heartbeet vs Dead Man's Snitch
Dead Man's Snitch basically named the category, and the detective theming is great. it's also the most minimal of the established tools, which is either exactly what you want or the reason you're reading a comparison page.
the core difference: picked intervals vs learned rhythm
a snitch has an interval you pick from a list (15 minutes, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly), and smart alerting that learns roughly when inside that interval your job tends to report. you create the snitch first and get a unique url per job.
heartbeet skips both steps: the first heartbeat creates the job, and the beets learn the actual rhythm, not a bucket; a job that runs every 73 minutes is expected every 73 minutes, with a grace period sized to its own wobble. the deadlines fall out per job; there is nothing to state.
side by side
| — | heartbeet | Dead Man's Snitch |
|---|---|---|
| configuration | none; rhythm + grace period learned per job | pick an interval bucket per snitch |
| free tier | 2 projects, unlimited jobs | 1 snitch |
| paid | $5 backer (limits lifted, tuning, 90d history) / $20 team (teammates, routed recipients, history forever) | plans by snitch count, roughly $19/mo for ~100 and up from there |
| job creation | first heartbeat creates the job; one api key per project | create a snitch, get its unique url |
| alert channels | email (Slack, SMS, webhooks on the roadmap) | email, Slack, webhooks (channels vary by plan) |
| pausing | deploy-shaped: drain + wait windows, per job or per tag, from the project page or any project api key | pause per snitch (api/dashboard); resumes on the next check-in |
| field reporting | tags + status responses on every heartbeat; arrhythmia paging on paid plans | smart alerting within the interval window |
pick Dead Man's Snitch if
- you have a handful of jobs, their intervals match the buckets, and you value the absolute minimum of moving parts.
- the unique-url-per-snitch model fits your setup better than an api key (nothing to put in a header).
- you want Slack delivery today.
pick heartbeet if
- you find one free snitch a little thin; heartbeet's free plan watches unlimited jobs across 2 projects.
- your jobs don't fit neat buckets, or you don't want to re-pick a bucket every time a schedule changes.
- you want deploy-shaped pausing (drain + wait, by job or by tag) instead of working around the monitor during maintenance.
the quickstart is one curl; the free tier needs no card.