# Lampwick vs Laravel Nightwatch

> Nightwatch gives more events and retention per dollar. Lampwick adds uptime, SSL, domain, DNS, cron, status pages and a link crawler. Prices checked 8 Nov 2026.

We make Lampwick. Here's where each tool is the better pick.

For Laravel application monitoring alone, Nightwatch is cheaper and keeps data longer. Pick Lampwick if you also want uptime, certificate, domain, DNS and cron checks, status pages and a link crawler on the same bill, from an EU company.

Last reviewed 8 Nov 2026. Competitor facts come from the vendor's own pages, linked in the footnotes.

## Same instrumentation, different backend

Lampwick's Laravel package requires `laravel/nightwatch` (`^1.24`, MIT-licensed) and uses its instrumentation inside your app.[^nw-mit] Our own ingest daemon (`php artisan lampwick:agent`) then sends the records to Lampwick instead ([Laravel docs](/docs/laravel/)). So both capture the same data; what differs is everything after that. When Laravel changes its package, we follow.

## At a glance

| | Lampwick | Nightwatch |
|---|---|---|
| Price model | Per team per month, by events | Per organization per month, by events[^nw-pricing] |
| Plans (events / history) | Free €0: 500k / 3 days · Pro €29: 5M / 14 days · Team €79: 25M / 30 days · Business €199: 100M / 60 days | Free $0: 300k / 14 days · Pro $20: 7.5M / 30 days · Team $60: 30M / 60 days · Business $300: 180M / 90 days[^nw-pricing] |
| Extra events | Not published | $0.20 to $0.50 per 100k depending on plan, with a spend cap[^nw-pricing] |
| Sample app (below) | €29 | $20, plus a separate uptime tool |
| Company | EU | Laravel Holdings Inc., New York, US[^nw-terms] |
| Data location | EU (Hetzner) | US or EU data centers[^nw-pricing] |
| Uptime checks | Yes, every 30 s to 1 hour | Not in the docs[^nw-docs] |
| SSL, domain, DNS checks | Yes | Not in the docs[^nw-docs] |
| Cron health (missed runs) | Yes | Records runs and next run time; no missed-run alert in the docs[^nw-sched] |
| Broken links and mixed content | Yes, daily crawl | Not in the docs[^nw-docs] |
| Status pages | Yes, up to 10 per team | Not in the docs[^nw-docs] |
| Alerts | iOS push, email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, signed webhooks | Slack and webhooks; Linear for issues[^nw-docs] |
| API / MCP | REST API; MCP server with OAuth sign-in (read-only or read & write) or a personal token | MCP server with OAuth: applications and issues[^nw-mcp] |
| Frameworks | Laravel package; any app over HTTP | Laravel only[^nw-pricing] |
| Seats, apps | Free: 1 seat, 1 project. Paid: unlimited seats, 5 to unlimited projects | Unlimited seats, applications and environments on every plan[^nw-pricing] |
| Self-hosting | No | No[^nw-pricing] |

## What does a typical app cost?

The sample: 2 Laravel apps, 3M events a month in total, 5 people, 10 uptime monitors with SSL checks.

- Lampwick Pro, €29: 5M events, 5 projects, unlimited seats, 20 monitors every minute, 14 days of history.
- Nightwatch Pro, $20: 7.5M events, unlimited apps and seats, 30 days of history.[^nw-pricing] The 10 monitors need a second tool: Better Stack's free tier (for personal projects)[^bs-pricing] or Oh Dear Freelance at $55.[^od-pricing] Total: $20 to $75.

Prices exclude VAT; we don't convert currencies.

## Topic by topic

### Events and retention per dollar: Nightwatch wins

At every tier Nightwatch includes more events and keeps them longer.

### Application monitoring: tie, Nightwatch ahead on collaboration

Both group exceptions into issues and show routes with p95 and a timeline per request or job. Nightwatch adds issue assignment and comments, per-route performance thresholds and a Linear integration.[^nw-home] Lampwick adds activity and errors per signed-in user, and logs tied to the request or job that wrote them.

