Checkmk Synthetic Monitoring

Your monitoring shows green.
Your users are struggling.

Because 'available' is not the same as 'usable'.

The truth behind green dashboards:

Traditional monitoring watches what rarely fails: the hardware.
What it doesn't see is what your users actually experience — a failed login, an endlessly loading page, a checkout that hangs.
Fatal: user satisfaction and revenue are created exactly where monitoring systems are blind — at the application level.

Source: The Network Installers — Cost of IT Downtime Statistics

7 of 10 IT failures: human-made.
2.5× Cost increase from 2014–2024 (Gartner/EMA)
$14,000 Average cost of one minute of IT downtime (2026)
The Solution

Application Tests with Robot Framework
— seamlessly integrated into Checkmk

Robot Framework is the proven and flexible open-source tool for automated testing:

  • Established for over 20 years
  • > 40,000 users worldwide
  • Technology-agnostic by design: web, desktop, API, SAP, Citrix, mobile — everything is testable
  • AI ready
  • No vendor lock-in
  • No licensing costs
  • No dead ends

Robotmk integrates this Swiss Army knife into Checkmk — the best-in-class monitoring platform for full-stack observability:

Flow: Robot Framework → Robotmk → Checkmk Synthetic Monitoring
Why Robotmk

Pay for what matters. Not for pretending to test more.

Some tools charge by network request, by check interval, by the minute. Checkmk Synthetic Monitoring charges for exactly one thing: the number of test cases you monitor. Test as often as you like, as thoroughly as you like — the price doesn't move.

Action-based competitors can cost up to 10× more — and the gap grows every time you shorten the test interval.

  • Open source Robot Framework, zero lock-in from day one.
  • Deepest integration Built into Checkmk, not bolted on.
  • No talent risk Readable, maintainable — and 40,000+ engineers already know it.
See the full comparison →
Robotmk Bridge

Not using Robot Framework? No problem.

The Robotmk Bridge connects any test framework to Checkmk. JUnit, pytest, Gatling, ZAP — keep the tools you already trust, and gain full monitoring visibility.

Gatling
JUnit / pytest
Locust
Tricentis Tosca
OWASP ZAP
Learn about the Bridge →
Simon Meggle, Inventor of Robotmk

Invented. Perfected.
And now built into Checkmk.

I am Simon Meggle, the founder of the Robotmk project.

Since 2009, I have been exploring the question of how monitoring can capture not only the infrastructure but also the user perspective — and I have found an answer.

Its name is Robotmk: a solution that integrates Robot Framework tests directly into Checkmk, as if it had been built for that purpose from the outset.

And today? Robotmk is an integral part of Checkmk. And I am lucky enough to work part-time at Checkmk as a product manager for my own invention.

Customer feedback

Robotmk Blog

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