Short answer: UptimeRobot's free plan allows the most monitors of any hosted free plan here, 50 at 5-minute checks, and its terms allow commercial use. Uptime Kuma is the free pick if you can run your own server. For a 20-check setup with SSL and cron checks, StatusCake's Superior plan at $20.41 a month billed yearly is the lowest paid step here that covers that setup.
What a free plan covers for a 20-check business site, and the cheapest paid step that covers the same setup, checked on vendor pages in October 2026.
A small SaaS with a marketing site, an API, five cron jobs and SSL checks needs about 20 monitors, checked every one to five minutes. No hosted free plan in this table covers all of that, and the plans that come closest disagree on whether a company may use them. Toolradar data: of the 24 status page tools we track, 75% offer a free or freemium plan and 21% are paid only, so a free start is common. The real difference is what the free plan still allows once your setup grows.
This guide compares eight tools, including UptimeRobot, Uptime Kuma, Healthchecks.io and Checkly, on the free monitor count, the shortest free check interval, SSL and cron coverage, the use rule and the first paid step for a 20-check setup. Methodology: every limit, price and use rule was read on the vendor's own pricing page, and on its terms or FAQ where that page points there, checked in October 2026. The ranking carries no paid placement. Tools are ordered by what a commercial site gets for free, then by the cheapest paid step. The full status page category lists other options.
The order changes at the monitor cap. UptimeRobot's Solo plan at $12 a month billed yearly is the cheapest paid step for up to 10 monitors, with 60-second intervals. Solo also has a 50-monitor tier, priced in the table below. For 20 checks with SSL and cron coverage, StatusCake's Superior plan is the lowest paid step in the table that covers the setup.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
The largest hosted free allowance here, 50 monitors at 5-minute checks, with terms that allow commercial use.
Starting price
Free; Solo 50 $24/mo billed yearly
4.6 (1,535 reviews)
Best for
A company that needs basic site checks now and can add SSL and cron checks on a paid plan later.
Free MIT-licensed monitoring with no plan limits, where the only cost is the server you run it on.
Starting price
Free; you pay for the server
4.6 (348 reviews)
Best for
A team that can run a server and wants HTTP, TCP, push and certificate checks with no license fee.
Free for 20 scheduled jobs, with Business at $16 a month billed yearly for 100 jobs.
Starting price
Free; Business $16/mo billed yearly
Best for
A team that needs to know when a backup, billing or cron job fails to run on time.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| UptimeRobot | Free; Solo 50 $24/mo billed yearly | 4.6 1,535 reviews | A company that needs basic site checks now and can add SSL and cron checks on a paid plan later. |
| Uptime Kuma | Free; you pay for the server | 4.6 348 reviews | A team that can run a server and wants HTTP, TCP, push and certificate checks with no license fee. |
| Healthchecks.io | Free; Business $16/mo billed yearly | n/a | A team that needs to know when a backup, billing or cron job fails to run on time. |
| Checkly | Free; Starter $24/mo billed yearly | 4.5 34 reviews | Developers who want API and browser checks next to uptime checks, on a plan billed annually. |
| Better Stack | Free; +50 monitors $21/mo billed yearly | 4.7 344 reviews | Teams that want uptime checks in the same product as on-call and incident management. |
| StatusCake | Free; Superior $20.41/mo billed yearly | 4.8 15 reviews | A small team that needs SSL and cron-style push checks from the start and can pay for them. |
| Cronitor | Free; $2/mo per monitor, billed monthly | 4.6 21 reviews | Engineering teams that want cron, heartbeat and website monitors on pay-as-you-go pricing. |
| OpenStatus | Free; Starter $25/mo billed yearly | n/a | A small team that wants 20 monitors at 1-minute checks and a status page on one plan. |
UptimeRobot
The largest hosted free allowance here, 50 monitors at 5-minute checks, with terms that allow commercial use.
- 4.4 on SourceForge (764 reviews)
- 4.6 on Trustpilot (381 reviews)
- 4.7 on G2 (316 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Solo 50 $24/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.6 (1,535 reviews)
Best for: A company that needs basic site checks now and can add SSL and cron checks on a paid plan later.
