Oh Dear is a popular application health monitoring platform built by the Laravel community. How does it compare to ZoneWatcher for DNS, domain, and SSL monitoring? This comparison focuses on these specific capabilities.
Oh Dear is an excellent application monitoring tool that covers uptime, broken links, mixed content, certificate health, and more. ZoneWatcher is purpose-built for DNS infrastructure monitoring with deep provider integrations. Both tools can complement each other, but if DNS monitoring is your primary need, here's how they compare.
Direct provider API integrations with Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, Azure DNS, DigitalOcean, and 20+ other DNS providers. ZoneWatcher monitors the authoritative source—your DNS provider—detecting changes within minutes of them being made at the provider level.
DNS monitoring via external queries. Oh Dear checks all DNS record types (A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS, SOA) across authoritative nameservers every few hours. Detects changes and inconsistencies between nameservers. Each site must be manually added before monitoring begins.
Zero-configuration setup. Connect your DNS provider once and ZoneWatcher automatically discovers all your domains and DNS records. New domains added to your provider are picked up automatically—no manual entry required.
Each site must be manually added to Oh Dear. Once added, Oh Dear automatically detects DNS records for that site, but there's no DNS provider integration to discover your full domain portfolio automatically.
Comprehensive WHOIS monitoring tracks domain expiration dates, registrar information, nameserver changes, and domain status flags. Configurable advance notifications ensure you never lose a domain. All discovered domains are monitored automatically.
Oh Dear does not monitor domain registration or expiration. The focus is on monitoring sites that are already running rather than the underlying domain infrastructure.
Automatic SSL monitoring for all domains with A/AAAA records. Tracks certificate expiration, issuer changes, and certificate chain validation. Certificates are discovered and monitored automatically based on your DNS records.
Strong certificate health monitoring. Oh Dear checks certificate expiration, certificate chains, and can detect certificate transparency log entries. A solid choice for SSL monitoring on sites you've manually added.
Complete DNS change history with unlimited retention. See exactly what changed, when it changed, and compare any two points in time. Export your DNS records to Bind Zone files or CSV for backup and migration.
DNS history tracking with detailed snapshots of changes over time. Oh Dear records DNS changes for sites you've added, allowing you to review what changed and when.
Dedicated nameserver hijacking protection. Get immediate alerts if your domain's nameservers are changed—a critical security feature that helps you detect domain hijacking attempts before damage is done.
NS record monitoring included. Oh Dear monitors NS records as part of its DNS monitoring and can detect inconsistencies across authoritative nameservers, alerting you to potential issues.
Oh Dear offers excellent features that ZoneWatcher doesn't focus on:
Both tools offer DNS monitoring, but with different approaches. Oh Dear provides solid DNS monitoring as part of a broader application monitoring platform. ZoneWatcher is purpose-built for DNS infrastructure with direct provider integrations that automatically discover all your domains.
Choose ZoneWatcher if you manage many domains across multiple DNS providers and want automatic discovery, domain expiration tracking, and zero-configuration setup. Choose Oh Dear if you need comprehensive application monitoring (uptime, broken links, performance) alongside DNS checks for a smaller number of manually-configured sites.
Comparing DNS, domain, and SSL monitoring capabilities.
| Feature | ZoneWatcher | Oh Dear |
|---|---|---|
| Direct DNS Provider Integrations | 20+ | ✕ |
| Automatic Domain Discovery | ✓ | ✕ |
| DNS Record Monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-detect DNS Records | ✓ | ✓ |
| Domain Expiration Monitoring | ✓ | ✕ |
| SSL Certificate Monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic SSL Discovery | ✓ | ✕ |
| Certificate Transparency Logs | ✕ | ✓ |
| Nameserver Monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| DNS Change History | ✓ | ✓ |
| DNS Record Export (Bind/CSV) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Uptime Monitoring | ✕ | ✓ |
| Broken Link Detection | ✕ | ✓ |
| Application Health Checks | ✕ | ✓ |
| Multi-Team Support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slack/Discord Alerts | ✓ | ✓ |
