DEV Community: Robert

5 UptimeRobot Alternatives That Are Actually Free in 2026

Robert — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

In December 2024, UptimeRobot updated their Terms of Service: the free plan is now personal and non-commercial use only. If you're monitoring a SaaS, client project, or anything that generates revenue, you've been violating their ToS for months. Account suspension is the stated consequence.

Also worth noting: their free plan checks every 5 minutes — a 299-second worst-case detection gap before a single alert fires.

Here are five tools that still offer a real free tier with commercial use allowed.

Quick comparison

Tool	Monitors	Interval	Slack	Status Page
Stillup	3	1 min	✅	✅
BetterStack	10	3 min	✅	✅
Instatus	15	2 min	❌	✅
HetrixTools	15	1 min	❌	Unlimited
StatusCake	Unlimited	5 min	❌	Basic

All five allow commercial use. Freshping shut down March 6, 2026 — it's no longer a valid option.

1. Stillup

3 free monitors, 5-minute check intervals, Slack alerts, and a public status page — all free, commercial use allowed.

The thing that makes it different: the status page and monitors are the same system. When a monitor fires, the status page updates automatically. No manual "we're investigating" post during an incident.

Best for a single SaaS product where you need fast detection + automatic user communication. Three monitors is intentionally small — app, API, auth. Not the right fit if you need 20+ monitors.

2. BetterStack

10 monitors, 3-minute checks, Slack + email alerts, 1 status page. Commercial use allowed.

One correction that most articles get wrong: the free interval is 3 minutes, not 30 seconds. The 30-second interval is a paid feature. Verify their pricing page before assuming.

The real case for BetterStack is where you're headed. The paid product is excellent — incident timelines, post-mortems, log management. If you'll outgrow a free tier in 6 months, starting here avoids a migration later.

3. Instatus

15 monitors, 2-minute checks, 1 status page with subscriber email notifications (up to 200). Commercial use allowed. Email alerts only — Slack requires a paid plan.

The status page design is the strongest on this list. Clean incident timeline, readable by non-technical users. The 200-subscriber cap matters if you have a large user base that wants email notifications during outages.

4. HetrixTools

15 monitors + 15 server monitors, 1-minute checks, unlimited status pages, unlimited log history. Commercial use allowed.

The catch: you must log in every 90 days or your monitors are automatically paused. Set a calendar reminder — if you miss it, your monitoring silently stops.

The most feature-dense free plan on this list if you can handle the login requirement.

5. StatusCake

Unlimited monitors, 5-minute checks, basic status page. Commercial use allowed. Email alerts only.

The only free tool with no monitor cap. Same slow check interval as UptimeRobot, but no commercial restrictions. Best if you need wide coverage across many endpoints and can accept slower detection.

The Freshping note

Freshping shut down March 6, 2026. Permanently deleted user data around June 4, 2026. Any article still recommending it is out of date.

How to pick

One SaaS product, want everything wired up → Stillup
Want to scale to a paid plan eventually → BetterStack
Best-looking customer-facing status page → Instatus
Maximum monitors + fastest free checks → HetrixTools (if you can handle the 90-day login)
Dozens of endpoints, detection speed less critical → StatusCake

Full breakdown with all feature details: stillup.org/blog/uptimerobot-alternatives
In December 2024, UptimeRobot updated their Terms of Service: the free plan is now personal and non-commercial use only. If you're monitoring a SaaS, client project, or anything that generates revenue, you've been violating their ToS for months. Account suspension is the stated consequence.

Also worth noting: their free plan checks every 5 minutes — a 299-second worst-case detection gap before a single alert fires.

Here are five tools that still offer a real free tier with commercial use allowed.

Quick comparison

Tool	Monitors	Interval	Slack	Status Page
Stillup	3	5 min	✅	✅
BetterStack	10	3 min	✅	✅
Instatus	15	2 min	❌	✅
HetrixTools	15	1 min	❌	Unlimited
StatusCake	Unlimited	5 min	❌	Basic

All five allow commercial use. Freshping shut down March 6, 2026 — it's no longer a valid option.

1. Stillup

3 monitors, 1-minute check intervals, Slack alerts, and a public status page — all free, commercial use allowed.