- Pro: 50 monitors on the free plan at 5-minute checks, more than any other hosted free plan in this table.
- Pro: The terms say the service is available for any use, including commercial and business use.
- Pro: Solo costs $12 a month billed yearly for 10 monitors at 60-second checks, with SSL, DNS and heartbeat monitoring.
- Con: The free plan has no SSL or domain expiry checks, no API monitoring and no heartbeat checks for cron jobs.
- Con: Free alerts go to Google Chat, Discord, Pushover, Pushbullet or Splunk, so Slack needs a paid plan.
UptimeRobot's pricing is generally fair, with a generous Free tier offering 50 monitors.
Uptime Kuma
Free MIT-licensed monitoring with no plan limits, where the only cost is the server you run it on.
- 4.6 on G2 (348 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; you pay for the server
- Free plan
- Free to use
- Rating
- 4.6 (348 reviews)
Best for: A team that can run a server and wants HTTP, TCP, push and certificate checks with no license fee.
- Pro: The MIT license allows commercial use, and the software has no plan tiers to outgrow.
- Pro: It covers HTTP(s), TCP, keyword, JSON query, ping, DNS record and push checks, plus certificate info.
- Pro: Alerts go to Slack, Telegram, Discord, email and 90-plus other notification services.
- Con: You host, update and back it up, so the real cost is your server and your time.
- Con: A self-hosted monitor stops checking when its own server goes down, so keep an outside check as well.
Uptime Kuma's pricing is exceptionally generous, being entirely free.
- Starting price
- Free; Business $16/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: A team that needs to know when a backup, billing or cron job fails to run on time.
- Pro: The Hobbyist plan costs nothing and covers 20 jobs, with 100 log entries kept per job.
- Pro: Its FAQ describes Hobbyist accounts used for work, as long as the total checks across them stay at 20 or fewer.
- Pro: Business Plus raises the limit to 1,000 jobs for $64 a month billed yearly.
- Con: It watches scheduled jobs that ping in, so it cannot check that a website or API responds.
- Con: The free plan lists only a job count and log entries, while Business adds 50 SMS and 20 phone-call credits.
Healthchecks.io offers a very generous free tier and a well-structured pricing model.
Watch out
Overage for log entries beyond tier limits
- Starting price
- Free; Starter $24/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.5 (34 reviews)
Best for: Developers who want API and browser checks next to uptime checks, on a plan billed annually.
- Pro: The Hobby plan includes 10 uptime monitors at 2-minute checks from 6 locations at no cost.
- Pro: Starter raises the cap to 50 uptime monitors at 1-minute checks, with SMS alerts, for $24 a month billed annually.
- Pro: Team reaches 75 uptime monitors at 30-second checks from 22 locations, for $64 a month billed annually.
- Con: The Hobby card says it is perfect for personal projects and learning, so a company should check the terms first.
- Con: The free plan caps at 10 monitors, so a 20-check setup has to move to Starter.
Checkly's pricing is fair, especially with a generous free tier offering 10K runs and 5 checks.
Watch out
Overage fees for exceeding check runs on paid plans
Better Stack
10 monitors and heartbeats free, with a 50-monitor pack at $21 a month billed yearly once you outgrow the free allowance.
- 4.8 on G2 (343 reviews)
- 3.7 on Trustpilot (1 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; +50 monitors $21/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.7 (344 reviews)
Best for: Teams that want uptime checks in the same product as on-call and incident management.
- Pro: The free plan includes 10 monitors and heartbeats, 1 status page and Slack and email alerts.
- Pro: Paid uptime checks run as often as every 30 seconds, with SSL, DNS and TCP/UDP port monitoring listed.
- Pro: Heartbeats for cron jobs come in packs of 10, at $17 a month billed yearly.
- Con: The free card is labeled Free for personal projects, so ask before using it for a company site.
- Con: Free monitors and heartbeats share one allowance of 10, so a cron-heavy setup fills it quickly.
Telemetry such as logs is billed separately by volume.
StatusCake
Its free card lists 10 uptime monitors at 5-minute checks, and Superior covers 100 monitors at 1-minute checks.
