28/04/2026
Your monitoring checks if the server is alive. But who checks if the user can actually log in? 👤
That's exactly the gap synthetic monitoring fills.
It doesn't wait for production traffic. It doesn't wait for a customer complaint.
Every so often, every minute it can open the page, fill out the form, click the button, and verify it got the right response back. 🔁
In practice, it works across three layers:
👉 Simulated transactions — scripts mirroring real user flows: login, search, order completion. Every step verified for response correctness, not just availability.
👉 HTTP/HTTPS checks — cyclic endpoint verification. The simplest layer, but already catches certificate errors, redirects, timeouts, and downtime.
👉 Web scenarios — multi-step tests of complete business flows: from opening the page, through filling out the form, to confirming the operation.
The difference from classic infrastructure monitoring is fundamental: instead of asking the server "are you alive?" — synthetic monitoring walks the user's path itself and checks whether it reached the destination.
It runs in the middle of the night. 🌙 At zero traffic. Before anyone hits the problem.
Does your monitoring check the server or your customers?