Best Uptime Monitoring Tools in 2026
Monitor your website and API uptime 24/7.
13 tools reviewed —
Our top uptime monitoring picks
8 of 13 tools have a free plan; published entry prices run from $5 to $49/mo.
- Best overall
- Better Stack9.2/10 overall
- Best free plan
- Better Stack9.2/10, free plan
- Best value
- UptimeRobot9.5/10 for value
- Easiest to use
- UptimeRobot9.2/10 ease of use
- Lowest entry price
- Datadog SyntheticsFrom $5/mo
Some links on this page may be affiliate links. They never affect our scores or rankings — see our affiliate disclosure and scoring methodology.
AI-powered synthetic monitoring embedded in the full Datadog observability stack
Enterprise-grade uptime monitoring with global probe network and SLA tracking
Developer-friendly uptime monitoring with broken links, certificates, and performance checks
All-in-one monitoring for websites, servers, networks, and cloud infrastructure
Enterprise-grade website performance and uptime monitoring by SolarWinds
What is uptime monitoring?
Uptime monitoring tools check a website, API or server from outside your infrastructure at a fixed interval and alert you when it stops responding correctly. They measure availability and response time, and most can publish the results on a status page.
Who needs it
- Any business whose revenue or reputation depends on a website or API being reachable
- Agencies and freelancers who look after client sites
- Engineering teams that need an external signal independent of their own servers
How to choose: key buying criteria
- Check interval
- A 5-minute interval can miss short outages entirely; 30–60 second checks catch them and shorten time to detection.
- Check locations
- Checks from several regions confirm an outage before alerting, which cuts false alarms caused by a single network path.
- Check types
- HTTP status alone misses broken pages. Keyword, SSL expiry, DNS, port and multi-step API checks catch more failure modes.
- Alert routing
- Alerts only help if they reach the on-call person — look for Slack, SMS, phone and on-call tool integrations.
- Status pages and history
- Public status pages reduce support load during incidents, and uptime history backs up SLA reporting.
Common mistakes
- Monitoring only the homepage while checkout, login or the API fails silently
- Sending every alert to a shared inbox nobody watches at night
- Choosing on monitor count alone and ignoring check interval
- Monitoring from inside the same cloud region the site runs in
Uptime Monitoring comparisons
Ranked lists
Uptime Monitoring Tools — FAQs
What is the best uptime monitoring tool in 2026?
Better Stack is the highest-scoring uptime monitoring tool we review, at 9.2/10, ahead of Datadog Synthetics at 9/10. Better Stack stands out for 30-second checks free and beautiful UI. The right pick still depends on team size, budget and the integrations you need.
How much does uptime monitoring software cost?
Of the 13 uptime monitoring tools we review, 8 have a free plan. Published entry prices run from $5 to $49 per month. Check each vendor's pricing page before buying; plans change often.
Is there a free uptime monitoring tool?
Yes. better Stack (9.2/10), checkly (8.9/10) and new Relic Synthetics (8.8/10) have a free plan. Free plans usually cap seats, monitors or usage; paid tiers lift those limits.
How do I choose between better Stack, datadog Synthetics and checkly?
Better Stack is strongest for 30-second checks free and beautiful UI; Datadog Synthetics is strongest for enterprise DevOps teams and teams already on Datadog; Checkly is strongest for engineering teams and devOps-mature organizations. Use the side-by-side comparisons for the pair you are deciding between.
How are these uptime monitoring tools scored?
Each tool is scored out of 10 on ease of use, features, value for money and support. The overall score is an editorial verdict informed by those four scores, following our published methodology, and affiliate relationships never change it.