Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about BlackTide monitoring platform, pricing, features, and integrations.
General
What is BlackTide?
BlackTide is a professional uptime monitoring and incident management platform. It monitors your websites, APIs, servers, and Web3 infrastructure with real-time alerts and public status pages. We support 13 monitor types including traditional (HTTP, TCP, TLS) and Web3 (gas price, wallet tracking, smart contracts).
What makes BlackTide different from other monitoring tools?
Web3-Native: Only monitoring platform with native support for 24 blockchains (8 EVM, 10 Cosmos SDK, 2 Non-EVM, 4 Testnets). Monitor gas prices, whale wallets, smart contract events, liquidation risks, DeFi protocol health, subgraphs, and cross-chain bridges.
Developer-First: Full API access, 60+ endpoints, SDKs for Python/JavaScript/Go, and open-source check runners. Built by developers, for developers.
Affordable: Free tier with 3 monitors, Developer plan at $19/month (15 monitors), Pro at $49/month (100 monitors). No per-check pricing.
Do I need a credit card for the free plan?
No. The Free plan is 100% free forever. No credit card required. You get 3 monitors, 60-second check intervals, email alerts, and 30 days of data retention.
Pricing & Plans
What are the plan limits?
| Feature | Free | Developer | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitors | 3 | 15 | 100 | Unlimited |
| Check Interval | 60s | 60s | 30s | 10s |
| Check Locations | 1 | 3 | 6 | 12+ |
| Web3 Chains | 3 | 5 | 24 | 24+ |
| Team Members | 1 | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Status Pages | 1 | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
Can I upgrade/downgrade anytime?
Yes. Upgrade instantly with no downtime. Downgrade at end of billing period. Prorated refunds for annual plans when downgrading.
Is there a discount for annual billing?
Yes, save 20% with annual billing:
- Developer: $19/month monthly → $15.20/month annually ($182/year)
- Pro: $49/month monthly → $39.20/month annually ($470/year)
Monitors & Checks
What monitor types are supported?
Traditional Monitors (6):
- HTTP/HTTPS (REST APIs, websites)
- TCP (port availability)
- ICMP (ping)
- TLS (SSL certificate expiry)
- Heartbeat (cron jobs, scheduled tasks)
- Custom (arbitrary scripts)
Web3 Monitors (7):
- Gas Price (8 EVM chains)
- Whale Wallet (balance tracking, transaction alerts)
- Contract Events (smart contract monitoring)
- Liquidation Risk (DeFi positions, Aave/Compound)
- DeFi Protocol (TVL, pool health, APY)
- Subgraph Health (The Graph integration)
- Bridge Monitoring (cross-chain transfers)
What blockchains are supported?
EVM Mainnets (8): Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Avalanche, Fantom
Cosmos SDK (10): Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Juno, Stargaze, Akash, Evmos, Injective, Celestia, Neutron, Stride
Non-EVM (2): Cardano (Blockfrost API), Midnight (Substrate)
Testnets (4): Sepolia, Mumbai, Cardano Preprod, Midnight Testnet
How often can I check my monitors?
- Free: Every 60 seconds
- Developer: Every 60 seconds
- Pro: Every 30 seconds
- Enterprise: Every 10 seconds (up to 1 second on request)
What check locations are available?
6 Global Regions:
- US-East (Virginia)
- US-West (California)
- EU-West (Ireland)
- EU-Central (Frankfurt)
- Asia-Pacific (Singapore)
- Asia-Pacific (Tokyo)
Enterprise plans can request additional locations.
Alerts & Notifications
What alert channels are supported?
- Email (AWS SES, 99.5% deliverability)
- Slack (webhooks, mentions, embeds)
- Discord (webhooks, role mentions)
- Telegram (bot API, inline buttons)
- PagerDuty (incident routing, on-call)
- Opsgenie (team routing, escalation)
- Webhooks (custom integrations)
Can I customize alert rules?
Yes. Configure conditions:
- Consecutive failures (1-10)
- Latency threshold (milliseconds)
- Error rate percentage
- Status code matching
- Availability percentage
Plus escalation policies, time-based rules, and recovery notifications.
Status Pages
Can I use my own domain for the status page?
Yes (Pro and Enterprise only). Point status.example.com to BlackTide via CNAME record. SSL certificate auto-provisioned.
Can I customize the status page design?
Yes:
- Upload logo (4 variants: primary, dark, favicon, OG image)
- Set primary color
- Add custom CSS (Pro: 50 KB, Enterprise: 500 KB)
- Light/dark theme support
API & Integrations
Is there an API?
Yes. Full REST API with 60+ endpoints:
- Monitors API (CRUD, test, results)
- Incidents API (acknowledge, resolve, notes)
- Alerts API (rules, channels)
- Status Pages API (components, subscribers)
Rate limits: Free (100 req/min), Developer (300 req/min), Pro (1000 req/min).
Are there SDKs available?
Official SDKs coming soon:
- Python:
pip install blacktide - JavaScript/TypeScript:
npm install @blacktide/sdk - Go:
go get github.com/blacktide/go-sdk
Security & Compliance
How is my data secured?
- Encryption: TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256 at rest
- Authentication: httpOnly cookies (XSS-protected)
- CSRF Protection: Double Submit Cookie pattern
- Headers: CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, etc.
- Rate Limiting: Redis token bucket
Is BlackTide GDPR compliant?
Yes. We comply with GDPR:
- Data stored in EU (Frankfurt) or US (Virginia) - your choice
- Right to access: Export your data via API
- Right to deletion: Delete account in Settings
- Data portability: JSON/CSV exports
Support & Documentation
What support do you offer?
| Plan | Support | SLA |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Email (best effort) | None |
| Developer | Email (24h response) | 99.5% uptime |
| Pro | Priority email (8h) | 99.9% uptime |
| Enterprise | Dedicated Slack channel | 99.95% uptime |
Where can I find documentation?
- Docs: blacktide.xyz/docs
- API Reference: blacktide.xyz/docs/api
- Guides: blacktide.xyz/docs/guides
- GitHub: github.com/ynot47/blacktide
Still Have Questions?
Contact us:
- Email: support@blacktide.xyz
- Discord: discord.gg/blacktide
- Twitter: @blacktide_xyz
Next Steps
- Quick Start: Get started in 5 minutes
- Troubleshooting: Common issues
- Best Practices: Optimize your monitoring