pulsestack ~ ping-monitor
$ pulsestack ping --continuous --locations=all
_
Ping Monitor

Know your network
is alive. Always.

ICMP ping monitoring from 10+ global locations. Track latency, packet loss, and reachability for every server, router, and network device in your infrastructure. Works alongside HTTP monitoring for full-stack coverage.

30s

Check interval

10+

Locations

99.9%

Uptime SLA

Global visibility

Latency from every angle

Each monitor is pinged simultaneously from 10+ locations. Hover a location to see how it connects to your infrastructure.

Location
prod-web-01
db-primary
cdn-edge-eu
api-gateway
🇬🇧 London
8ms
12ms
3ms
10ms
🇺🇸 New York
72ms
76ms
14ms
74ms
🇩🇪 Frankfurt
14ms
18ms
6ms
16ms
🇸🇬 Singapore
168ms
172ms
48ms
170ms
🇯🇵 Tokyo
195ms
200ms
52ms
198ms
🇧🇷 Sao Paulo
180ms
184ms
62ms
182ms
🇦🇺 Sydney
245ms
250ms
68ms
248ms
🇮🇳 Mumbai
140ms
145ms
38ms
142ms
🇨🇦 Toronto
82ms
86ms
18ms
84ms
🇳🇱 Amsterdam
10ms
14ms
5ms
12ms
<20ms 20-50ms 50-100ms 100-200ms >200ms
prod-web-01 : last 100 packets5% loss
Received Lost

100

Sent

95

Received

5

Lost

5.0%

Loss %

Beyond up or down

Packet loss tells the real story

A server can respond to 95 out of 100 pings and still technically be "up." But that 5% packet loss degrades VoIP quality, causes timeouts in API calls, and creates a miserable experience for your users. Most monitoring tools report this as "online."

Pulse Stack™ tracks packet loss per check cycle and alerts you when loss exceeds your threshold. Combined with response time tracking, you get a complete picture of connection quality, not just binary availability.

Set separate thresholds for different device types. A 1% loss threshold for your API servers. A 5% threshold for less critical internal devices. Each monitor gets its own rules.

Ping, HTTP, or both?

Different layers of your infrastructure need different types of monitoring. Here is when to use each.

ICMP Ping

Network layer (Layer 3)

Best for infrastructure devices that don't serve web traffic.

Database servers
Routers and switches
Load balancers
VPN gateways
NAS and storage devices
IoT edge devices
Mail servers (SMTP)
DNS servers

HTTP Monitoring

Application layer (Layer 7)

Best for anything serving web traffic or API responses.

Websites and landing pages
REST and GraphQL APIs
Webhooks and callbacks
CDN endpoints
Admin dashboards
Payment gateways
OAuth providers
Microservices

Use both for complete coverage. A web server can respond to ping while Apache is crashed. Conversely, a firewall rule can block ICMP while HTTP traffic flows normally. Running both catches what either would miss alone.

Network health

Every device, one dashboard

Group servers by environment, region, or function. See latency trends, packet loss rates, and uptime percentages at a glance. Drill into any device for full check history.

Combine ping monitors with port checks to verify that specific services (MySQL on 3306, SSH on 22, Redis on 6379) are responding on each server. The device is reachable, and the service is running.

All monitor types share the same incident management system and status pages, so ping failures trigger the same escalation workflows as your HTTP monitors.

Production Servers
8 online1 down
prod-web-01
8ms99.98%
prod-web-02
9ms99.97%
db-primary
4ms99.99%
db-replica-01
DOWN94.2%
redis-cache
3ms99.99%
lb-external
6ms99.95%
vpn-gateway
12ms99.96%
mail-smtp
7ms99.98%
monitoring-agent
2ms100%

Three metrics that define network health

Binary up/down monitoring is just the starting point. These three measurements tell you the full story of your connection quality.

Latency

Alert at 2x your baseline

14msavg round-trip

The time it takes for a packet to travel to a destination and back. High latency causes sluggish page loads, slow database queries, and laggy real-time applications. Pulse Stack™ tracks latency per location and alerts on sustained increases that indicate network degradation.

Jitter

Alert above 20ms variance

3.2msvariance

The variation in latency between consecutive packets. Low, consistent latency is better than fast latency that fluctuates wildly. High jitter destroys VoIP call quality, interrupts video conferencing, and makes real-time collaboration tools unreliable.

Packet Loss

Alert above 1% loss

0.0%last 24h

The percentage of packets that never arrive at their destination. Even 1% loss causes TCP retransmissions that multiply latency, degrade throughput, and can trigger cascading timeouts across distributed systems that depend on each other.

Monitor your first server in 60 seconds

Enter an IP or hostname. We start pinging from 10+ locations immediately.

Start free

The network is the foundation

Every web request, API call, database query, and email delivery depends on network connectivity. When a router drops packets or a switch fails, the cascading effects touch every application on that network segment.

Ping monitoring catches these infrastructure-level failures that application monitoring cannot. A web server might appear healthy on localhost while being completely unreachable from the outside due to a network issue.

Degradation before outage

Network failures rarely happen instantly. Latency creeps up. Packet loss starts at 0.1% and grows. Jitter increases as a switch struggles. These early warning signs are visible in ping data long before a complete outage occurs.

By tracking latency trends over time and alerting on gradual increases, you can replace failing hardware or address routing issues during business hours instead of scrambling at 3 AM during a full outage. Pair this with DNS monitoring for complete visibility.

SLA compliance and reporting

Your hosting provider promises 99.99% network uptime. But how do you verify that? Ping monitoring from external locations gives you independent proof of actual availability and latency performance against your SLA agreements.

Use our SLA calculator to convert uptime percentages into real downtime minutes, then let Pulse Stack™ track whether your infrastructure actually meets those targets. Historical data exports make SLA reviews straightforward.

Simple pricing. Start free.

50 monitors free forever. Upgrade when you need faster checks or more capacity.

Free

£0forever

  • 50 monitors
  • 3-min checks
  • Email alerts
  • 5 status pages
Start free

Most popular

Pro

£29/month

  • 200 monitors
  • 30-sec checks
  • All 16+ alert channels
  • 90-day data retention
Get started

Enterprise

£89/month

  • 500+ monitors
  • 30-sec checks
  • SSO & audit logs
  • Dedicated support
Contact us

All plans include multi-location checks, incident management, and public status pages. Full plan comparison →

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about ICMP ping monitoring.

Is your network really healthy?

Ping every server, router, and device from 10+ locations. Free for 50 monitors, no credit card required.

Start ping monitoring free