Best for a single SaaS product where you need fast detection + automatic user communication. Three monitors is intentionally small — app, API, auth. Not the right fit if you need 20+ monitors.

2. BetterStack

10 monitors, 3-minute checks, Slack + email alerts, 1 status page. Commercial use allowed.

One correction that most articles get wrong: the free interval is 3 minutes, not 30 seconds. The 30-second interval is a paid feature. Verify their pricing page before assuming.

3. Instatus

15 monitors, 2-minute checks, 1 status page with subscriber email notifications (up to 200). Commercial use allowed. Email alerts only — Slack requires a paid plan.

4. HetrixTools

15 monitors + 15 server monitors, 1-minute checks, unlimited status pages, unlimited log history. Commercial use allowed.

The catch: you must log in every 90 days or your monitors are automatically paused. Set a calendar reminder — if you miss it, your monitoring silently stops.

The most feature-dense free plan on this list if you can handle the login requirement.

5. StatusCake

Unlimited monitors, 5-minute checks, basic status page. Commercial use allowed. Email alerts only.

The only free tool with no monitor cap. Same slow check interval as UptimeRobot, but no commercial restrictions. Best if you need wide coverage across many endpoints and can accept slower detection.

The Freshping note

Freshping shut down March 6, 2026. Permanently deleted user data around June 4, 2026. Any article still recommending it is out of date.

How to pick

One SaaS product, want everything wired up → Stillup
Want to scale to a paid plan eventually → BetterStack
Best-looking customer-facing status page → Instatus
Maximum monitors + fastest free checks → HetrixTools (if you can handle the 90-day login)
Dozens of endpoints, detection speed less critical → StatusCake

Full breakdown with all feature details: stillup.org/blog/uptimerobot-alternatives

The 5 Best Free Status Pages for SaaS in 2026

Robert — Wed, 27 May 2026 19:30:00 +0000

If you're shopping for a free status page tool for your SaaS, here's what the comparison articles don't tell you: most of them are out of date, and at least one of the tools they recommend doesn't exist anymore.

Quick summary before we get into it:

Freshping shut down March 6, 2026. Any article still listing it hasn't been updated.
BetterStack's free check interval is 3 minutes, not 30 seconds. The 30-second interval is a paid feature — widely misreported.
UptimeRobot banned commercial use on the free plan in December 2024. If you're running a SaaS on their free tier, you've been in ToS violation for months.

Here's what each tool actually gives you.

The comparison table

Tool	Monitors	Interval	Status Pages	Slack	Incident Updates	Commercial
Stillup	3	1 min	1	✅	✅	✅
Instatus	15	2 min	1	❌	✅	✅
UptimeRobot	50	5 min	1 (basic)	❌	Limited	❌
BetterStack	10	3 min	1	✅	✅	✅
Pulsetic	10	5 min	3	❌	❌	✅

What each tool is actually good for

Stillup — Built specifically for indie SaaS. 3 monitors at 1-minute intervals, status page that auto-updates when a monitor fires, Slack alerts, commercial use allowed. The monitor count is low but the integration between monitoring and the status page is the key differentiator — no other free tool updates the status page automatically on downtime.

Instatus — Best free status page design. 15 monitors at 2-minute intervals, 200 email subscribers, up to 5 team members. Email-only on free — no Slack or Discord. If your team uses Slack and you need alerts there, you'll hit a wall. Best for: polished customer-facing status pages where the design matters.

UptimeRobot — 50 monitors is genuinely generous, and it's the obvious choice if monitor count is your main concern. But: 5-minute check intervals mean a 299-second worst-case detection gap, no Slack on free, and since December 2024 the free plan is explicitly restricted to personal non-commercial use. For a SaaS product this is now a ToS issue, not just a feature limitation.

BetterStack — The free tier (10 monitors, 3-minute checks) is a limited preview of an excellent product. On-call scheduling, log management, and post-mortem tooling are best-in-class on paid plans. Good choice if you expect to scale fast and want to start with a tool you'll grow into rather than migrate away from.

Pulsetic — Three status pages on a free plan is the unique angle. Useful if you're running multiple products and need separate public status pages for each. The limitation: no incident update posts on free, no Slack, and 5-minute check intervals. Status pages are essentially static indicators rather than active incident communication tools until you pay.

