openstatus

Openstatus is an open-source uptime-monitoring and status-page platform for teams managing websites, APIs, and services. It is strongest for developers who want to automate monitoring or self-host it; its lower-cost plans impose meaningful limits on check speed, monitor count, and status-page options.

Overview

Monitoring runs across 28 regions and multiple cloud providers, with coverage for SSL expiry, keywords, and servers. The product pairs its dashboard with a CLI, typed API using OpenAPI, Node SDK, MCP server, and Terraform management—useful when monitoring belongs in existing engineering workflows, but more tooling than a team seeking only a basic hosted checker may need.

Openstatus was founded in 2023 and is built by a bootstrapped, profitable, self-funded two-person team. Its AGPL-3.0 license permits Docker self-hosting, giving teams more control over deployment. For hosted use, traffic to the site and API uses HTTPS with modern TLS, and infrastructure providers encrypt data at rest. Sign-in uses GitHub or Google OAuth; API keys have read and write scopes, workspace data is filtered at the service layer, and workspace changes are recorded in an append-only audit log.

Key features

Monitoring and notifications

Check intervals range from 10 minutes on Hobby to one minute on Starter and 30 seconds on Pro. The shorter intervals can reduce detection delays, but require a paid plan. Starter supports 20 monitors, while Pro raises the cap to 50 and unlocks all 28 regions. The general monitoring coverage spans 28 regions, but plan choice matters: Pro is the first tier explicitly including all of them.

Alerts cover Slack, Discord, Telegram, Google Chat, Microsoft Teams, email, SMS, WhatsApp, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, Grafana OnCall, webhooks, and Ntfy. Paid plans include Slack, Discord, email, webhook, WhatsApp, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, and Grafana OnCall notifications. Teams that depend on a particular channel should confirm it is included in their chosen plan rather than assume every channel is available at every tier.

Status pages and automation

Status pages support custom domains, themes, subscribers, locale switching, and maintenance status, with capabilities varying by plan. Starter includes a custom domain and subscribers; Pro adds a custom theme. The CLI, API, SDK, MCP server, and Terraform management offer several routes to automate monitoring, while Docker self-hosting suits teams prepared to run the software themselves.

Pricing

Openstatus is freemium, with a free plan, a free trial, and paid plans starting at $30/mo. The plan terms distinguish monthly prices from annual billing, so compare the commitment as well as the headline rate.

PlanPriceIncludedHobbyfree1 monitor, 1 status page, 3 components, 10-minute minimum checksStarter$30 a month; annual billing: $300/year ($25/mo)20 monitors, 1-minute checks, custom domain, subscribersPro$100 a month; annual billing: $1,000/year ($83/mo)50 monitors, 30-second checks, all 28 regions, custom themeScale$500 a month; annual billing: $5,000/year ($416/mo)500 components, white label, email authentication, IP restrictionEnterpriseCustom pricingCustom contract and invoicing, SOC2 reports, SAML/SSO, custom regions, higher monitor and status-page limits, dedicated SLAHobby is a small-scale starting point, but one monitor and 10-minute checks are restrictive for production monitoring. Starter is the practical entry for teams needing one-minute checks and a custom-domain page; annual billing lowers its effective monthly price but commits to $300/year. Pro costs substantially more, trading that price for 30-second checks, all regions, and a higher monitor cap. Scale is aimed at organizations needing white labeling, email authentication, or IP restrictions; its 500-component allowance is not a stated monitor limit. Enterprise is the fit for custom regions, higher limits, or a dedicated SLA, at custom pricing.

Platforms

Openstatus supports API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows. CLI installation instructions cover macOS, Linux, and Windows, while Docker provides the self-hosting route.

Who it's for

Choose Openstatus if your team wants monitoring and status pages together, values developer-facing automation, or needs the option to self-host. Hobby can serve a small project with modest monitoring needs. Teams that need fast checks, more than one monitor, or richer status-page customization will need a paid tier. It is a weaker fit when a low-cost plan must provide broad capacity and short intervals from the outset.

Pros and cons

Pros: The CLI, typed API, Node SDK, MCP server, and Terraform support give engineering teams multiple automation paths.

Pros: Docker self-hosting under AGPL-3.0 provides a deployment option beyond the hosted service.

Pros: The platform combines status pages with monitoring for websites, APIs, and services, and Pro includes all 28 regions.

Cons: Hobby is limited to one monitor and 10-minute checks, so it is not a substitute for fast, multi-target monitoring.

Cons: The 30-second interval, all-region access, and custom theme begin at the $100 a month Pro tier.

Cons: Status-page capabilities and notification availability depend on plan, requiring teams to check those needs before choosing a tier.

Alternatives

Dotcom-Monitor is worth considering for a free plan with up to 25 targets, five-minute monitoring, and two locations, particularly if Windows or mobile platforms matter.

elmah.io is a paid option with a free trial; its Small Business plan costs $26 a month and includes three users, unlimited applications, 10,000 messages per month, and 400 emails per month.

HetrixTools offers a free-for-life plan with 15 uptime monitors, 15 server monitors, one-minute checks, and four monitoring locations, making it a relevant alternative for those limits.

Uptrends has a Core plan at $42 a month with annual billing, 10 users, US and EU checkpoint regions, and checks every two minutes; consider it if that plan's user allowance and regions suit your needs.

WebGazer has a freemium model and a Hobbyist tier with 50 monitors, five-minute checks, several monitor types, email notifications, basic status pages, and a single user.

Spectate has a free Hobby tier for five monitors or servers and one status page; its Solo plan costs $12 a month, billed yearly at $144, for one user and 15 monitors or servers.

StatusBot has a free plan for three projects and a Pro plan at $19 per user per month, with unlimited projects, advanced AI features, and priority support marked coming soon.

UptimeRobot is another freemium option with mobile apps; consider it if its free plan's 50 monitors and five-minute checks fit your requirements.

For more options, browse Uptime Monitoring Software and Status Page Software.

Verdict

Openstatus is a strong choice for technically equipped teams that want monitoring, status pages, and automation interfaces in one open-source product, especially when Docker self-hosting matters. Its central trade-off is plan gating: the free tier is narrow, and fast checks, full regional coverage, and richer page options require higher spend. Look elsewhere if your priorities are broad monitoring capacity at a low price or a narrower tool better matched to your specific service-monitoring needs.