UptimeRobot's free tier gives you 50 monitors at 5-minute intervals. Pro starts at $7/mo for 1-minute checks. Uptime Kuma offers unlimited monitors with 20-second intervals for $3/mo on InstaPods.
| Feature | UptimeRobot | Uptime Kuma |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free (50 monitors), $7/mo Pro | $3/mo total (self-hosted on InstaPods) |
| Free Monitors | 50 (5-min interval) | Unlimited (self-hosted) |
| Check Interval | 5 min (Free), 1 min (Pro) | Down to 20 seconds |
| Monitor Types | HTTP, Keyword, Ping, Port | HTTP, TCP, DNS, Ping, Docker, MQTT, gRPC, and more |
| Status Pages | 1 (Free), custom domain (Pro) | Unlimited with custom domains |
| Response Time Charts | Basic (Free), advanced (Pro) | Detailed charts with history |
| SSL Monitoring | Pro only | Included |
| Notification Channels | Email, SMS, Slack, webhook | 90+ channels |
| Maintenance Windows | Pro only | Included |
| Source Code | Closed source | Open source (MIT license) |
Limitations that push you toward self-hosting.
Free monitors check every 5 minutes. Your site could be down for 4 minutes before you even know. Pro's 1-minute checks require $7/mo.
UptimeRobot supports HTTP, keyword, ping, and port checks. No Docker monitoring, no DNS checks, no gRPC, no MQTT. For modern infrastructure, that's not enough.
Monitoring SSL certificate expiry - something every website needs - requires a paid plan. Uptime Kuma includes it for free.
Free tier status pages show UptimeRobot branding and ads. Clean, branded status pages require the Pro plan.
What you get when you own your infrastructure.
Detect downtime faster than UptimeRobot Pro's 1-minute minimum. Configurable down to 20-second intervals at no extra cost.
Beyond HTTP and ping, monitor Docker containers, DNS records, game servers, MQTT brokers, gRPC services, and more.
No ads, no third-party branding. Your status pages look professional from day one.
Uptime Kuma's dashboard is modern, responsive, and clean. UptimeRobot's interface hasn't changed much in years.
Monitoring 60 endpoints with 1-minute checks, SSL monitoring, and a branded status page.
UptimeRobot's free tier is decent for basic monitoring, but 5-minute intervals mean slow detection, and you miss features like SSL monitoring, maintenance windows, and clean status pages. For $3/mo on InstaPods, Uptime Kuma gives you everything UptimeRobot Pro offers and more.
UptimeRobot monitors from multiple locations, which is an advantage for detecting regional outages. Uptime Kuma monitors from your single server. For most teams, single-location monitoring is sufficient - you'll still catch downtime within 20 seconds.
There's no automatic import, but re-creating monitors in Uptime Kuma is quick. Add the URL, set the interval, configure notifications - each monitor takes about 30 seconds to set up.
Uptime Kuma has a clean, modern, reactive UI built with Vue.js. Real-time updates, smooth animations, and a responsive layout. UptimeRobot's dashboard works fine but feels dated in comparison.
Deploy Uptime Kuma on InstaPods and stop paying for features that should be free.
Deploy Uptime Kuma