Monitor website uptime without renting a monitoring seat
Uptime monitoring is a cron job and an HTTP request — yet the incumbents bill monthly per monitor. These self-hosted tools watch your sites, certs and cron jobs for a single payment.
Tools that solve this
Upwatch
HTTP checks, incident log, alerts and a branded 90-day status page — on your own box.
$8/mo
Pingcron
Your jobs ping a URL when they run — Pingcron alerts you when a ping is late or missing.
$10/mo
Certwatch
Real TLS handshake checks on a schedule with 30/14/7/1-day email and webhook alerts.
$10–20/mo
Upkeep Status
Components, incident timelines, maintenance windows and email subscribers — self-hosted on a $5 VPS.
$29+/mo
How to monitor website uptime with Upwatch
Buy once on Whop
One-time $99 for the packaged, zero-config version with updates and priority support.
Run it anywhere
Desktop app for personal use, or docker compose up on a $5 VPS for a public status page.
Add monitors, get alerts
HTTP checks every 30s, webhook/email pings the second something breaks — and again when it recovers.
What it costs
| App | You pay | Subscription it replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Upwatch | $99 once | UptimeRobot — $8/mo (~$96/yr) |
| Pingcron | $79 once | Cronitor — $10/mo (~$120/yr) |
| Certwatch | $24 once | SSLMate-style SSL monitors — $10–20/mo (~$180/yr) |
| Upkeep Status | $29 once | Statuspage.io — $29+/mo (~$348/yr) |
Honest answers
Is there a free option?
Yes. Upwatch — like every app in the suite — has a free, MIT-licensed MVP on GitHub (https://github.com/bensblueprints/uptime-monitor-mvp). Buying gets you the signed installer, one-click setup and updates; the source is free forever.
Which one should I pick?
Pick by where you want the software to live. Upwatch, Pingcron are desktop apps — everything runs locally on your machine, so your files stay private and the app works offline; Certwatch, Upkeep Status are self-hosted web apps — you run them on your own server or VPS, so your team can log in from anywhere while the data stays yours. Either way, every option here is a one-time purchase with MIT-licensed source on GitHub.
Are these really one-time?
Yes. Every app on this page is a single payment — Upwatch is $99, Pingcron is $79, Certwatch is $24, Upkeep Status is $29. No renewal, no seats, no usage meter. The apps keep working even if you never pay again.
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