- 4.8 on G2 (15 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Superior $20.41/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.8 (15 reviews)
Best for: A small team that needs SSL and cron-style push checks from the start and can pay for them.
- Pro: Superior includes 100 uptime monitors at 1-minute checks and 50 SSL monitors.
- Pro: Push tests for cron-style jobs are on the paid plans, and the free plan runs HTTP(S) checks only.
- Pro: Annual billing gives two months free against monthly billing, so the yearly rate is the one to compare.
- Con: The FAQ says its free account is designed for single, personal use only, so a company needs a paid plan.
- Con: Its free limit is not stated the same way everywhere: the card says 10 monitors at 5-minute checks, while its comparison table shows 3 at 15 minutes to US visitors.
StatusCake's pricing is fair, especially with a generous free tier and a well-priced 'Superior' plan at $20.41/month for small teams.
- Starting price
- Free; $2/mo per monitor, billed monthly
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.6 (21 reviews)
Best for: Engineering teams that want cron, heartbeat and website monitors on pay-as-you-go pricing.
- Pro: Hacker is $0 and free forever, with email and Slack alerts and one basic status page.
- Pro: Every plan includes cron, heartbeat, website and API monitoring, so one tool covers all four check types.
- Pro: At Cronitor's own rate of $2 a month per monitor, 20 monitors come to $40 before users are added.
- Con: The Business example is billed monthly, and the page shows no annual price.
- Con: The free plan has one dashboard user and no SMS alerts.
Cronitor's pricing is quite fair and transparent, especially with its usage-based model for the Business tier at $2/monitor + $5/user.
OpenStatus
A free Hobby tier with one monitor at 10-minute checks, and Starter at $25 a month billed yearly for 20 monitors.
- Starting price
- Free; Starter $25/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: A small team that wants 20 monitors at 1-minute checks and a status page on one plan.
- Pro: Starter includes 20 monitors at 1-minute checks, one status page and 10 notification channels.
- Pro: Slack, Discord, email, webhook and WhatsApp alerts are on every paid plan, with PagerDuty and OpsGenie too.
- Pro: Starter comes with a 14-day trial that needs no card.
- Con: The free Hobby plan has one monitor and a 10-minute minimum interval, so a site with an API needs Starter.
- Con: Extra status pages cost $20 a month each on Starter, and data is kept for 3 months against 12 on Pro.
OpenStatus offers a fair pricing structure, especially with its generous Hobby tier at $0.
Watch out
No clear overage pricing for monitors
Other Status Pages tools worth considering
More published tools from our Status Pages category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
What an uptime monitor checks, and what it leaves out
An uptime monitor sends a request to a web address, API endpoint or port at a fixed interval, and it alerts you when the answer is wrong or late. A cron monitor works the other way round. The scheduled job pings a URL when it finishes, and the tool alerts you when that ping does not arrive on time. SSL and domain checks warn you before a certificate or domain expires.
On the free plans in this table, HTTP checks are standard, while cron and certificate checks are often paid. For the wider field, see best free monitoring tools and best status page software.
Why the monitor count matters more than the price
A free plan costs nothing and can still leave a commercial site unwatched in two places. The first is the monitor count. The second is the check interval, because five minutes between checks means an outage can go unnoticed for up to five minutes before the alert fires.
The use rule matters too. Where a vendor describes its free plan as meant for personal projects, ask before a company relies on it. Where a vendor says its terms allow any use, save that wording with the date you read it.
Key Features to Look For
Monitor count (Essential)
UptimeRobot's free plan allows 50 monitors and Healthchecks.io 20 jobs. Better Stack counts 10 monitors and heartbeats together, Checkly stops at 10, StatusCake's card says 10 while its US comparison table says 3, Cronitor at 5 and OpenStatus at 1.
Check interval (Essential)
Apart from StatusCake, free intervals run from 2 minutes on Checkly to 10 minutes on OpenStatus. UptimeRobot and Cronitor check every 5 minutes. StatusCake's card says 5 minutes as well, but its US comparison table says 15.
