What is synthetic mon­i­tor­ing?

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing helps you check whether websites, web ap­pli­ca­tions and APIs are available and per­form­ing as expected. It does this by sim­u­lat­ing typical user actions to detect technical issues early, often before they affect real users.

What is synthetic mon­i­tor­ing?

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is a way to con­tin­u­ous­ly monitor how digital ap­pli­ca­tions behave by sim­u­lat­ing user in­ter­ac­tions. Instead of relying on real users, automated scripts run pre­de­fined actions at regular intervals. These actions can include opening a web page, filling out a form, logging in or com­plet­ing a checkout process. The goal is to measure load times, avail­abil­i­ty and whether in­di­vid­ual com­po­nents are working as they are supposed to. Because the tests repeat the same scenarios at regular intervals, the results can be compared con­sis­tent­ly over time. This makes it easier to spot trends, per­for­mance changes and recurring issues. Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is par­tic­u­lar­ly effective for running con­trolled tests in stable and pre­de­fined en­vi­ron­ments. It allows teams to detect issues at an early stage, often before they impact real users.

How does synthetic mon­i­tor­ing work?

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing uses globally dis­trib­uted check­points or mon­i­tor­ing servers to simulate access from different regions. At set intervals, these servers call up websites, web ap­pli­ca­tions or APIs. During each test, they measure key values such as response time, the load time of in­di­vid­ual resources and HTTP status codes.

These mea­sure­ments are carried out in­de­pen­dent­ly of real user traffic. From a technical stand­point, the tests are often based on browser em­u­la­tions or specific HTTP requests. Some tools can also execute JavaScript, which allows them to replicate specific user in­ter­ac­tions. The collected data is then analyzed and displayed in reports or dash­boards. If a result exceeds a defined threshold, the system can trigger an alert. This helps teams detect regional issues, network errors, server failures and per­for­mance problems early. Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing can also be used to test website speed and to identify ways to optimize your website.

What are the benefits of synthetic mon­i­tor­ing?

One of the biggest benefits of synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is that it helps teams detect outages before real users notice them. Because the tests run con­tin­u­ous­ly, avail­abil­i­ty and per­for­mance issues can be iden­ti­fied early. Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing also helps establish a per­for­mance baseline. These reference values make it easier to spot gradual slowdowns in load times, which can have a direct impact on sales for an online store. New releases, con­fig­u­ra­tion changes and in­fra­struc­ture updates can also be checked with pre­de­fined tests before they affect users.

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is also useful for testing APIs that do not have a user interface. It can also test multi-step actions on a website or app, like when a user logs in, searches for a product and completes a payment. If an error occurs, teams can identify exactly which step is affected. Because the tests follow re­peat­able scenarios, the results are con­sis­tent and easy to compare. This makes root cause analysis easier and helps teams resolve issues faster.

What’s the dif­fer­ence between synthetic mon­i­tor­ing and real user mon­i­tor­ing (RUM)?

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is not the only way to check how your website performs. With real user mon­i­tor­ing, you can collect data from real visitors while they are using your website. When we compare the two, we see that RUM shows you how your website behaves on real devices, browsers and network con­nec­tions. Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing, by contrast, is better suited for regular checks that detect problems early. Both methods work well together: synthetic mon­i­tor­ing tests con­trolled scenarios, while RUM shows what real visitors ex­pe­ri­ence.

Where is synthetic mon­i­tor­ing used?

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is used when a business depends on a website or ap­pli­ca­tion being available and per­form­ing reliably. It works well for simple websites as well as complex web ap­pli­ca­tions. Common use cases include:

Avail­abil­i­ty checks (uptime)

An avail­abil­i­ty check is one of the simplest forms of synthetic mon­i­tor­ing. It tests whether a website or service is online and ac­ces­si­ble at set intervals. Mon­i­tor­ing servers send simple requests to defined endpoints. If a server does not respond or returns an error code, the system detects an outage. Global check­points can also show whether the problem is affecting all users or only certain regions. Companies receive immediate no­ti­fi­ca­tions when downtime occurs, so technical teams can respond quickly and ef­fec­tive­ly. This also allows outages to be detected outside regular business hours.

Per­for­mance mon­i­tor­ing

Per­for­mance mon­i­tor­ing is another common use for synthetic mon­i­tor­ing. It measures how quickly in­di­vid­ual pages and resources load to test the overall speed of a website. This includes DNS res­o­lu­tion, server response time and how long the page takes to render in the browser. Because the tests run under con­sis­tent con­di­tions, the results are easier to compare over time. This helps teams see whether a website has become faster or slower and identify possible bot­tle­necks early. Teams can also more easily evaluate how updates, new features, or in­fra­struc­ture changes affect website per­for­mance. Per­for­mance mon­i­tor­ing helps busi­ness­es maintain a fast and reliable user ex­pe­ri­ence. It is also an important part of op­ti­miz­ing a website’s per­for­mance. For a more detailed analysis of in­di­vid­ual pages, tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights can also be used. Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing tracks load times and detects changes around the clock, while PageSpeed Insights provides specific rec­om­men­da­tions for op­ti­miz­ing per­for­mance.

SLA mon­i­tor­ing

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing is also useful for mon­i­tor­ing Service Level Agree­ments (SLAs). Providers can use it to show whether defined avail­abil­i­ty or per­for­mance targets are being met. Because the checks run regularly under con­trolled con­di­tions, they provide objective data that is not based on in­di­vid­ual user ex­pe­ri­ences. If an SLA violation occurs, the exact time and possible cause can be doc­u­ment­ed. This gives customers more trans­paren­cy and helps providers meet their con­trac­tu­al oblig­a­tions.

Release and change mon­i­tor­ing

Synthetic mon­i­tor­ing can also help when new releases, updates or con­fig­u­ra­tion changes go live. After de­ploy­ment, automated tests can check key user actions, like logging in, com­plet­ing a purchase, or sub­mit­ting a form. This makes it easier to see whether important functions still work as expected. Any un­ex­pect­ed drop in per­for­mance also becomes visible quickly. Because the tests are re­peat­able, teams can compare results before and after a release and trace issues back to specific changes.