Quick answer
Yes — Upwatch is a one-time-purchase alternative to UptimeRobot. It costs $99 once, while UptimeRobot runs $8/mo — about $96 per year, every year. HTTP checks, incident log, alerts and a branded 90-day status page — on your own box. It is for people who want the job done on their own hardware without a renewal date — not for teams that live inside UptimeRobot's ecosystem.
The verdict
Switch to Upwatch if you are an individual or small team paying UptimeRobot $8/mo for work your own machine can do. Pays for itself vs UptimeRobot in about a year — then it's free forever.
Stay with UptimeRobot if your workflow depends on its integrations, you need enterprise features (SSO, admin controls, SLAs), or your team is large enough that per-seat collaboration tooling is worth the bill. Upwatch does not try to replicate those.
Head to head
| Upwatch | UptimeRobot | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $99 once | UptimeRobot $8/mo ($96/yr) · Pingdom $10+/mo |
| Monitors | Unlimited | 50 on UptimeRobot's paid tier |
| Check interval | 30s | 60s (paid) |
| Public status page | Included, branded | Limited / upsell |
| Keyword checks | Included | Paid tier |
| Your data | Your SQLite file on your box | Their cloud |
| Multi-client agency use | One VPS monitors everything | Per-account limits / pricing |
| 5-year cost | $99 | $480 |
Where UptimeRobot still wins
- Ecosystem and integrations. Established tools accumulate years of third-party integrations, templates and add-ons. If your workflow is wired into UptimeRobot's ecosystem, switching means rebuilding that plumbing — a real cost.
- Team and enterprise features. Shared workspaces, granular permissions, SSO, audit logs and a vendor to call when something breaks — that is what the higher subscription tiers actually buy, and a pay-once app does not come with it.
- Familiarity and hiring. UptimeRobot is the name people already know. Onboarding a team onto a tool nobody has used before takes time the subscription never charges for.
Where Upwatch wins
- Price, permanently. $99 once versus $96/yr for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- HTTP(S) monitors. URL, interval from 30s to 15m, expected status code, optional keyword match.
- In-process checker loop. No cron, no workers, no Redis — one Node process does everything.
- SQLite storage. Check history with automatic 90-day retention pruning. One file to back up.
The math
Pays for itself vs UptimeRobot in about a year — then it's free forever.
- After 1 year: Upwatch has cost you $99 total — UptimeRobot has cost $96.
- After 3 years: Upwatch is still $99 — the subscription is at $288.
- After 5 years: Upwatch is still $99 — the subscription is at $480.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/uptime-monitor-mvp, always. The paid version is pure convenience: packaged installer, updates, priority support.
Do I need a server?
Not necessarily. Desktop mode runs the whole app in an Electron window. For a public status page or 24/7 monitoring you'll want a $5 VPS — which is still cheaper per year than one month of most competitors' higher tiers.
What check types are supported?
HTTP(S) with status-code and keyword assertions. No ping/port/DNS checks yet — if you need those today, UptimeRobot still has the broader check menu.
Where does monitoring run from?
From wherever you host it — one location. Cloud services check from multiple regions; that's their genuine advantage. For "is my site up and is checkout on the page", one good vantage point covers it.
Try Upwatch — $99, one time
Or get Upwatch plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.