Mackerel
Mackerel: A broad monitoring toolkit with useful anomaly detection and a limited free tier. Ranked #15 of 32 in Infrastructure Monitoring by our editors (8.0/10); pricing: Free plan · 14-day trial; best for cloud teams needing alerts and anomaly detection.
At a glance
- Editor score8.0 / 10
- PricingFree plan · 14-day trial
- Best forCloud teams needing alerts and anomaly detection
- Free planYes
- Paid from2,180 JPY/unit/mo
- Founded2001 · Kyoto, Japan
- Facts checked23 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Monitors hosts, services, URLs, SSL certificates, clouds, and containers
- Machine-learning anomaly detection supports role-based monitoring
- Alerts connect with Slack, Teams, PagerDuty, webhooks, and more
Where it doesn't
- Free plan retains data for only 1 day
- Free plan covers up to 5 standard and micro hosts combined
- Standard billing varies with hosts, metrics, and trace spans
Our verdict on Mackerel
Mackerel is a cloud-based infrastructure monitoring service for teams operating servers, applications, containers, and multi-cloud environments. It supports Linux and Windows Server hosts, host and service metrics, warning and critical thresholds, dashboards, alert routing, external URL checks, SSL certificate monitoring, and downtime controls. Cloud teams that need centralized visibility across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon ECS, or Kubernetes are the clearest fit.
The published plans make Mackerel accessible for small monitoring footprints. The Free plan covers up to 5 standard hosts and micro hosts combined, up to 500 metrics, 1-day data retention, and up to 20 external monitors free of charge. A two-week free trial is available, after which the Free plan is automatically transferred. Standard costs ¥2,180 tax included per standard host-month or ¥660 tax included per micro host-month, billed monthly. It adds 460-day data retention, while usage-based billing also applies to hosts, metrics, and trace spans. Teams should estimate usage across those components rather than treating the starting host price as a complete fixed subscription.
Mackerel’s ecosystem fit is one of its stronger attributes. Alert notifications can reach email, Slack, Chatwork, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Twilio, and webhooks, while plugins, REST APIs, and the mkr command-line tool support extensions. Custom dashboards include graph, number, and Markdown widgets, and expression monitoring supports calculated metrics and forecasts. Machine-learning anomaly detection for roles adds an analytical layer beyond threshold alerts. Mackerel is a sensible choice for cloud and container teams that value broad monitoring functions and integrations; teams needing longer Free-plan retention or a simpler fixed-cost structure should look closely at the Standard billing model before choosing it.
Your product? Our editors can test Mackerel in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →
Mackerel pricing
All 3 Mackerel plans and prices →
Mackerel fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | 2,180 JPY/unit/mo |
| Included hosts | Not verified |
| VM monitoring | Yes |
| Service monitoring | Yes |
| Metrics retention | Not verified |
| Deployment model | Cloud |
| OS coverage | Linux and windows |
| Agentless monitoring | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| Platforms | Web, Linux, Windows |
| Compliance & security | 2FA, SSO/SAML |
| Support | Email, Docs |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 10 integrations: AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Slack, Chatwork, Microsoft Teams … |
| Pricing | Free plan · 14-day trial (source) |
| Website | en.mackerel.io |
| Facts checked | 23 Sep 2026 |
Mackerel integrations
Mackerel lists 10 integrations on its own site.
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud
- Slack
- Chatwork
- Microsoft Teams
- PagerDuty
- Twilio
- LINE
- Webhooks
Alternatives to Mackerel
- ZabbixA broad monitoring platform with a free self-hosted edition and flexible deployment options.9.4
- CheckmkA broad hybrid-monitoring platform with free open-source coverage and paid automation tiers.9.3
- Datadog Infrastructure MonitoringBroad infrastructure observability for cloud-native teams, with host-based pricing.9.2
See all Mackerel alternatives →
Also Ranked In
Mackerel is ranked in 2 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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