Getting Started
How It Works
UptimeChecker monitors your services by pinging them at regular intervals and alerting you when something goes wrong.
- Add a service - Provide the URL you want to monitor
- Choose interval - Select how often to ping (1-14 days)
- We monitor - Automatic pings run in the background
- Get alerts - Instant email when services go down or recover
Quick Start
After signing in, navigate to the Services page and click "Add Service". Fill in the details and click "Save service". Your service will be monitored automatically.
Adding Services
What Can You Monitor?
Any HTTP/HTTPS endpoint that responds to GET requests:
- REST APIs
- Websites
- Database endpoints (Supabase, PlanetScale, etc.)
- Backend services (Render, Railway, Vercel, etc.)
- Redis/Cache endpoints (Upstash, etc.)
Service Configuration
Service Name: A friendly name to identify your service
Platform: Just a label for organization
URL: The full HTTP/HTTPS endpoint to monitor
Interval: How often to ping (1-14 days)
Understanding Status Codes
- Active (200-299): Service is responding normally
- Active - Auth Required (401, 403): Service is alive but requires authentication (this is normal!)
- Error (400-599): Service returned an error
- Timeout: Service didn't respond within 10 seconds
💡 Pro Tip: Auth errors (401/403) are actually good! They mean your service is alive and responding. We treat them as "Active" to avoid false alarms.
Managing Services
Active vs. Paused Services
Each service has an Active/Paused toggle that controls whether it's being monitored:
- Active: Service is being monitored and will receive pings
- Paused: Service is not monitored (no pings, no alerts)
💡 Free Plan Limit: You can have unlimited services in your account, but only 3 can be active at once. Pause a service to activate another.
Editing Services
Click the edit button (blue pencil icon) on any service card to modify:
- ✅ Service name
- ✅ Ping interval (1-14 days)
- ❌ URL (cannot be changed)
- ❌ Platform (cannot be changed)
⚠️ Note: URL and platform cannot be edited because they define the service's identity. If you need to monitor a different URL, delete the service and create a new one.
Manual Pings
Click the "Ping" button to manually check a service's status. This is useful for:
- Testing a newly added service
- Verifying a fix after an outage
- Checking status before scheduled maintenance
Rate Limit: 30-second cooldown between manual pings per service.
Notifications
When You Get Notified
- Service Down: When a working service starts failing
- Service Recovered: When a failed service comes back online
Notification Delivery
Notifications are sent via email to your registered address. We use a multi-layer system to ensure reliability:
- Immediate: We try to send the email instantly when status changes
- Retry: If immediate send fails, we retry automatically
- Batch: A background job processes any missed notifications every 10 minutes
Managing Preferences
Control your notification settings from the Settings page. You can enable/disable email alerts and configure advanced warning preferences.
Billing & Plans
Available Plans
Free Plan
• Up to 3 active services (unlimited paused)
• Email notifications
• 1-14 day ping intervals
Pro Plan - $5/month
• Unlimited services
• Priority support
• Advanced features (coming soon)
Team Plan - $15/month
• Everything in Pro
• Team collaboration (coming soon)
• Custom integrations (coming soon)
Payment & Billing
- Payments processed securely via Stripe
- Cancel anytime from the Billing page
- No hidden fees or long-term contracts
- Automatic renewal (can be disabled)
FAQ
How often are services pinged?
You choose the interval when adding a service (1-14 days). We recommend 5-7 days for most services.
What happens if I exceed my plan limit?
Free plan users can have unlimited services, but only 3 can be active (monitored) at once. Pause a service to activate another, or upgrade to Pro/Team for unlimited active services.
What happens when I downgrade from Pro to Free?
If you have more than 3 services when downgrading, you'll see a warning banner. Only 3 services can remain active - you choose which ones by using the Active/Paused toggle. The rest will be paused automatically.
Can I manually ping a service?
Yes! Click the "Ping" button on any service card. Note: There's a 30-second cooldown to prevent abuse.
Why does my service show "Auth Required"?
This means your service returned a 401 or 403 status code. This is actually good - it means the service is alive and responding!
How do I delete my account?
Go to Settings → Danger Zone → Delete Account. This will permanently remove all your data.