DriftWatch vs Visual Sentinel
DriftWatch
driftwatch.appVisual Sentinel
visualsentinel.comSide by side
| Figure | DriftWatch | Visual Sentinel |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $29/mo | $4.50/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 15 |
| Spec score · DNS Monitoring Software | 7.9 (#18) | 8.5 (#7) |
| API | The REST API uses Sanctum token authentication and supports managing domains, querying changes, configuring alerts, and triggering scans. | The public REST API uses scoped organization keys and exposes monitors, incidents, status pages, maintenance windows, reports, notification channels and servers. |
| Monitoring | Users can choose individual records or monitor an entire domain, with scan intervals configurable per domain. | The service offers uptime, screenshot-based visual comparison, SSL, DNS, performance, content, API, endpoint, and server monitoring. |
| Support | The maker lists [email protected] for general enquiries and support and says it typically responds within one business day. | The company says human support replies typically within 24 hours by email. |
Plans
Visual Sentinel
- Solo$6 a month
- Solo$54 a year
- Starter$12 a month
- Starter$108 a year
- Business$39 a month
- Business$351 a year
- FreeFree
- Agency$149 a month
- Agency$1,341 a year
- FreeFree
In their own words
DriftWatch
DriftWatch has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Visual Sentinel
Visual Sentinel monitors websites and servers, including page changes that ordinary uptime checks may miss. Its monitoring covers uptime, screenshot-based visual comparison, SSL, DNS, performance, content, APIs, endpoints, and servers. For visual checks, it captures a page in a browser and compares the screenshot with a prior baseline. Users can exclude changing page elements with CSS selectors and set the amount of change needed to flag a capture. Failed uptime checks are repeated; a site is marked down only if it fails from all selected regions. Alerts can go to email, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, webhooks, Prometheus, and browser push. The REST API manages monitors, incidents, status pages, maintenance windows, reports, and notification channels; API access is listed for Business and Agency. The Free plan costs nothing and includes three monitors, 10-minute checks, and one status page. Solo costs $6 a month. Visual Sentinel is built and operated by Acefina LLC and is intended for small teams, agencies, and site owners.