Cron and heartbeat checks (Essential)
Healthchecks.io is built around scheduled jobs. UptimeRobot's free plan has no heartbeat checks, and StatusCake's free plan is HTTP(S) only, so cron checks need a paid tier there.
SSL and domain expiry (Important)
UptimeRobot's free plan leaves out SSL and domain expiry checks. The StatusCake free card lists one SSL monitor and one domain monitor, and Uptime Kuma includes certificate info.
Alert channels (Important)
Better Stack, Cronitor and Checkly include Slack on their free plans. UptimeRobot's free plan has five integrations, and Slack is not among them.
Use rule (Essential)
UptimeRobot's terms say the service is available for any use, including commercial and business use. Healthchecks.io allows work use within its 20-check limit. Better Stack, StatusCake and Checkly describe their free plans as personal.
Before you pick a free monitor
-
Count monitors and cron jobs separately. Better Stack counts heartbeats in the same allowance as monitors, while Healthchecks.io counts jobs, so the same 20 checks can need two different plans.
-
Decide which alerts you need on the free plan. Email and Slack are free on Better Stack, Cronitor and Checkly, while UptimeRobot's free plan has no Slack.
-
Read the use rule before launch. Better Stack's free card says Free for personal projects, and StatusCake's FAQ says its free account is designed for single, personal use only.
Evaluation Checklist
Count every check before comparing plan sizes, including cron jobs, SSL certificates and API endpoints.
Confirm the shortest interval you need on the free plan itself, not on a paid tier.
Send a test alert to your real Slack or email channel on the free plan before you rely on it.
Find the use-rule sentence on the vendor's own page and save its address with the date you read it.
Pricing Overview
Hosted free plans
UptimeRobot with 50 monitors, Better Stack with 10 monitors and heartbeats, StatusCake and Checkly with 10 uptime monitors, Cronitor with 5, OpenStatus with 1 and Healthchecks.io with 20 jobs.
$0
Small paid plans
UptimeRobot Solo for 10 monitors at 60-second checks, UptimeRobot Team for 100 monitors at 30-second checks, and StatusCake Superior for 100 monitors at 1-minute checks.
$12 to $33 a month billed yearly
Cron and heartbeat plans
Healthchecks.io Business for 100 jobs and Business Plus for 1,000 jobs, plus Better Stack's heartbeat pack of 10 at $17 a month billed yearly.
$16 to $64 a month billed yearly
Self-hosted
Uptime Kuma under the MIT license, where the cost is the server you run it on and the time to maintain it.
$0 for the software
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | Free monitors or jobs | Free check interval | Free use rule | Cheapest paid step for 20 checks | Billing basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 monitors: HTTP, port, ping and keyword checks | 5 minutes | Terms: available for any use, including commercial | Solo, $24 a month for 50 monitors at 60-second checks | Billed yearly | |
No plan limit, you host it | Set by you | MIT license | Your own server; the software costs $0 | Free software | |
20 jobs, cron and heartbeat pings only | Set per job | Work use allowed within the 20-check limit (FAQ) | Cron only: Business, $16 a month for 100 jobs | Billed yearly ($20 billed monthly) | |
Checkly | 10 uptime monitors, 10,000 API runs, 1,000 browser runs | 2 minutes | Card: Perfect for personal projects and learning | Starter, $24 a month for 50 monitors at 1-minute checks | Billed annually |
10 monitors and heartbeats, 1 status page | Not listed on the pricing page | Card: Free for personal projects | 10 monitors included, plus a 50-monitor pack at $21 a month | Billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) | |
10 uptime monitors, 1 SSL, 1 domain; HTTP(S) only | 5 minutes on the card | FAQ: designed for single, personal use only | Superior, $20.41 a month for 100 monitors at 1-minute checks | Billed yearly ($24.49 billed monthly) | |
Cronitor | 5 monitors, counting jobs, checks and heartbeats | 5 minutes | Card: for homelabs and small projects | Business, $2 per monitor plus $5 per user; $40 for 20 monitors before users | Billed monthly; no annual price shown |
1 monitor and 1 status page with 3 components | 10 minutes | No use rule in its pricing FAQ | Starter, $25 a month for 20 monitors at 1-minute checks | Billed yearly ($30 billed monthly) |
Checked on each vendor's own pages in October 2026: UptimeRobot pricing and UptimeRobot terms, Uptime Kuma, Healthchecks.io pricing and Healthchecks.io FAQ, Checkly pricing, Better Stack pricing, StatusCake pricing, Cronitor pricing and OpenStatus pricing.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Reading the monitor count and stopping there. UptimeRobot's 50 free monitors come without SSL, API or heartbeat checks, so a cron job needs a paid plan.
