How to Choose an Uptime Monitoring Tool (Without Overpaying)

Uptime monitoring tools range from free to thousands per month. The expensive ones aren't necessarily better—they just do more things, many of which you don't need. Choosing the right tool means understanding what you actually require and not paying for features you won't use.

Here's how to make that decision systematically.

Step 1: Define What You Actually Need

Before looking at tools, answer these questions:

What are you monitoring?

What matters most?

What's your technical setup?

Step 2: Understand the Tool Categories

Category 1: Simple Uptime Checkers ($0-20/month)

What they do:

• HTTP/ping checks from external servers
• Alert when site is down
• Basic response time tracking

Examples: UptimeRobot, Uptime.com free tier, Freshping

Best for: Simple websites, personal projects, tight budgets

Limitations: No server metrics, limited diagnostics, basic status pages

Category 2: Uptime + Status Pages ($20-50/month)

What they do:

• Everything in Category 1
• Branded status pages
• Incident management
• Subscriber notifications

Examples: Better Stack (Uptime), Instatus, Wakestack

Best for: SaaS products, customer-facing services

Limitations: May lack server monitoring

Category 3: Uptime + Server Monitoring ($30-100/month)

What they do:

• External uptime checks
• Server metrics (CPU, memory, disk)
• Process monitoring
• Combined dashboard

Examples: Wakestack, Netdata Cloud, some Datadog tiers

Best for: Teams managing their own servers

Limitations: Not full observability

Category 4: Full Observability Platforms ($100-500+/month)

What they do:

• Uptime and synthetic monitoring
• Server and application metrics
• Distributed tracing
• Log aggregation
• APM (Application Performance Monitoring)

Examples: Datadog, New Relic, Dynatrace

Best for: Large teams, complex microservices, enterprise

Limitations: Expensive, complex, often overkill

Step 3: Match Needs to Category

Decision Tree

Do you need server metrics (CPU, memory, disk)?
├── No → Category 1 or 2
│   └── Do you need a status page?
│       ├── No → Category 1 (UptimeRobot, $7/mo)
│       └── Yes → Category 2 (Better Stack, $29/mo)
│
└── Yes → Category 3 or 4
    └── Do you need distributed tracing, APM, or logs?
        ├── No → Category 3 (Wakestack, $29/mo)
        └── Yes → Category 4 (Datadog, $$$)

Quick Recommendations by Team Size

Step 4: Evaluate Key Features

Essential Features (Every Tool Should Have)

Important for Most Teams

Nice to Have

Usually Overkill for Small Teams

Step 5: Calculate Total Cost

Visible Costs

Base subscription: $X/month
├── Per-monitor charges: Check if applicable
├── Per-host charges: For server monitoring
├── Per-user charges: Some tools charge per seat
└── Per-SMS charges: Some charge for SMS alerts

Hidden Costs

Cost Comparison Example

Scenario: 10 monitors, 3 servers, 3 team members

Step 6: Test Before Committing

What to Test During Trial

1. Setup experience — Can you configure monitors easily?
2. Alert quality — Does it alert appropriately (not too many, not too few)?
3. Dashboard usability — Can you find what you need during an incident?
4. Status page appearance — Does it look professional?
5. Support responsiveness — If you have questions, do you get answers?

Red Flags During Evaluation

• Alerting is confusing to configure
• Dashboard is slow or cluttered
• Missing obvious features at your tier
• Documentation is poor or outdated
• No clear way to export your data

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Buying for Features You Don't Need

"Datadog has everything!" → But you're paying for everything, too.

Better: Start with what you need. Add capabilities when you actually need them.

2. Ignoring Total Cost of Ownership

Free tier with 5-minute check interval → Paying engineers to investigate every false positive

Better: Sometimes paying $29/month saves $500/month in wasted time.

3. Choosing Based on Name Recognition

"Everyone uses Datadog" → Everyone at 500-person companies, maybe.

Better: Choose based on fit for your specific situation.

4. Not Testing Alert Behavior

Tool looked great in demo → First real incident: 47 alerts, unclear what's wrong

Better: Simulate failures during trial. See how alerts actually behave.

5. Forgetting About Team Size

Solo developer picks enterprise tool → Paying for 50 seats, using 1

Better: Check per-seat pricing if applicable.

Wakestack's Position

Wakestack sits in Category 3: Uptime + Server Monitoring + Status Pages.

What Wakestack Includes

Wakestack Is Good For

• Teams who manage their own servers
• Need both uptime and server monitoring
• Want a status page included
• Don't need full observability

Wakestack Isn't Great For

• Teams needing distributed tracing
• Log aggregation requirements
• APM with code-level profiling
• Enterprise compliance needs

Try Wakestack free — No credit card required.

Quick Decision Guide

Just Tell Me What to Pick

Personal project / Blog:

• UptimeRobot free tier
• Cost: $0

Simple SaaS / Landing page:

• UptimeRobot Pro
• Cost: $7/month

SaaS with servers you manage:

• Wakestack Pro
• Cost: $29/month

Growing company, multiple services:

• Wakestack Team
• Cost: $99/month

Large company, complex infrastructure:

• Evaluate Datadog, New Relic, or similar
• Cost: $200-2000+/month

Summary Checklist

Before choosing:

• Listed what I need to monitor (websites, APIs, servers)
• Identified must-have features
• Calculated total cost including hidden charges
• Matched needs to tool category
• Tested during trial period
• Verified alert behavior with simulated failures
• Confirmed team size and seat pricing

Related Resources

• Best Uptime Monitoring Tools
• Uptime Monitoring vs Observability
• Hidden Costs of Datadog for Startups