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Best uptime monitoring tools in 2026

Check sites and APIs from outside: HTTP, ping, port, TLS certificate and keyword checks, and scripted browser or API journeys. This list has the top 10 of 40 uptime monitoring tools, ranked by a published score. Of these, 6 are open source, 10 have a free plan and 6 can be self-hosted. Checked by hand on 30 September 2026.

How this list is ranked

Each active tool gets a score out of 100. Archived, end-of-sale and maintenance-only tools are left out.

  • Capabilities: up to 75 points for the share of the category checklist that the tool's own documentation confirms. A tool meeting 8 of 10 items gets 60.
  • Free to start: 15 points for a free plan or a free edition.
  • Open or self-hostable: 10 points if it is open source or can be self-hosted.

Each category has a fixed checklist of capabilities (shown in the table below and on every tool page). An item counts only when the tool's own documentation confirms it; anything we could not confirm counts as not met. How long a tool has existed is deliberately not scored, so a new tool is not ranked below an older one for being new. Tools with the same score share a rank (shown as =), are listed A to Z within it, and the list never cuts between them. Nobody pays for a position.

  1. =1

    Checkmate

    Self-hosted open source monitor from BlueWave Labs for HTTP, ping, TCP port, DNS, WebSocket and gRPC checks, with an optional agent for server hardware metrics and status pages.

    Free Open source (AGPL-3.0) Self-hosted Uptime checksInfrastructureStatus page
    93 9 of 10 capabilities (68), free 15, open 10
  2. =1

    Gatus

    Health dashboard configured in YAML: checks HTTP, TCP, DNS, ICMP and other endpoints against conditions on status, body and latency, and alerts to many channels. Also sold as a hosted service.

    Free plan Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted Uptime checksStatus pageNotifications
    93 9 of 10 capabilities (68), free 15, open 10
  3. =3

    Better Stack

    Observability suite that pairs uptime checks, logs and metrics with on-call schedules, escalation policies, phone and SMS alerts and hosted status pages.

    Free plan Free: 10 monitors and heartbeats, 1 status page On-call schedulesEscalation policiesPhone and SMSUptime checks
    90 10 of 10 capabilities (75), free 15, open 0
  4. =3

    Checkly

    Synthetic monitoring for developers: API checks and Playwright browser checks written as code, deployed from CI and run from many regions.

    Free plan Free: 1 user, 10k API and 1k browser check runs/mo Synthetic checksUptime checksHeartbeats
    90 10 of 10 capabilities (75), free 15, open 0
  5. =3

    Hyperping

    Uptime, browser and cron job monitoring bundled with status pages and incident updates, plus a small server monitoring agent.

    Free plan Free: 20 monitors, 5-min checks Uptime checksSynthetic checksHeartbeatsStatus page
    90 10 of 10 capabilities (75), free 15, open 0
  6. =3

    Site24x7

    Zoho's monitoring suite for websites, servers, networks, applications and cloud, with synthetic transactions and RUM; plain uptime checks have a free plan.

    Free plan Free: Uptime checks for 50 resources, email alerts Uptime checksSynthetic checksInfrastructureAPM
    90 10 of 10 capabilities (75), free 15, open 0
  7. =7

    CheckCle

    Self-hosted open source monitor for HTTP, ping, TCP and DNS uptime, server metrics and SSL expiry, with incident tracking and public status pages.

    Free Open source (MIT) Self-hosted Uptime checksInfrastructureStatus page
    85 8 of 10 capabilities (60), free 15, open 10
  8. =7

    Kuvasz Uptime

    Self-hosted uptime and SSL certificate monitor with brandable public or private status pages, maintenance windows and alerts to common chat and email channels.

    Free Open source (AGPL-3.0) Self-hosted Uptime checksStatus pageNotifications
    85 8 of 10 capabilities (60), free 15, open 10
  9. =7

    Peekaping

    Self-hosted uptime monitor written in Go with a React UI, built as an alternative to Uptime Kuma, with status pages and pluggable notification channels.

    Free Open source (MIT) Self-hosted Uptime checksStatus pageNotifications
    85 8 of 10 capabilities (60), free 15, open 10
  10. =7

    Uptime Kuma

    Self-hosted monitor for HTTP, keyword, TCP, ping, DNS, Docker and push checks, with status pages and dozens of notification integrations.

    Free Open source (MIT) Self-hosted Uptime checksHeartbeatsStatus pageNotifications
    85 8 of 10 capabilities (60), free 15, open 10

Side by side

Tool Pricing Free plan Open source Self-hosted HTTP checksKeyword checksSSL certificate expiryTCP port checksPing checksDNS checksMulti-location checksChecks every minute or fasterBrowser or multi-step checksStatus page
Checkmate Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes
Gatus Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes-YesYesYes
Better Stack Free plan 10 monitors and heartbeats, 1 status page No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Checkly Free plan 1 user, 10k API and 1k browser check runs/mo No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Hyperping Free plan 20 monitors, 5-min checks No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Site24x7 Free plan Uptime checks for 50 resources, email alerts No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
CheckCle Free Yes Yes Yes Yes-YesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes
Kuvasz Uptime Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes-Yes
Peekaping Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes-Yes
Uptime Kuma Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes-Yes

Yes: confirmed in the tool's documentation. No: documented as not offered. -: not confirmed. Plans and prices change; check each tool's own site before you decide.

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