Monitor websites for free: A comparison of free website monitoring tools

Free website monitoring tools compared

Here you will find a selection of free website monitoring tools compared and can find out about their features:

Here are the individual tools in detail:

Hosttest Plus/Pulse

Disclosure: The tool presented here, HOSTtest Plus, is developed and operated by hosttest.

HOSTtest Plus is hosttest's free monitoring solution and already offers an unusually large range of features on the Free plan. The free version is available permanently and allows monitoring of up to 50 websites or servers with a 5-minute interval. In addition to classic HTTP checks, you can also set up ping, port and keyword monitors. Two premium monitors for SSL and DNS monitoring are also included, with which expiring SSL certificates or conspicuous DNS changes can be detected early. You receive unlimited notifications by email. Notably, the free plan also includes two SMS credits per month, which can also be used for SMS or voice notifications in the event of downtime. In addition, HOSTtest Plus offers monthly performance reports with a hosting provider comparison, load-time alerts and practical extras such as hosting tenders and contract reminders via the Sparalarm. The monitoring servers are located in Germany/Europe, which creates a realistic setting compared with international test locations. 

HOSTtest Plus Free plan features at a glance

• permanently free
• no credit card required
• monitoring interval from 5 minutes
• up to 50 monitors
• 2 premium monitors for SSL/DNS included
• Types of monitoring:
• HTTP keyword
• Ping
• Port
• SSL
• DNS
• unlimited email notifications
• 2 SMS credits per month included
• SMS and voice notifications possible in the event of downtime
• load-time alerts
• monthly performance report with hosting provider comparison
• monitoring servers in Europe/Germany
• Sparalarm & contract reminders
• hosting tenders

UptimeRobot

UptimeRobot is one of the most popular free website monitoring tools and already offers a solid basic setup on the Free plan. The free version is available permanently and checks your website every 5 minutes for availability. You can create up to 50 monitors – whether for HTTPS websites, ping tests of network devices, port monitoring or keyword monitoring that checks for a specific text in the source code.

You receive notifications free of charge by email or via the app, while SMS or phone call notifications are only possible with paid credits. Also practical is the Status Page, where you can track your uptime publicly or internally – ideal for informing customers or team members transparently about the status of your website.

UptimeRobot Free plan features at a glance

• permanently free
• Check interval: 5 minutes
• 50 monitoring entries
• Monitoring types:
• HTTPS
• Keyword
• Ping
• Port
• Email or app notifications free of charge
• SMS or phone call notifications require credits (paid)
• Status Page

StatusCake

StatusCake offers a solid foundation in the free plan for monitoring your website and important server services. The Free plan is permanently free and checks your website every 5 minutes for availability. You can set up up to 10 monitors and use not only classic HTTPS checks but also TCP, DNS, SMTP, SSH, PING and PUSH monitoring – ideal if you want to keep an eye on different services.

In addition, a PageSpeed test and SSL monitoring are available, both limited in the free version. Email notifications are included, while SMS or phone call alerts only work with paid credits. This makes StatusCake particularly suitable for users who want to monitor several server types simultaneously for free.

StatusCake Free plan features at a glance

• permanently free
• Check interval: 5 minutes
• 10 monitoring entries
• Monitoring types:
• HTTPS
• HEAD
• TCP
• DNS
• SMTP
• SSH
• PING
• PUSH
• 1xPagespeed (limited)
• 1x SSL (limited)
• Email notifications free of charge
• SMS or phone call notifications require credits (paid)
• no Status Page

SiteUptime

SiteUptime is one of the oldest website monitoring services and offers a simple, permanently free plan. The free version checks your website every 30 minutes and allows one monitor — optionally for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 or FTP connections. This makes the Free plan particularly suitable for straightforward availability checks without extra features.

Email notifications are included, while phone or SMS alerts are only available in the paid plans. A status page is not included in the free plan, making SiteUptime a lean but reliable solution for basic checks.

SiteUptime Free plan — features at a glance

• permanently free
• check interval: 30 minutes
• 1x monitoring entry
• Monitoring types:
• HTTP
• SMTP
• POP3
• FTP
• Email notifications included
• Phone/SMS not in Free plan
• No status page in Free plan

Pulsetic

Pulsetic is a modern website monitoring tool with an attractive dashboard and a permanently free plan. In the Free plan you can set up up to 10 monitors that check your website or services every 5 minutes — via HTTP, TCP or ICMP (ping). You can also monitor SSL certificates and specific keywords in the site code to detect potential issues early.

Notifications are free by email, while SMS or phone alerts are only available in paid plans. Particularly useful: you can create up to three custom status pages to transparently show the availability of your projects — ideal for agencies, freelancers or small teams.

Pulsetic Free plan — features at a glance

• permanently free
• check interval: 5 minutes
• 10x monitoring entries
• Monitoring types:
• HTTP
• TCP
• ICMP
• SSL
• Keyword
• Email notifications included
• Phone/SMS not in Free plan
• 3 status pages

Montastic

Montastic is a straightforward website monitoring tool that can be used free of charge indefinitely. The free plan allows up to 50 websites to be checked for availability every 5 minutes — ideal for simple HTTP checks. Notifications are sent by email as soon as a site is unavailable, and you also get a free status page to publicly display the current online status. This makes Montastic particularly suitable for users who are looking for a simple and reliable solution with minimal setup effort.

