Uptime-tool SSL add-ons and SSLMate-style monitors run $10 to $20 a month, roughly $360 to $720 over three years for 50 domains. One expired cert is a 2am page either way. Certwatch does a real TLS handshake against every site you care about on a schedule, and alerts you by email or webhook at 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before a cert or the domain itself expires. $24, once.
This is the full pricing breakdown: what SSLMate-style SSL monitors actually costs over one, two and three years, what Certwatch gives you for $24 paid once, and the honest cases where the subscription is still the right call.
What SSLMate-style SSL monitors actually costs you
At $10–20/mo, one SSLMate-style SSL monitors subscription adds up to $180 every year — $540 over a three-year window, for software you stop owning the day you cancel. Certwatch is $24 the day you buy it, and the meter never runs again.
| Certwatch | SSLMate-style SSL monitors | |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker price | $24 once | $10–20/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $24 | $180 |
| Cost after 2 years | $24 | $360 |
| Cost after 3 years | $24 | $540 |
Three years in, the gap is $516 — and every year after that adds another $180 to the subscription side of the ledger.
Certwatch vs SSLMate-style SSL monitors, feature by feature
Price is only half the story — here's how the two line up on the things that decide day-to-day use:
| Certwatch | SSLMate-style SSL monitors | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24 once | $10–20/mo |
| 3 years, 50 domains | $24 | $360–720 |
| Handshake checks (expiry, chain, keys) | Yes | Yes |
| Domain (WHOIS) expiry | Yes, best-effort | Sometimes |
| Email + webhook alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Data on your server | Yes | No |
| Domain limits | None | Usually tiered |
| Source you can read | Yes, MIT | No |
What you get for $24, once
Real TLS handshake checks on a schedule with 30/14/7/1-day email and webhook alerts. The highlights:
- 🚦 Traffic-light dashboard — Green over 30 days, yellow at 30 or under, red under 7 days, or for expired, invalid or unreachable hosts.
- 🤝 Real TLS handshake checks — Node tls checks expiry, issuer, SAN list, chain validity, self-signed certs and weak keys (RSA under 2048, EC under 224).
- 🌐 Domain WHOIS expiry — Best-effort registry lookups so the domain registration itself does not lapse either.
- 🔔 Threshold alerts — Configurable days (default 30, 14, 7, 1) via webhook and SMTP email, with exactly one alert per threshold per certificate.
Two months of a paid SSL monitor covers Certwatch, and one cert it saves from expiring covers the 2am page it would have cost you.
Switching is 3 steps
- Buy once on Whop. One payment of $24 gets you the packaged 1-click installer, or clone the MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/ssl-cert-monitor-mvp and run it yourself for free.
- Deploy on your own server. docker compose up on a $5 VPS that can reach your hosts, or run the Electron desktop build, adding SMTP credentials to .env if you want email alerts.
- Add your domains. Point it at the sites you care about; it runs real TLS handshakes on a schedule and pages you before anything expires.
When paying SSLMate-style SSL monitors is still the right call
Being straight about it: the subscription earns its keep in three situations. If your team is large enough that SSLMate-style SSL monitors's collaboration features, permissions and admin controls are genuinely load-bearing; if your workflow is built on its integrations and leaving means rebuilding that plumbing; or if you have enterprise requirements — SSO, audit logs, SLAs, a vendor to call — that a pay-once app doesn't come with. Everyone else is paying $10–20/mo for a job that runs fine on hardware they already own.
If that's you, Certwatch is $24, once. For the deeper dive, read the Certwatch vs SSLMate-style SSL monitors head-to-head.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes. Certwatch is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/ssl-cert-monitor-mvp and always will be. The $24 buys the packaged 1-click installer; building from source is free.
Where does my monitoring data live?
In a SQLite database on your own server. The checker connects directly to your hosts, so run it from a box that can reach them, and nothing goes to any third-party API.
How reliable is the domain-expiry check?
Certificate checks are the reliable signal. WHOIS domain expiry is best-effort: some TLDs publish no expiry and some rate-limit, so treat it as a bonus rather than the primary alarm.
Is this a subscription in disguise?
No. $24 once, no renewal, no per-domain tiering, no license server. Webhooks work with zero config; deploy it and it keeps watching your certs.
More on SSLMate-style SSL monitors pricing
Certwatch — product page, demo & full feature list · All OneTimeSuite pricing breakdowns
Try Certwatch — $24, once
Real TLS handshake checks on a schedule with 30/14/7/1-day email and webhook alerts.