- ×
Expecting 1-minute checks on a free plan. UptimeRobot's free tier checks every 5 minutes, and 60-second checks start on Solo.
- ×
Mistaking a trial for a free plan. Cronitor's Business and OpenStatus's Starter both start with a 14-day trial, and OpenStatus drops the workspace to Hobby if no card is added.
- ×
Running a company site on a plan labeled for personal use without asking the vendor first.
Expert Tips
- →
Plan for the count you will need in six months, not today. Going from 10 monitors to 20 changes the plan: Solo's 50-monitor tier covers 20 checks, and Team covers up to 100 at $33.
- →
Add an outside check to a self-hosted tool. Uptime Kuma stops checking when the server it runs on goes down, so a second check from another provider covers that gap.
- →
Compare annual and monthly prices on the same page. StatusCake's yearly rate sits well below its monthly rate, so read both before you choose a billing period.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A free monitor count below your check count leaves part of the setup unwatched.
-
A free card that says personal projects is a question to put to the vendor before a company launches on it.
-
Two different free limits on one pricing page, as with StatusCake, mean the plan may change, so check it before you sign up.
The Bottom Line
Pick UptimeRobot for the largest hosted free allowance, then move to Solo up to 10 monitors, Solo's 50-monitor tier for up to 50, or Team at $33 a month billed yearly for up to 100. Pick Uptime Kuma if you can run a server and want no plan limits at all. Pick Healthchecks.io if the only thing you need is a watch on scheduled jobs.
For a 20-check business setup with SSL and cron checks, StatusCake's Superior plan is the lowest paid step that covers it. Check every free-plan use rule against the vendor's own wording before a company relies on it.
Cite this: Toolradar, "Best Free Uptime Monitoring Tools in 2026", October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free uptime monitoring tool in 2026?
UptimeRobot is the best hosted free plan in this table, with 50 monitors at 5-minute checks and terms that allow commercial use. Uptime Kuma is the best free option if you can run your own server, since its MIT license has no plan limits.
Is UptimeRobot free for commercial use?
Yes. UptimeRobot's terms say the service is available for any use, including commercial and business use, and its fair-use policy applies the same rule to any plan. The free plan itself has no SSL, API or heartbeat checks, so a commercial setup with cron jobs needs a paid plan: Solo at $12 a month billed yearly for up to 10 monitors, the 50-monitor Solo tier for up to 50, or Team at $33 a month billed yearly for up to 100.
How much does a 20-check uptime setup cost?
For SSL and cron checks, StatusCake's Superior plan is the lowest paid step in this table, at $20.41 a month billed yearly for 100 uptime monitors. OpenStatus Starter covers 20 monitors at 1-minute checks on one plan.
Which free uptime plans are meant for personal use?
Better Stack labels its free card Free for personal projects, StatusCake's FAQ says its free account is designed for single, personal use only, and Checkly's Hobby card says it is perfect for personal projects and learning. Read each vendor's terms before a company relies on any of them.
Does Healthchecks.io check whether my website is up?
No. Healthchecks.io watches scheduled jobs that ping it when they run, and it alerts you when a job is late. Its free Hobbyist plan covers 20 jobs at $0, and its paid Business plan covers 100 jobs.
Is there a free plan that covers SSL and cron checks?
Not among the hosted plans here. UptimeRobot's free plan has no SSL or heartbeat checks, and StatusCake's free plan runs HTTP(S) checks only. Uptime Kuma includes push and certificate checks, but you host it yourself.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Best Free Uptime Monitoring Tools in 2026", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/best-free-uptime-monitoring-tools
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