Montastic Free Plan features at a glance

• free of charge indefinitely
• check interval: 5 minutes
• 50 monitoring entries
• monitoring types:
• HTTP
• email notifications: free
• 1 free status page

All the tools presented are excellent for monitoring a website for free — the differences are mainly in the details. Hosttest Plus is integrated directly into the Hosttest portal, Montastic and SiteUptime are ideal entry-level options for simple projects that only require basic availability checks. UptimeRobot offers significantly more flexibility with 50 monitors and multiple check types and is one of the most popular all‑round solutions. If you want to monitor additional services such as TCP, DNS or SSH, StatusCake is a good choice. For a modern dashboard, keyword and SSL checks, and custom status pages, Pulsetic is the best free option — especially for freelancers, agencies and small teams that need to keep several projects under observation at once.

Important monitoring features explained

Many of the free website monitoring tools offer far more than simple availability checks. In addition to classic uptime checks, many services also monitor server ports, SSL certificates or specific content on a website.

The key features at a glance:

• HTTP and HTTPS monitoring

This basic function regularly checks whether a website is reachable and responds correctly to HTTP or HTTPS requests. For HTTPS, it also verifies that a secure connection is established using a valid SSL certificate.

• Ping monitoring (ICMP)

A ping test sends small data packets to the server to measure whether it is reachable and how quickly it responds. It is a simple method to detect connection problems or server outages.

• TCP monitoring

TCP checks verify whether a particular network port on a server is open and reachable. This allows you to monitor not only websites but also other services such as email or database servers.

• Port monitoring

Similar to TCP monitoring, but usually with fixed presets. It specifically checks whether a service is reachable via the desired port (e.g. port 80 for HTTP or port 443 for HTTPS).

• Keyword monitoring

Keyword monitoring regularly searches for a specific text or term in the source code of a website. If the term is missing or the content has changed, you receive a notification. This is especially useful to ensure that important content or shop elements are displayed correctly.

• DNS monitoring

This feature checks whether a domain resolves correctly and points to the correct IP address. Incorrect DNS records can cause a website to be unreachable – DNS checks detect such problems early.

• SSL monitoring

With this check you ensure that your SSL certificate is valid and renewed in good time. Many tools send a warning when the certificate is about to expire or is incorrectly configured.

• SMTP, POP3 and FTP monitoring

These checks are aimed at operators of email and FTP servers. They test whether connections to these services can be established and whether login works. This allows problems with email delivery or file uploads to be detected early.

• HEAD and PUSH checks

HEAD checks examine only the header of a website without loading the entire page – this saves time and bandwidth. PUSH checks, on the other hand, expect a system to send regular status messages to the monitoring tool itself – ideal for APIs or internal processes.

• Pagespeed tests

Many monitoring services measure the load time of your website and record how quickly the server responds to requests. Slow load times can indicate overloaded systems or faulty scripts and have a negative effect on user experience and SEO.

• Status pages

Many providers offer a dedicated status page where you can display your website's uptime and current availability publicly or internally. This creates transparency for customers or team members.

• Notifications and alerting

All tools notify you of outages or errors. By default this is via email, sometimes also via app notifications. In paid plans you can often enable SMS, telephone or chat alerts.

When is a paid plan worthwhile?

Free website monitoring tools are ideal for keeping an eye on your own website or smaller projects. They usually cover all the basic features – such as regular uptime checks, email notifications and simple status pages. But if you run multiple websites, complex systems or business‑critical applications, you'll quickly reach the limits of the free versions.

Typical limitations affect the number of monitors, the check intervals (usually every 5 to 10 minutes) and the scope of notifications. Features like SMS or telephone alerts, advanced reports, geographically distributed test locations or integrations with tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams are often only available in the paid versions.

An upgrade to a paid plan or the use of a more comprehensive Server monitoring solution is particularly worthwhile for agencies, businesses with multiple domains or online shops where downtime means a direct loss of revenue. Anyone who needs a higher check frequency (e.g. every 60 seconds) or detailed analysis features will also benefit from the extended capabilities of paid premium plans.

Tips for effective website monitoring

With the right settings you can get considerably more out of any monitoring tool. The following practical tips help you detect outages faster and avoid false alarms:

• Test from multiple locations: Run your checks from different regions (e.g. Europe, USA, Asia). This ensures your website is accessible worldwide and that there are no location-dependent issues.
• Only send relevant alerts: Restrict notifications to the people or teams who are actually affected. Too many unnecessary alarms quickly lead to warnings being overlooked or ignored.
• Check status pages regularly: A status page is only useful if it functions correctly and is kept up to date. Therefore, check regularly that all services are displayed correctly.
• Keep an eye on SSL and domain validity: Many outages are caused by expired certificates or domains. Automated reminders help you renew in time and avoid interruptions.
• Schedule maintenance windows: Define planned maintenance windows so your monitoring does not trigger false alarms during updates or server work.
• Analyse data over the long term: Pay attention not only to acute outages but also to trends – for example, slowly increasing response times. This way you can detect issues early before they become real outages.

With these simple measures, website monitoring becomes not only more reliable but also more efficient – whether you manage a single project or several client websites.

Our article is based on our own experience and research as well as information from external sources.

Sources & further links on the topic: