended reading
Monitoring Cron Jobs Without Cronhub: Healthchecks, Heartbeats, and CheckFast's Approach
Cronhub is shutting down in June 2026. Here is what "heartbeat monitoring" actually means, the patterns that survive flaky networks, and how to migrate.
Read articleBuilding a Status Page: When to Buy vs Build vs Use a Bundled Tool
An honest comparison of StatusPage.io, Atlassian Statuspage, Better Stack, and DIY options — plus when bundling status with your monitoring stack pays off.
Read articleMore in Monitoring
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