Top 5 best website monitoring services for businesses

[sincity]

There are a plethora of monitoring solutions out there which give firms the tools and resources they need to track their online assets, particularly websites, which are now mandatory for any business that wants to be successful.

Without a website, companies risk becoming seriously disconnected from their customers and beaten by competitors who have a polished online presence. However, while websites offer so many benefits, there’s still so much that can go wrong with them. 

A broken link, DDoS attack, hack or unauthorised content being published could have dire consequences for businesses. The fact is, business websites have to be in perfect working order constantly, while remaining safe from the attentions of cybercriminals. With monitoring tools, organisations can keep track of their website homepages, subpages, directories and the IT equipment they run on. 

But which are the best website monitoring tools? Read on and find out…

• We’ve also rounded up the best infrastructure management services

Nowadays, businesses have to deal with a whole host of different pieces of hardware and software to keep their operation afloat. And keeping tabs on it all can prove time-consuming and costly. Enter Traverse monitoring, a platform that gives you the tools you need to better manage private and hybrid clouds, virtualised assets and distributed networks.

The system has been designed to identify website, data centre and networking complications before they cause any damage to business operations. It gives you a comprehensive service-oriented view of all your IT devices and services.

There’s a degree of automation here, too. The software will automatically discover issues from devices such as disks, controllers, WLANs, switches, printers, SAN and NAS devices. Not only does Traverse monitor all these aspects for problems, but it also scans the applications that run on them – including websites, email databases and active directories. Whenever a problem is identified, you’re sent an actionable alert straightaway.

• You can sign up for Kaseya Traverse here

TrueSight Pulse also aims to keep your technical infrastructure and websites in full working order. It’s a SaaS solution that provides real-time monitoring and alerts for companies that use web-scale applications built in the cloud or on-premise.

The aim of the software is to ensure that not only is the user experience of your front-end websites and applications top-notch, but also the back-end of them. It monitors your web systems and infrastructure in real-time and looks out for any irregularities – if something is picked up, you’re sent an alert, metrics and actionable insights to help you fix it. 

As well as monitoring core internal infrastructure such as networks and disks, TrueSight also works with a variety of different web applications and services. These include the likes of Campfire, Azure, Amazon Web Services, MySQL, Flowdock and Openstack.

This is definitely one to look into if you use a variety of systems in your day-to-day operations, and you can sign up for a free 14-day trial before committing to a price plan.

• You can sign up for BMC TrueSight Pulse here

While in some cases it can make sense for businesses to outsource their service and networking needs, some firms prefer to build and maintain their own internal systems to run their websites and apps on. Of course, if you fall into this category, it’s essential that you monitor them for any problems. 

And Scaylr can do just that – it’s an online platform which can find problems and help fix them quickly. It can offer instant server diagnosis, production system visibility, log aggregation, alerts, server metrics and comprehensive dashboards.

Analysis is at the core of Scaylr. You can use it to track all your web servers and get real-time analytics into how they’re performing. Results are presented in the highly visual form of graphs and dashboards, and these can be accessed by all members of staff.

You can import data logs from services such as Fluentd and AWS, too. There are a range of pricing structures based on the needs of your firm, although you can get a live online demo and a free trial to test the waters before you commit. 

• You can sign up for Scaylr here

These days, businesses must not just simply have a website, but they need a good website. Not just one that is well laid out and designed, but a site that is quick and responsive as well. Slow response/loading times are something customers get frustrated by, and may well cause them to leave – for good.

This is where Uptime is handy. It’s one of the most popular site monitoring services out there and checks your website(s) for flaws every single second. The system is highly capable, offering automated analysis and providing notifications if a problem is found. They’re sent via email, SMS or third-party push notifications.

The flexibility to choose how you’re alerted should prove attractive for firms that use a variety of communication systems. The system has the capability to monitor HTTP/HTTPS, Ping, SSH, TCP, UDP, DNS, SMTP, POP, and IMAP, and major organisations like SAP, Cisco and Kraft all use Uptime in their daily operations.

• You can sign up for Uptime here

Monitoring systems tend to be either broad or specific, and Stackify Retrace is one of the more varied options. This product offers businesses of all sizes comprehensive website and application monitoring, error tracking, custom metrics, log management and data protection facilities.

The software has been developed for companies that use a selection of cloud-based applications and services. It doesn’t just monitor and detect problems, though – Stackify will also attempt to resolve issues before they cause any damage to your business and user experience. As a result, you can focus your time and energy on other tasks.

• You can sign up for Stackify Retrace here