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.
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
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