When you don't need a status page yet
Not every project earns a public status page on day one. A local dev tool, pre-launch landing, or hobby API with zero paying users does not owe the internet an incident timeline.
Knowing when to skip saves weekends. Knowing when to add one avoids awkward answers in your first B2B call. This post draws that line for indie SaaS — without pretending you need Statuspage before you have customers.
Quick answer
Skip a public status page while you have no external users who depend on uptime, no contract asking for a status URL, and no shared on-call beyond yourself pinging /health manually. Add StillOnline when paying buyers, partners, or questionnaires expect a link — Free covers one check and a hosted page at stillonline.tech/.../s/.... Until then, a README note and Telegram owner alerts on a single check may be enough.
Safe to skip (for now)
| Situation | Why a public page waits |
|---|---|
| Pre-revenue, friends-only beta | Audience is you + DMs |
| Internal admin on VPN | Customers never see the URL |
| Static marketing site | Host status (Vercel/Netlify) matters more |
| You fix outages before users notice | No trust gap yet |
You can still monitor quietly — just do not polish a customer-facing timeline nobody will open.
Signals you need a page soon
Flip when external trust enters the picture.
- First paying customer or signed pilot.
- Security questionnaire asks for operational status URL.
- Support gets “is it down?” more than once a month.
- You promised uptime in sales or an SLA appendix.
- A co-founder or contractor needs shared incident context.
That is the moment for status page at first revenue — not when you buy the domain.
What to do instead (minimal stack)
Before a public page, keep signal cheap.
GET /healthon production (design guide).- One StillOnline check on Free — even if visibility stays low-traffic internally.
- Telegram via Connect Telegram and the StillOnline bot (guide).
- Paste the hosted URL in docs when the first buyer asks — not in the footer (launch checklist).
You are allowed to create the project early and share the link only when sales needs it.
When enterprise tools are also overkill
Skipping a status page is not the same as buying Statuspage or Datadog. If you do add a page, lightweight hosted beats six-figure stacks for most indie teams (enterprise overkill).
| Stage | Reasonable choice |
|---|---|
| 0 users | No public page |
| 1–20 paying | StillOnline Free or Pro |
| Procurement + SSO on status product | Revisit Statuspage / Instatus |
Related guides
- Status page at first paying users
- Launch checklist for status page
- Enterprise status tools overkill for indie
- Public status page guide
FAQ
Should I create a StillOnline project before I have customers?
Optional. Many founders add a health check and Telegram alert first, then share /s/... when a buyer asks. Free does not require a public marketing commitment (health quickstart).
Is a status page required for GDPR or SOC2?
Not universally. Questionnaires often ask how customers learn about outages — a hosted page is the simplest honest answer when that question appears (B2B trust).
Can I use only Telegram alerts without a public StillOnline page?
Owner alerts work with a public page by default. If you need private visibility for staging, that is Pro (public vs private). A truly internal tool may not need any customer link.
When does StillOnline Free stop being enough?
When you need more than one production URL, private pages, REST API, or MCP — see which plan and pricing.
Does skipping a status page mean skipping monitoring?
No. External HTTP checks still beat waiting for angry tweets. You can monitor without publishing the URL widely.