Blog / Uptime monitoring

Uptime monitoring

Setting up monitors that catch real outages: websites, APIs, keywords, ports, cron jobs and the platforms you run on.

Uptime Monitoring API: Create and Manage Monitors From Code

Automate uptime monitoring with an API - create monitors on signup, silence checks during deploys, feed a dashboard and sync monitors from a list.

7 min read

Check If Your Site Is Down From Claude, Cursor or VS Code (MCP)

Connect an uptime monitoring MCP server to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor or VS Code and ask what is down, why, and what changed - safely.

6 min read

DNS Monitoring: Catch Record Changes Before They Take You Offline

Which DNS records to monitor (A, CNAME, MX, SPF, DMARC, NS, CAA), how DNS outages really happen, how TTLs delay fixes, and dig commands to check them.

6 min read

Best Uptime Monitoring Tools in 2026 (Free and Paid, Compared)

UptimeRobot, Better Stack, Pingdom, StatusCake, HetrixTools, Cronitor, Uptime Kuma, Checkly and PingRobot compared on free plans, prices and strengths.

7 min read

API Monitoring With JSON Assertions

What to assert on an API or health response, how JSON paths like $.data[0].id work, real examples and the pitfalls that cause noisy or useless checks.

6 min read

Alert Fatigue in Uptime Monitoring: How to Get Fewer, Better Alerts

Cut uptime alert noise without missing outages - second-location confirmation, alert delays, reminders, maintenance windows, routing and sane timeouts.

6 min read

How to Monitor a WordPress Site (Uptime, wp-cron, Login Page)

Monitor a WordPress site properly - home page, a keyword on a real page element, the login page, the REST API and wp-cron with a heartbeat.

7 min read

API Monitoring: How to Monitor a REST API's Health Endpoint

Monitor a REST API with an HTTP check and a keyword like "status":"ok" on its /health endpoint, plus what to return, latency targets and auth tips.

6 min read

Which URLs Should You Monitor? A Checklist by Site Type

A practical checklist of the URLs, ports and background jobs to monitor for marketing sites, SaaS apps, online stores, APIs, WordPress and scheduled jobs.

7 min read

How to Monitor a Shopify Store (Storefront, Checkout, Apps)

What to monitor on a Shopify store, which parts Shopify runs for you, and which failures only you will notice, from DNS to apps to product pages.

6 min read

How to Avoid False Downtime Alerts

Why uptime monitors raise false alarms - network blips, tight timeouts, WAFs, rate limits, DNS - and how to stop them without hiding real outages.

6 min read

What Is Uptime Monitoring? How It Works and What to Monitor

Uptime monitoring checks your website, API or server on a schedule from outside and alerts you when it fails. Learn how it works and what to set up.

5 min read

TCP Port Monitoring - Watch Mail, Database and SSH Ports

TCP port monitoring checks that a server accepts connections on a port. Learn which ports to watch, how to test them and why to use 587 or 465, not 25.

5 min read

Keyword Monitoring - Catch Broken Pages That Return 200 OK

Keyword monitoring checks that a page contains expected text, catching error pages, blank templates and hacked content that still return 200 OK.

4 min read

How to Monitor Website Uptime for Free (4 Practical Options)

Four free ways to monitor website uptime, from a hosted free plan to a cron script, with setup steps, trade-offs and a checklist for reliable alerts.

5 min read

Cron Job Monitoring With Heartbeats (crontab and systemd)

Monitor cron jobs and systemd timers with heartbeat URLs. Copy-paste crontab and systemd examples that ping only on success, plus common pitfalls.

5 min read