### Uptime, SSL, domain and DNS: Lampwick wins

Lampwick alerts 14, 7, 3 and 1 days before a certificate expires, looks up the domain daily over RDAP and checks NS and MX records hourly. Nightwatch's docs have no pages on any of this.[^nw-docs]

### Cron and scheduled tasks: Lampwick wins

Lampwick works out each task's schedule from its runs and alerts when a task is missed, starts failing or runs too long, with one project alert when the whole scheduler stops. Nightwatch's scheduled-task page shows next run and execution times; we found no missed-run alert.[^nw-sched]

### Status pages and link crawling: Lampwick wins

Lampwick has public status pages with incident and maintenance notices, and a daily crawl for broken links and mixed content on up to 250 pages. Nightwatch's docs cover neither.[^nw-docs]

### Alerts: Lampwick wins

Nightwatch sends issue updates to Slack and webhooks, and issues to Linear.[^nw-webhooks] Lampwick sends every alert and every new or reopened issue by iOS push, and alerts (not issues) by email, with no setup. Once a team owner adds an [alert channel](/docs/alerts/#alert-channels), both also go to Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams or a signed webhook. Nightwatch still has Linear, which Lampwick doesn't.

### MCP: Lampwick wins

Both MCP servers sign in with OAuth. Nightwatch's lets an agent browse issues and stack traces, change their status and comment.[^nw-mcp] Lampwick's [MCP server](/docs/mcp/) also covers requests, jobs, logs and monitors, and you choose read-only or read & write when you connect. Its agent can change an issue's status too, but Lampwick's issues have no comments.

### Data location: depends on what you need

Both can keep your data in the EU.[^nw-pricing] The difference is the company: Laravel Holdings Inc. is based in New York, with terms under New York law.[^nw-terms] Lampwick is an EU company, and the services that see your data (Hetzner, Lettermint) are EU companies.

### Beyond Laravel: Lampwick, narrowly

Nightwatch is for Laravel only.[^nw-pricing] Any app can send records to Lampwick's [HTTP ingest](/docs/http-ingest/), but without a package for other frameworks you build the records yourself.

## When to pick Nightwatch instead

- You want the most events and the longest history for your money.
- You want the first-party tool from the Laravel team.
- Your issues must land in Linear.
- You already have uptime and certificate checks you're happy with.

Weighing more than these two? See the [Nightwatch alternatives](/compare/nightwatch-alternatives/).

[Start free](https://app.lampwick.dev/signup), or read how to [connect a Laravel app](/docs/laravel/).

[^nw-mit]: [laravel/nightwatch on GitHub](https://github.com/laravel/nightwatch): "open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license", checked 8 Nov 2026. Our side: `packages/laravel/composer.json` and the package README.
[^nw-pricing]: [Nightwatch pricing and FAQ](https://laravel.com/nightwatch/pricing), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^nw-terms]: [Nightwatch terms of service](https://laravel.com/legal/nightwatch/terms), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^nw-docs]: [Nightwatch docs index](https://nightwatch.laravel.com/docs/llms.txt), checked 8 Nov 2026: no pages on uptime, SSL, domain, DNS, status pages or link checks; alert integrations are Slack and webhooks, plus Linear.
[^nw-sched]: [Nightwatch scheduled tasks docs](https://nightwatch.laravel.com/docs/scheduled-tasks.md), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^nw-mcp]: [Nightwatch MCP server docs](https://nightwatch.laravel.com/docs/mcp-server.md), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^bs-pricing]: [Better Stack pricing](https://betterstack.com/pricing), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^od-pricing]: [Oh Dear pricing](https://ohdear.app/pricing), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^nw-home]: [Nightwatch product page](https://laravel.com/nightwatch), checked 8 Nov 2026.
[^nw-webhooks]: [Nightwatch webhooks docs](https://nightwatch.laravel.com/docs/webhooks.md) (issue opened, reopened, ignored, resolved; one webhook per application) and [Slack docs](https://nightwatch.laravel.com/docs/slack.md), checked 8 Nov 2026.