Frequently asked questions
Comparisons, data and privacy, pricing, integrations. Did not find your answer? Email contact@bigetnouf.fr.
How Alarum compares
How is Alarum different from Healthchecks.io?
Healthchecks.io is built around deadman switches: you tell it to expect a ping every N minutes, and it alerts you when a ping is missed. Alarum is the inverse: your cron or service POSTs to Alarum every time something happens (success, warn, error) and Alarum routes failures to push, Discord or Slack. The two approaches complement each other; you can use both. Alarum also covers CI events, deploys, webhooks and arbitrary alerts under the same inbox.
How is Alarum different from Sentry?
Sentry is the gold standard for application error tracking with source maps, release tracking, distributed tracing and team workflows. Alarum is a much simpler webhook inbox that does well on a smaller scope: receive events, route by level, push to phone, forward to chat. If you need full error grouping with stack analysis and breadcrumbs, stay on Sentry. If you mainly need "tell me when something breaks" without paying per seat, Alarum fits.
How is Alarum different from Zapier or IFTTT?
Zapier and IFTTT are automation platforms that wire arbitrary services together (when X happens in Stripe, do Y in Salesforce). Alarum is purely a notification hub: it receives webhooks, gives you an inbox, and forwards a copy to your chat tools. It does not run arbitrary actions on other SaaS. If you need cross-service automation, Zapier is the answer; if you need a unified alerts inbox for a developer team, Alarum is.
How is Alarum different from Slack or Discord channels?
A chat channel is great until you have ten of them and notifications start blending into the noise. Alarum is the inbox layer above your channels: every event lands in one searchable place with per-level routing rules. You can still mirror selected events back to your chat via forwarders, so the team channel is not abandoned.
Data and privacy
Do you store the full webhook payload?
Yes. The raw JSON you POST is stored so the inbox can render every field and so search works across the full content. Storage is per-plan: 3 days on Discover, 30 days on Freelance, 90 days on Agency. After that, raw events are deleted, but aggregated counts and trends are kept longer so dashboards still work.
Where is my data stored?
On OVH infrastructure, located in France. The database, file storage and all backups stay within the European Union. Some sub-processors (Paddle for billing, GitHub or Codeberg for OAuth sign-in, browser push services) may process limited account data outside the EU under standard contractual clauses. See the Privacy policy for the full list.
Is Alarum GDPR-compliant?
Yes. We collect only what the service needs, never sell or use webhook content for advertising, and you can access, export or delete your account data directly from Settings or by emailing us. Sub-processors are disclosed in the Privacy policy and bound by Data Processing Agreements where applicable.
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Closing your account from Settings deletes all your workspaces, projects, tokens, events, push subscriptions and personal data, immediately and permanently. Billing records are retained for the period required by French accounting law (10 years), but stripped of operational content.
Pricing and plans
Is there a free plan?
Yes. The Discover plan stays free forever: 1 workspace, 3 projects, 1 token per project, 3-day detail history, 1,000 events per month. No card required, no trial countdown.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel from Settings → Billing with one click. You keep full access until the end of the period you have already paid for, then your account drops back to the Discover plan automatically. Nothing is deleted on downgrade; ressources above the new quota become read-only until you trim them down.
Do you charge per seat?
No. Our paid plans are flat-priced regardless of how many people share a workspace. Freelance lets you add up to 2 teammates per workspace, Agency up to 10. The cap is anti-abuse, not seat billing. Need more? The Company plan is sized to your needs.
What happens if I exceed my plan quotas?
Every plan has a hard monthly quota (1,000 events on Discover, 3,000 on Freelance, 6,000 on Agency). Beyond it, new events are rejected with a 429 until the quota resets on the 1st of the month, so you never get a surprise bill: there is no usage-based overage. We email you at 80% and 100% so it is never a surprise. A separate per-minute burst guard protects the service from floods. Plan changes (upgrade or downgrade) take effect immediately, no prorated mid-cycle surprises.
Integration and support
Which languages and tools can send events?
Anything that can make an HTTP POST. We document ready-made snippets for curl, Python, Node, Go, PHP, Ruby, PowerShell, GitHub Actions and GitLab CI on the Integration guide, but the endpoint accepts any JSON payload from any source.
Is there a self-hosted version?
Not at the moment. The codebase is private and we focus on operating the hosted service. We may publish a public reference for self-hosters later; in the meantime, the API is fully documented and the data export endpoint lets you keep a copy of everything you send.
How do I contact support?
Email contact@bigetnouf.fr from the address linked to your account. We answer within a few business days. There is no live chat or phone support at our current scale.
Still have a question?
Email contact@bigetnouf.fr with your account email and we will get back within a few business days.