Can Prometheus Blackbox Exporter replace PingZen?

For basic HTTP/TCP/DNS monitoring within an existing Prometheus stack — yes. But it requires running Prometheus, Grafana, and Alertmanager. PingZen offers 22 protocols, built-in status pages, incident management, and zero infrastructure to manage.

How hard is it to set up Prometheus Blackbox Exporter?

You need to install and configure Prometheus, Blackbox Exporter, Alertmanager (for alerts), and Grafana (for dashboards). Each requires YAML configuration and ongoing maintenance. PingZen takes 30 seconds to sign up — no infrastructure needed.

Is Prometheus Blackbox Exporter free?

Yes, all components are free and open source. However, you need servers to run the stack, which has hosting and maintenance costs. PingZen is free as a SaaS with no infrastructure to manage.

Should I use Prometheus Blackbox or PingZen?

Use Blackbox Exporter if you already have a Prometheus stack and want unified metrics. Use PingZen if you want quick setup, 22 protocols, status pages, and incident management without managing infrastructure.

PingZen vs Prometheus Blackbox Exporter: SaaS vs Metrics Stack

Prometheus Blackbox Exporter is an open-source probing tool that monitors endpoints over HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, TCP, ICMP, and gRPC. Combined with Prometheus for metrics collection, Alertmanager for notifications, and Grafana for dashboards, it forms a powerful monitoring stack. Used by thousands of companies, it integrates natively into the Prometheus ecosystem.

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Quick Comparison

Best Value

PingZen

Price: Free forever
Intervals: 30 seconds
Protocols: 22 protocols
Alerts: 12+ channels

Prometheus Blackbox

Price: Free (self-hosted stack)
Intervals: Configurable (any)
Protocols: 6 (HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, TCP, ICMP, gRPC)
Alerts: Via Alertmanager (any)

Feature Comparison

Feature Comparison
Feature	PingZen	Prometheus Blackbox
HTTP/HTTPS monitoring
TCP port monitoring
Ping (ICMP)
DNS monitoring
gRPC monitoring
SSL certificate monitoring Via probe_ssl_earliest_cert_expiry
WebSocket monitoring
WHOIS/Domain expiry
SMTP monitoring
FTP/FTPS monitoring
UDP monitoring
Grafana dashboards Full metrics visualization
PromQL queries Advanced metric analysis
Telegram alerts Via Alertmanager
Slack integration Via Alertmanager
PagerDuty integration Via Alertmanager
Status page Needs separate tool
No server required Requires Prometheus + Grafana stack
Incident management
Open source

Why Choose PingZen

22 protocols vs 6 — WebSocket, SMTP, FTP, WHOIS, UDP, and more
Zero setup — no Prometheus, Grafana, or Alertmanager to install
Built-in status pages and incident management
Ready in 30 seconds — just sign up and add monitors
No YAML/PromQL knowledge required
Team workspaces with role-based access control

When Prometheus Blackbox is Better

Part of the Prometheus ecosystem — unified metrics for everything
PromQL for advanced metric analysis and custom alerting rules
Grafana integration with beautiful customizable dashboards
Scales to thousands of endpoints with multi-target support
Full data ownership — all metrics stored on your infrastructure
Community of millions — battle-tested at massive scale

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Migration Tip

If you already run Prometheus, add PingZen for protocols Blackbox Exporter lacks (WebSocket, SMTP, WHOIS, FTP) and for instant status pages. If starting fresh, PingZen is dramatically simpler — no Prometheus/Grafana/Alertmanager stack to manage.