The best free uptime monitor depends on what you actually need. UptimeRobot has the largest established free tier for personal use. UptimePad matches that 50-monitor shape for commercial use and includes SSL, DNS, a public API, and one status page. Better Stack and StatusCake have smaller free tiers. Below: a side-by-side based on what the free plan actually delivers.
| Tool | Monitors | Check interval | SSL + DNS | Commercial use | Regions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UptimePad Commercial use included | 50 | 5 min | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
| UptimeRobot Largest established free tier | 50 | 5 min | - | - | 1 |
| Better Stack Free tier exists but limited | 10 | 3 min | ✓ | ✓ | Multiple |
| StatusCake | 10 | 5 min | - | ✓ | Multiple |
| Hetrix Tools Server-monitoring focused | 15 | 1 min | ✓ | ✓ | Multiple |
| Uptime Kuma Self-hosted only | Unlimited | 20s | ✓ | ✓ | Self-hosted |
Best fit for indie SaaS, agencies, and small teams that want one tool to do uptime + SSL + DNS without paying enterprise prices. 50-monitor free tier for commercial use, email alerts, and a clear paid upgrade path for regional monitoring and API access.
The reliable choice if you need 50 or fewer monitors and don't need SSL or DNS on free. Has been around longest, has a public REST API, and the brand trust is real. Plain HTTP only on free; SSL/DNS are paid.
Modern UI and a thoughtful incident management story, but the free tier is small (10 monitors) and most useful features are paid. Good fit if you expect to upgrade and want polish.
Comparable to UptimeRobot for HTTP uptime. Free tier is small (10), and paid plans get expensive quickly. Solid status page builder.
A close free competitor to UptimePad on budget uptime and SSL checks. UI is dated and the dashboard density is high. Worth checking if you live in the terminal anyway.
The self-hosted choice. Open source, unlimited everything, runs in Docker. You are the operator. If Kuma goes down with your server, your monitor is gone too. Pair with a hosted ping every hour for sanity.
Three things to watch for when comparing free plans:
UptimePad and UptimeRobot are the strongest hosted options. UptimePad includes 50 monitors for commercial use with SSL, DNS, email alerts, one status page, and 7-day history. UptimeRobot has the longest track record. If you can self-host, Uptime Kuma is the most generous overall.
50 monitors at 5-minute check intervals, with email alerts, SSL monitoring, DNS monitoring, 7-day incident history, and one public status page.
Yes. UptimeRobot has a permanent free plan with 50 HTTP/HTTPS monitors at 5-minute intervals. SSL monitoring, DNS monitoring, and faster check intervals require a paid plan.
On hosted tools, UptimePad and Better Stack include SSL monitoring on free (UptimePad with 50 monitors, Better Stack with 10). UptimeRobot and StatusCake gate SSL behind paid plans. Self-hosted: Uptime Kuma includes SSL monitoring with no monitor cap.
Most hosted tools gate Slack and Discord behind paid plans. UptimePad Free includes email only, Starter adds Slack and Discord, and Pro adds the rest of the non-usage channels.
Most hosted free tiers cap at 5-minute intervals. Hetrix Tools allows 1-minute on free. UptimePad allows 5-minute on Free, 1-minute on Starter and Pro, and 30-second checks on Scale. Self-hosted Uptime Kuma can check as fast as every 20 seconds.
50 monitors, commercial use, SSL, DNS, email alerts, and a public API on Free.
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