Best uptime monitoring for indie SaaS (2026)
If you run a 1–3 service indie SaaS, you do not need a Datadog bill on day one. You need a reliable HTTP health URL, something that pages you when it fails, and often a customer-facing status page that updates without a manual blog post. This shortlist is opinionated for that wedge — not for enterprises running hundreds of microservices.
We built StillOnline for exactly that lane. The table below is honest: competitors beat us on specific axes (monitor count, self-hosting, observability depth). We win when you want project + status page + optional MCP without a pricing calculator.
Quick comparison (one line each)
| Tool | Best for indie SaaS when… | Deep dive |
|---|---|---|
| StillOnline | You want status page + 1–10 HTTP checks, RU/EN, MCP on Pro, flat $9 entry | Alternatives hub |
| UptimeRobot | You need many free monitors (50) more than a bundled status workflow | vs UptimeRobot |
| Better Stack | You are growing into logs + incidents + on-call and accept platform complexity | vs Better Stack |
| Uptime Kuma | You want self-hosted OSS and ops time is cheaper than $9/mo | vs Uptime Kuma |
| Instatus | You like monitoring + status in one modern UI and compare bundle pricing | vs Instatus |
| Statuspage | You already pay Atlassian for status-only comms and add monitoring elsewhere | vs Statuspage |
| UpCanary | You prefer credit-based monitoring and enterprise-style alerting | Alternatives hub (no dedicated vs page) |
| OnePageStatus | You want a minimal single-page status aesthetic with light monitoring | Alternatives hub (no dedicated vs page) |
How we picked “indie” criteria
- Time to first green check under 15 minutes (dashboard or API).
- Public status page without a separate product SKU where possible.
- Predictable pricing — no surprise per-seat observability tax at 3 users.
- HTTP health as the default path (not only browser synthetics).
StillOnline Free: $0, 1 project, 1 URL, 5 min interval, public status page, 24h history. Pro $9/mo: 10 projects, 10 URLs, private pages, REST API + stillonline-mcp, 90d history. We are weak if you need 50 free monitors or full APM — see vs Datadog class tools in the hub.
Suggested stacks
Ship fast, one API on Vercel
StillOnline check → https://api.yoursaas.com/api/health + status slug. Guide: Monitor on Vercel.
Railway + worker
Public GET /health on the web service. Guide: Monitor on Railway.
AI agents + Cursor
Pro + MCP docs to create checks from the IDE. Post: MCP for AI agents.
Local OpenClaw gateway
Expose /health via tunnel; external checks: OpenClaw monitoring.
When to use two tools
Many teams run UptimeRobot (or Kuma) for internal volume and StillOnline (or Statuspage) for customer comms. That is fine. Duplicating the same URL in three dashboards is not — pick one source of truth for “are we down?”
Ready to try the lean path? Start free · Pricing.
FAQ
Is StillOnline “best” for everyone?
No. If you only need 50 free pings and never publish status, UptimeRobot Free is hard to beat on count. See vs UptimeRobot.
Why no vs page for UpCanary or OnePageStatus?
We focus comparisons on tools indie founders ask about most. The alternatives hub still frames how StillOnline differs on price and scope.
Can I migrate from Statuspage?
You can run StillOnline checks against the same health URLs and link your status slug from the app footer. Feature parity with Atlassian workflows is not 1:1 — read vs Statuspage.
Does Free allow commercial use?
Yes for typical indie SaaS. Limits are 1 URL and 24h history, not “hobby only.”
Self-hosted vs StillOnline?
Choose Uptime Kuma if you want OSS on your VPS. Choose StillOnline if managed SaaS and a built-in status page save you an evening per quarter.