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Mackerel

mackerel.io

Free plan WebWindowsLinuxAPI
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Spec score 7.8 #11 of 31 in Cloud Monitoring

What it is

Mackerel is a cloud-based SaaS service for monitoring servers and team-managed infrastructure. Installing its agent starts monitoring, after which hosts can be grouped into services and roles. It visualizes host metrics and user-defined service measures, including response time, sales and page views. Monitoring features include combining metrics, tracking predicted values and machine-learning anomaly detection. Cloud integrations cover Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud; a container agent treats Amazon ECS tasks and Kubernetes pods as hosts. Users can extend monitoring with open-source plugins, APIs and the mkr command-line tool. Customer Reliability Engineers can offer technical guidance on implementation and use, while standard-plan technical support is email-only. The free plan has five standard and micro hosts total, 500 metrics, one-day retention, 10 monitoring rules, one dashboard and up to 5M trace spans. A two-week trial includes Standard-plan functions and a 100M-span allowance. Standard host usage costs 2,180 yen, tax included, per host month.

Spec sheet

Product
Mackerel is a SaaS server monitoring service designed for cloud-era infrastructure and team-based monitoring.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Trial
The two-week free trial provides Standard-plan functions, with a trial trace-span allowance of 100M spans.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Support
Customer Reliability Engineers provide technical support and can guide customers through implementation and use.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Headquarters
Kyoto, JapanRead 28 Sep 2026 · mackerel.io
Founded
2001Read 28 Sep 2026 · mackerel.io
Company
Mackerel is provided by Hatena Co., Ltd.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Clouds
Cloud integrations include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Containers
The container agent monitors workloads on Amazon ECS and Kubernetes by treating a task or pod as a host.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Extensibility
Users can extend monitoring with open-source plugins, APIs, and the mkr command-line tool.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Metrics
The service can visualize host metrics and user-defined service metrics, including response time, sales, and page views.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Monitoring
Mackerel supports combining metrics, monitoring predicted values, and machine-learning anomaly detection.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Setup
Installing the monitoring agent on a server starts monitoring, and Mackerel groups hosts into services and roles.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Support limits
The pricing page describes standard-plan technical support as email-only and says support contact is free during business-day operating hours of 10:00–19:00.Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io

Plans and prices

Free Free 5 standard and micro hosts total · 500 metrics · 1 day data retention · 10 monitoring rules · 1 custom dashboard · up to 5M trace spans Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Standard Price not published 2,180 yen (tax included) per standard host month; 660 yen (tax included) per micro host month; 11 yen (tax included) per metric; 330 yen (tax included) per 1M spans 460 days data retention · 100 monitoring rules · 100 custom dashboards · unlimited users · minimum usage fee of 2,180 JPY when billable features are used Read 5 Oct 2026 · en.mackerel.io
Standard (micro host) Priced on request 30 metrics per micro host Read 23 Sep 2026 · en.mackerel.io

Every Mackerel plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Groups monitored hosts into services and roles.
  • Tracks user-defined service metrics.
  • Integrates with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
  • Offers a two-week Standard-function trial.
  • Supports plugins, APIs and the mkr CLI.

Limits

  • Free plan limits retention to one day.
  • Free plan allows five standard and micro hosts total.
  • Standard-plan technical support is email-only.

Who it suits

Mackerel suits teams monitoring cloud infrastructure, servers or container workloads. Its custom metrics and extension options may also fit teams that want to monitor service measures beyond host metrics.

Verdict

Mackerel covers host and service metrics, cloud integrations and container workloads, with extension points for teams that need them. Review its free-plan limits and host-month pricing alongside the support terms.

Where Specifiction places it

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