Cronheart vs Dead Man's Snitch
Dead Man's Snitch is the closest peer to Cronheart — both are focused dead man's switch monitors: a job pings on success, and a missed ping pages you. The price points even line up. The difference is how many monitors each dollar buys, and the lifecycle detail. Here's the honest side-by-side.
Figures verified against deadmanssnitch.com in June 2026 — check their plans page for the latest.
Where Cronheart pulls ahead
- More monitors at every price. 20 free vs 1, 50 vs 3 at $5, 200 vs 100 at $19, 1000 vs 300 at $49.
- Explicit failure signals.
start/success/failpings catch a crashed or hung run, not just a missed window. - First-class PHP scheduler support. Auto-discovered Symfony Scheduler and Laravel integration through
cron-monitor/php-sdk— a scheduled command maps to a monitor without hand-wired pings. - Signed webhooks + status badges. HMAC-signed outgoing webhooks and public SVG badges out of the box.
When Dead Man's Snitch is the better fit
- You want a native mobile app. Dead Man's Snitch ships iOS and Android apps; Cronheart is web plus alert channels.
- You're invested in its ecosystem. It's a mature service with a long track record and tight Heroku Scheduler support.
Dead Man's Snitch is a proven, well-loved tool. Cronheart's edge is more headroom per tier, explicit failure reporting, and PHP framework integration.
Frequently asked
Is Cronheart a drop-in alternative to Dead Man's Snitch?
Yes — they share the same dead man's switch model. Each scheduled job pings a unique URL on success; miss the window and you get alerted. Point your existing ping at a Cronheart monitor URL and the behaviour is the same.
How does the pricing compare?
The price points line up but the monitor counts do not. Dead Man's Snitch is free for 1 snitch, then $5/mo for 3, $19/mo for 100, and $49/mo for 300. Cronheart is free for 20 monitors, then $5/mo for 50, $19/mo for 200, and $49/mo for 1000 — more headroom at every tier.
When is Dead Man's Snitch the better choice?
It is a mature, well-established service with a native mobile app and an ecosystem built around Heroku Scheduler. If those matter to you, it is a safe pick.
What does Cronheart add for PHP teams?
First-class Symfony Scheduler and Laravel scheduler integration via the cron-monitor/php-sdk package, plus signed webhooks and public SVG status badges. You map a scheduled command to a monitor instead of hand-wiring pings.
Do both report job failures, not just misses?
Yes. Beyond a missed heartbeat, Cronheart accepts explicit start / success / fail pings, so an errored run pages you immediately and a slow run can be caught before it overruns its window.
More comparisons: vs Healthchecks.io · vs Cronitor — or learn how to monitor cron jobs.
Try Cronheart free
20 monitors, no credit card. Point a curl at a monitor URL and you're covered in minutes.