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 12 user-facing monitor types: 5 traditional (HTTP, TCP, ICMP, TLS, Heartbeat) and 7 Web3 (gas price, whale wallet, contract events, liquidation, DeFi, subgraph, bridge).
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 5 monitors, Developer plan at $19/month (15 monitors), Pro at $49/month (50 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 5 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 | 5 | 15 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Check Interval | 60s | 60s | 30s | 10s |
| Check Locations | 1 | 3 | 5 | All |
| 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 (5):
- HTTP/HTTPS (REST APIs, websites)
- TCP (port availability)
- ICMP (ping)
- TLS (SSL certificate expiry)
- Heartbeat (cron jobs, scheduled tasks)
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