Uptime Kuma: The Ultimate Self-Hosted Uptime Monitoring Tool
Uptime Kuma is a powerful, open-source, self-hosted uptime monitoring tool. With its modern UI, extensive feature set, and the ability to run on your own server, it's a great alternative to SaaS tools like UptimeRobot, Better Uptime, and Pingdom.
🚀 What is Uptime Kuma?
Uptime Kuma is a self-hosted monitoring tool that lets you:
- Track website and service uptime/downtime
- Receive instant alerts through 78+ notification integrations
- Share public status pages
- Monitor internal and external services
- Retain full control over your data (no third-party involvement)
🔧 Key Features
✅ Monitoring Types
- HTTP(s) (with keyword or JSON response checks)
- TCP Ports
- Ping (ICMP)
- DNS Records
- Push Monitoring (via unique URLs)
- Steam Game Servers
- Docker Container Health Checks
📊 Dashboards and UI
- Live status overview
- Uptime percentages
- Historical response time charts
- SSL info & expiration warnings
- Multi-language support
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
🔔 Notifications & Alerts
Supports over 78 services via Apprise, including:
- Email (SMTP)
- Telegram
- Slack
- Discord
- Gotify
- Microsoft Teams
- AWS SNS
- Webhooks
📢 Public Status Pages
- Share status with clients or stakeholders
- Multiple pages with custom domains
- Password-protection optional
📈 Metrics & API
- Prometheus-compatible
/metricsendpoint - WebSocket/GraphQL API (unofficial)
- Environment variable configuration
- Cloudflare Tunnel (secure remote access)
🔐 Security & Customization
- Local user accounts
- 2FA support
- Proxy support
- Frame embedding support (optional)
🧰 Use Cases
👨💻 Developers
- Monitor staging and production environments
- Catch deployment issues with push monitors
- Integrate with CI/CD tools
🧑🔬 System Administrators
- Monitor internal services (NAS, DB, mail servers)
- Get alerts before issues affect users
- Use Docker or bare-metal deployments
🏠 Home Lab Enthusiasts
- Monitor self-hosted services and smart devices
- Track SSL cert expirations
- Run on Raspberry Pi or low-resource VPS
🏢 Small Businesses
- Monitor public websites and apps affordably
- Share public status pages
- Avoid vendor lock-in
🏢 Enterprises
- Monitor services not exposed to public internet
- Integrate with existing internal tools
- Use Prometheus/Grafana for central metrics
⚙️ Self-Hosting & Deployment
Docker (Recommended)
docker run -d --restart=always \\
-p 3001:3001 \\
-v uptime-kuma:/app/data \\
--name uptime-kuma louislam/uptime-kuma:1
Manual (Node.js + npm)
git clone https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma.git
cd uptime-kuma
npm run setup
node server/server.js
Backup & Persistence
- Use volume mounts or set
DATA_DIR - Backup
kuma.db(SQLite file) - Optionally use Litestream to sync to S3
Reverse Proxy & SSL
- Run behind NGINX or Traefik
- Use Let's Encrypt for SSL
- Configure
SSL_CERTandSSL_KEYenv variables
🔍 Feature Comparison
| Feature | Uptime Kuma | UptimeRobot (Free) | Better Uptime (Free) | Pingdom (Paid) | StatusCake (Free) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted | SaaS | SaaS | SaaS | SaaS |
| Monitors | Unlimited | 50 @ 5 min | 10 @ 3 min | Unlimited | 10 @ 5 min |
| Min Check Interval | 20 sec | 5 min | 30 sec (Paid) | 1 min | 1 min (Paid) |
| Alert Channels | 78+ (Apprise) | Email, SMS, Slack | Email, Call, Slack | Email, Webhook | Email, Slack |
| Public Status Pages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Global Checks | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SSL Monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Transaction Checks | No | Limited | Yes | Yes | No |
💡 Tips for Production Use
- Set up SSL & 2FA for security
- Backup
kuma.dbor use Litestream for auto backups - Use Docker +
--restart=alwaysfor reliability - Restrict access to the dashboard (e.g. VPN, IP allowlist)
📦 Useful Links
- GitHub: https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma
- DockerHub: https://hub.docker.com/r/louislam/uptime-kuma
- Apprise Notification Library: https://github.com/caronc/apprise
🙌 Final Thoughts
Uptime Kuma is a powerful, customizable, and cost-effective alternative to commercial uptime monitoring tools. Whether you’re an individual developer, small business, or enterprise team, its extensive features and self-hosting model make it a go-to solution for reliable monitoring.
Try it today, and take back control of your monitoring!
Written by a tech enthusiast who loves self-hosted tools. If you found this useful, consider sharing or leaving feedback!
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