Almost every developer has used Postman. It's the default tool for building, testing, and documenting APIs. With 30+ million users, it's practically universal.
So when you need API monitoring, it's natural to think: "I already have Postman. Can't I just use Monitors?"
You can. But there's a significant difference between a testing tool that can monitor and a monitoring tool that's purpose-built for the job. Let's break it down.
How Postman Monitors Work
Postman Monitors run your existing collections on a schedule. You create a collection of API requests (which you probably already have for testing), configure a monitor to run that collection every N minutes, and get notified if any request fails.
The appeal is obvious: you're reusing work you've already done. Your test collection becomes your monitoring check with a few clicks.
But this convenience creates several problems for production monitoring:
1. Collection Maintenance
Every time you change an API endpoint — rename a field, update authentication, change a URL path — the collection needs updating too. In testing, stale collections cause failed tests. In monitoring, stale collections cause false alerts at 3 AM.
Nurbak instruments your app directly. When you change an endpoint, the monitoring adapts automatically. No collection to maintain, no sync issues.
2. Sequential Execution
Postman Monitors run all requests in a collection sequentially. If you have 10 endpoints, the monitor runs each one in order. The reported "run time" is the total duration of all 10 requests — not the performance of any individual endpoint.
Nurbak monitors each endpoint independently with individual P50/P95/P99 latency metrics. You know exactly which endpoint is slow and by how much.
3. Single-Region Monitoring
Each Postman Monitor run executes from a single region. You can choose the region, but the monitor only checks from that one location per scheduled run.
Nurbak checks every endpoint from 4 regions simultaneously on every interval — Virginia, São Paulo, Paris, and Tokyo. If your API is down in Europe but healthy in the US, you'll know immediately.
4. Free Tier Limitations
Postman's free plan includes 1,000 monitoring calls per month. Let's do the math:
- 1,000 calls ÷ 30 days = ~33 calls per day
- 33 calls ÷ 24 hours = ~1.4 calls per hour
- That's roughly 1 check every 43 minutes for a single endpoint
For 3 endpoints at 5-minute intervals, you'd need 2,592 calls/month — already beyond the free tier.
Nurbak's free tier includes 3 endpoints with 5-minute checks, running continuously. No call counting, no monthly limits.
Pricing Comparison
| Postman | Nurbak | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 monitor calls/month | 3 endpoints, 5-min checks, unlimited |
| Basic | $14/month per user | — |
| Pro/Professional | $29/month per user | $29/month flat (20 endpoints, 4 regions) |
| Enterprise | Custom | $99/month (100 endpoints, team features) |
Note the difference: Postman charges per user. A 3-person team on Postman Professional pays $87/month. The same team on Nurbak Pro pays $29/month total.
What Each Tool Does Best
Use Postman for:
- API development — building and testing requests
- API documentation — auto-generated docs from collections
- Team collaboration — sharing collections and environments
- Mock servers — simulating API responses during development
- Pre-deploy testing — running collection tests in CI/CD
Use Nurbak for:
- Production monitoring — continuous health checks
- Latency tracking — P50/P95/P99 per endpoint
- Multi-region checks — 4 simultaneous locations
- Instant alerting — Slack, email, WhatsApp, SMS
- Uptime tracking — historical availability data
The Best Setup: Use Both
Postman and Nurbak aren't competing — they're complementary. Use Postman during development to build and test your API. Use Nurbak in production to monitor it 24/7.
Your development workflow: Postman → Git → Deploy → Nurbak monitors automatically
No collection maintenance. No manual monitor configuration. Your APIs are tested before deploy (Postman) and monitored after deploy (Nurbak).
The Verdict
Postman Monitors are a convenient add-on if you already use Postman and want basic scheduled checks. But for serious production monitoring — with real-time latency percentiles, multi-region health checks, and zero-maintenance setup — a purpose-built tool is the better choice.
Get started:Monitor your APIs for free — 5-minute setup, no credit card. See our full Postman Monitors alternative comparison for more details.