The check interval problem

A 5-minute check interval creates a 299-second worst-case detection gap. If your endpoint goes down one second after a check completes, you won't know for another 299 seconds.

Cockroach Labs' State of Resilience 2025 found the average outage lasts 196 minutes. For 41% of companies, customers detect the problem before the internal team does. Slower check intervals directly contribute to that number.

For production SaaS, shorter intervals matter. Stillup (1 min) and Instatus (2 min) give you meaningfully faster detection than the 5-minute tools — at $0.

The commercial use question

Only Stillup, Instatus, BetterStack, and Pulsetic allow commercial use on free plans.

UptimeRobot updated their ToS in October 2024, effective December 1, 2024: the free plan is now personal and non-commercial use only. If you're running a paid SaaS, monitoring it with their free plan puts you in violation. The HN thread on this (thread #42244667, titled "UptimeRobot offers a fake free plan") has the full community reaction if you want context.

Bottom line

For a single SaaS product on a free plan: Stillup if you want monitoring + status page working together and Slack alerts without paying. Instatus if the status page design is the priority and email notifications are enough.

For multiple products: Pulsetic for 3 status pages on free, accepting the 5-minute interval and no incident update capability.

For a tool you'll grow into: BetterStack — the paid product is excellent even if the free tier is limited.

Canonical post: The 5 Best Free Status Pages for SaaS in 2026 on stillup.org

UptimeRobot Free Plan in 2026: The Limits That'll Actually Bite You

Robert — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:16:00 +0000

If you're still running your SaaS on UptimeRobot's free plan, there's a change from December 2024 you need to know about.

Effective December 1, 2024, UptimeRobot updated their Terms of Service: the free plan is for personal, non-commercial use only. That means monitoring your SaaS product, any client work, or any revenue-generating project is now explicitly prohibited. Violations can result in account suspension.

Most devs I've talked to have no idea this happened.

The actual free plan specs in 2026

Here's what you get:

Feature	Free
Monitors	50
Check interval	5 minutes (fixed)
Integrations	5 of 12 (email only, no Slack/webhooks)
Status pages	1 (no custom domain)
Log retention	3 months
API	10 req/min
Maintenance windows	❌
Commercial use	❌ since Dec 2024

The 5-minute interval in real terms

Every 5-minute check interval is a 299-second worst-case detection gap. Your site can be completely down for 4 minutes and 59 seconds before an alert fires.

That's not hypothetical — it's the math. If you check every 300 seconds and the outage starts 1 second after a check completes, you won't know for another 299.

Cockroach Labs' 2025 resilience research found 41% of companies find out about downtime from customers first. Five-minute polling is a direct contributor to that number.

The gaps that hurt most in a dev workflow

No webhooks or Slack on free. UptimeRobot's 5 free integrations don't include the ones you actually want. Slack, Discord, webhooks, and PagerDuty all require the Team plan at $29/month. You're getting email alerts only.

No maintenance windows. Deploying? Every intentional restart triggers real alerts. There's no suppression without upgrading.

API is rate-limited to 10 req/min. Paid plans go to 5,000 req/min. If you're automating anything on top of the API — custom dashboards, scripts, status integrations — you'll hit this ceiling fast.

3-month log retention. Not enough for anything resembling SLA reporting or historical trend analysis.

The Solo plan gotcha

The base Solo tier is advertised at $7/month — but it gives you 10 monitors, fewer than the free plan's 50. To match 50 monitors at 60-second intervals, you're paying ~$15/month. The $7 entry price is for a plan that's less capable monitor-count-wise than free.

Free alternatives worth considering

Tool	Monitors	Interval	Commercial	Status Page
UptimeRobot	50	5 min	❌	1 (no custom domain)
BetterStack	10	30 sec	✅	1
HetrixTools	15	1 min	✅	Unlimited
StatusCake	Unlimited	5 min	✅	Basic
Stillup	3	1 min	✅	1

Note: Freshping is gone — shut down March 6, 2026. Don't rely on any article that still recommends it.

Bottom line

If you're a dev using UptimeRobot free for personal side projects, it's still a solid tool. 50 monitors covers a lot.

If you're using it for a SaaS or any commercial project, you've been in violation of their ToS since December 2024. Either upgrade ($15/month for monitor parity with 60-sec checks), or switch to something that still allows commercial use on free.

Canonical post: UptimeRobot Free Plan Limits in 2026 on stillup.org

I Ran the Numbers on SaaS Downtime Costs — Here's What I Found

Robert — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:37:38 +0000

Most developers know downtime is bad. What I didn't expect was how bad when I actually sat down and worked through the math for a small SaaS.

Here's what the data says.

The Baseline: SMBs Average $8,000/Hour

Gartner's oft-quoted "$5,600 per minute" figure is real, but it's enterprise scale. Datto's 2023 State of the Channel Report surveyed small and medium businesses specifically.

The number: $8,000 per hour for SMBs.

Break that down for a lean indie SaaS:

Category	Calculation	Estimate
Direct revenue loss	(MRR ÷ 730 hrs) × 3 hrs	~$20 on $5k MRR
Churn risk	68% consider switching × affected users × ARPU	Hundreds → thousands
Engineering time	4 hrs detection + response × hourly rate	$400–$800
Trust/reputation	Unmeasurable in-session, measurable in 90-day renewals	?

The direct revenue number looks tiny. The churn risk and the compounding trust erosion are where small SaaS businesses actually bleed.

The Detection Gap Is the Real Problem

Here's the stat I keep coming back to from Splunk + Oxford Economics' 2024 research (2,000 executives across 53 countries):

41% of tech companies say customers often or always detect downtime before their internal team does.

Think about what that means in practice. Your user opens your app, gets an error, closes it. Maybe they tweet. Maybe they email you. Maybe they just... leave.

New Relic's Observability Forecast 2025 adds to this: 41% of IT leaders identify service issues through manual checks, customer complaints, or incident tickets — after the fact.

Without continuous monitoring, your window to detect an outage before a user does is somewhere between 3 and 6 hours on average. With monitoring, you're talking under a minute.

That gap is the entire ballgame.

The Average Outage Is Longer Than You Think

Cockroach Labs' State of Resilience 2025 found the average outage lasts 196 minutes before resolution. That's over three hours.

What Users Do During an Outage (It's Not Good)

Three behaviors happen in sequence when a user hits a broken product:

1. They don't wait. Google's research: 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load. An outage is worse than slow.

2. They don't know it's temporary. Without a public status page, there's no signal that distinguishes "back in 5 minutes" from "this product is dead." Users fill that vacuum with the worst-case interpretation.

3. 68% consider switching. That's from a 2023 Zealousys survey on SaaS customer behavior after outages. After one incident. Not a pattern.

The Real Incidents for Reference

Some concrete examples to anchor the numbers:

CrowdStrike, July 2024 — Faulty sensor update, ~8.5M Windows endpoints affected. Fortune 500 losses: $5.4B (Parametrix). Delta alone: $500M.
GitHub, 2024 — 124 incidents, ~800 hours of degraded performance across the year.
J.Crew, Black Friday 2023 — 5-hour outage, ~$775K in estimated lost sales.

These aren't "this could happen to you" scare stories. The underlying failure modes — bad config push, dependency timeout, unmonitored endpoint — are the same failure modes that take down a solo SaaS at 2am.

A Simple Monitoring Setup

If you're not monitoring your endpoints yet, here's the minimum viable setup that closes the detection gap:

HTTP monitoring — ping your core endpoints (dashboard, API, login) on a 1–5 minute interval
Alert routing — Slack, Discord, email, or Telegram — whatever you actually check
Public status page — even a simple one tells users something is happening and you're on it

This doesn't need to be complex. It needs to exist.

The Bottom Line

For a small SaaS, the cost of downtime isn't a huge per-minute dollar figure. It's slower and more damaging: churn risk that compounds, trust that erodes, detection windows that stay open for hours because there's nothing watching.

The $8,000/hour SMB average is the number. The 41% customer-detects-first rate is the structural problem. Closing the detection gap is the fix.

If you want to set up monitoring without spending enterprise money on it, I built Stillup — uptime monitoring + public status pages, free plan available, no credit card needed.