[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":265},["ShallowReactive",2],{"content:\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-monitor-a-website-for-free":3,"related:\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-set-up-uptime-monitoring-for-client-websites,\u002Fcompare\u002Fuptimerobot-alternative-for-freelancers,\u002Fguides\u002Fwebsite-monitoring-checklist-for-freelancers":253},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":225,"description":226,"extension":227,"faq":228,"h1":241,"meta":242,"navigation":243,"path":244,"published":245,"readingMinutes":246,"related":247,"seo":250,"stem":251,"updated":245,"__hash__":252},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-monitor-a-website-for-free.md","How to monitor a website for free",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":214},"minimark",[9,13,18,98,102,105,108,112,115,118,122,125,136,139,143,157,161,190,194,202,206],[10,11,12],"p",{},"You can monitor a website without paying, and for a hobby site that is often enough. For client sites the free options have limits that are worth knowing before you depend on them.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"what-are-the-free-ways-to-monitor-a-website","What are the free ways to monitor a website?",[19,20,21,40],"table",{},[22,23,24],"thead",{},[25,26,27,31,34,37],"tr",{},[28,29,30],"th",{},"Option",[28,32,33],{},"Cost",[28,35,36],{},"Strength",[28,38,39],{},"Limit",[41,42,43,58,72,85],"tbody",{},[25,44,45,49,52,55],{},[46,47,48],"td",{},"Hosted free plan",[46,50,51],{},"Free",[46,53,54],{},"Easy, alerts included",[46,56,57],{},"Fewer monitors, slower checks, terms of use",[25,59,60,63,66,69],{},[46,61,62],{},"Open-source, self-hosted",[46,64,65],{},"Free, plus a server",[46,67,68],{},"Full control, many check types",[46,70,71],{},"You run and watch the monitor yourself",[25,73,74,77,79,82],{},[46,75,76],{},"A script on a schedule",[46,78,51],{},[46,80,81],{},"Simple and flexible",[46,83,84],{},"One location, no confirmation, you build alerts",[25,86,87,90,92,95],{},[46,88,89],{},"One-off checkers",[46,91,51],{},[46,93,94],{},"Instant answer",[46,96,97],{},"Only tells you about now",[14,99,101],{"id":100},"how-does-a-hosted-free-plan-work","How does a hosted free plan work?",[10,103,104],{},"You add a URL, choose the check, and the service requests it every few minutes and alerts you by email or another channel when it fails. Free plans typically limit the number of monitors and check no faster than every five minutes.",[10,106,107],{},"The detail that matters for freelancers is the terms. Some services describe their free plan as intended for hobby or non-profit projects, which may not cover monitoring a client's site as part of paid work. Read the current terms of any service before you build a client service on it.",[14,109,111],{"id":110},"what-about-open-source-tools-you-host-yourself","What about open-source tools you host yourself?",[10,113,114],{},"Self-hosted monitors such as Uptime Kuma are free of licence cost and support many check types. The cost is a server to run it on, updates and keeping an eye on the monitor itself.",[10,116,117],{},"Run it somewhere other than the sites it watches, otherwise one failure takes down both the site and the alert. A small separate server, or a different provider, solves that.",[14,119,121],{"id":120},"can-i-just-write-a-script","Can I just write a script?",[10,123,124],{},"A short script on a schedule works as a minimal monitor:",[126,127,133],"pre",{"className":128,"code":130,"language":131,"meta":132},[129],"language-bash","#!\u002Fusr\u002Fbin\u002Fenv bash\nurl=\"https:\u002F\u002Fexample.com\u002F\"\ncode=$(curl -s -o \u002Fdev\u002Fnull -m 10 -w \"%{http_code}\" \"$url\")\nif [ \"$code\" != \"200\" ]; then\n  echo \"DOWN: $url answered $code\" | mail -s \"Site down\" you@example.com\nfi\n","bash","",[134,135,130],"code",{"__ignoreMap":132},[10,137,138],{},"Run it every few minutes from a machine that is not the one hosting the site. Its limits are real: it checks from one place, does not confirm failures before alerting, needs a working mail setup and only reports when it runs. It is a good way to learn how monitoring works and a poor way to look after a client.",[14,140,142],{"id":141},"can-i-use-one-off-checkers","Can I use one-off checkers?",[10,144,145,146,151,152,156],{},"Yes, for a quick answer. Our free ",[147,148,150],"a",{"href":149},"\u002Ftools\u002Fssl-certificate-expiry-checker","SSL certificate expiry checker"," and ",[147,153,155],{"href":154},"\u002Ftools\u002Fdomain-expiry-date-checker","domain expiry date checker"," tell you about a certificate or a domain right now. They do not watch anything over time.",[14,158,160],{"id":159},"what-do-i-give-up-with-free-monitoring","What do I give up with free monitoring?",[162,163,164,172,178,184],"ul",{},[165,166,167,171],"li",{},[168,169,170],"strong",{},"Speed."," A five-minute interval can miss short outages.",[165,173,174,177],{},[168,175,176],{},"Confirmation."," Cheaper setups alert on a single failure, which creates false alarms.",[165,179,180,183],{},[168,181,182],{},"Coverage."," Certificate expiry, domain expiry and key flows are often missing or limited.",[165,185,186,189],{},[168,187,188],{},"Reporting."," Few free options give a clean monthly report for a client.",[14,191,193],{"id":192},"when-is-it-worth-paying","When is it worth paying?",[10,195,196,197,201],{},"When a client depends on the site, when you look after more sites than the free limit allows, when you need shorter intervals or status pages, or when a missed outage would cost more than a year of the plan. Our guide to ",[147,198,200],{"href":199},"\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-set-up-uptime-monitoring-for-client-websites","setting up uptime monitoring for client websites"," covers what to check in a paid tool.",[14,203,205],{"id":204},"where-datumboard-fits","Where Datumboard fits",[10,207,208,209,213],{},"Datumboard is in early access and its pricing is not final. It shows health next to deploys, renewals, search data and costs for every project. You can ",[147,210,212],{"href":211},"#early-access","join the list below"," to hear before launch.",{"title":132,"searchDepth":215,"depth":215,"links":216},2,[217,218,219,220,221,222,223,224],{"id":16,"depth":215,"text":17},{"id":100,"depth":215,"text":101},{"id":110,"depth":215,"text":111},{"id":120,"depth":215,"text":121},{"id":141,"depth":215,"text":142},{"id":159,"depth":215,"text":160},{"id":192,"depth":215,"text":193},{"id":204,"depth":215,"text":205},"How-to","Four free ways to monitor a website, from hosted free tiers to a simple script, and the limits that matter, including use on client sites.","md",[229,232,235,238],{"q":230,"a":231},"Can I monitor a website for free?","Yes. Hosted services offer free plans with a limited number of monitors and slower check intervals, open-source tools can be run on your own server at no licence cost, and a short script run on a schedule can check a page. Each has limits on speed, reliability or terms of use.",{"q":233,"a":234},"Can I use a free uptime monitoring plan for a client's website?","Check the terms. Some free plans are intended for personal or hobby use, which can rule out monitoring a client's site as part of paid work. Read the plan's terms before you rely on it.",{"q":236,"a":237},"How often does free monitoring check a website?","Often every five minutes. That is enough to catch most outages, but an outage shorter than five minutes can pass unnoticed, and paid plans offer shorter intervals.",{"q":239,"a":240},"Is it safe to monitor a website from the same server it runs on?","No. If the server fails, the monitor fails with it and nothing alerts you. Monitoring has to run from somewhere else.","How to monitor a website for free, and what free plans really allow",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-monitor-a-website-for-free","2026-10-12",7,[199,248,249],"\u002Fcompare\u002Fuptimerobot-alternative-for-freelancers","\u002Fguides\u002Fwebsite-monitoring-checklist-for-freelancers",{"title":5,"description":226},"guides\u002Fhow-to-monitor-a-website-for-free","8B9KqEysCMLkuxqmH38xAxtrRkwIPjiCVOOYVwOgvmA",[254,257,261],{"title":255,"description":256,"path":199,"category":225},"Set up uptime monitoring for client websites","Choose the right checks, set sensible intervals, avoid false alarms and send alerts to the right place, with a setup you can repeat for every client.",{"title":258,"description":259,"path":248,"category":260},"UptimeRobot alternative for freelancers","When UptimeRobot is the right tool, where freelancers outgrow it, and how Datumboard differs: one dashboard for uptime, renewals, deploys, search and costs.","Comparison",{"title":262,"description":263,"path":249,"category":264},"Website monitoring checklist for freelancers","A practical checklist of what to monitor on every client website, from uptime and SSL to domains, deploys and search, and how often to check each.","Checklist",1791830036506]