Quick answer
Healthchecks.io - These two tools watch different things. Healthchecks.io waits for your cron jobs to check in, and alerts you when a ping is late. UptimeRobot checks your sites and endpoints from outside every 5 minutes. For free, Healthchecks.io covers 20 jobs and UptimeRobot covers 50 monitors.
How the free tiers compare
Healthchecks.io's free Hobbyist plan monitors 20 jobs and keeps 100 log entries for each job. UptimeRobot's free plan covers 50 monitors checked every 5 minutes, including HTTP, port, ping, keyword, API, UDP and DNS checks. It keeps 3 months of data, allows 5 integrations, includes 1 basic status page, and needs no credit card to sign up.
Healthchecks.io vs UptimeRobot free tier, side by side
| Healthchecks.ioFTV 55 | UptimeRobotFTV 53 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free checksHealthchecks.io waits for pings from your jobs. UptimeRobot sends requests to your endpoints. | 20 jobs | 50 monitors |
| History | 100 log entries per job | 3 months |
| First paid plan price | Supporter - $5/mo, same limits as Hobbyist | Solo - from $12/mo billed annually, $13/mo monthly |
| Next plan up | Business - $20/mo, 100 jobs, 1,000 log entries per job | Team - $39/mo billed annually, 100 monitors, 3 seats |
After you outgrow the free tier
Healthchecks.io's Supporter plan costs $5 a month and keeps the Hobbyist limits. It exists for users who want to pay for the service. Business costs $20 a month, or $16 a month billed annually, for 100 jobs and 1,000 log entries per job. UptimeRobot's Solo plan starts at $12 a month billed annually with 10 monitors, 60-second checks, 3 status pages on your own domain and 12 months of retention. Team costs $39 a month billed annually for 100 monitors, 30-second checks and 3 seats.
Cost at real usage
| Usage | Healthchecks.io | UptimeRobot |
|---|---|---|
| 100 checks on annual billing | $16/mo for Business, with 100 jobs | $39/mo for Team, with 100 monitors |
| Checks faster than every 5 minutes | Not applicable: each job pings on its own schedule | $12/mo for Solo, with 60-second checks |
Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.
When to pick each one
Pick Healthchecks.io when…
- You need to know when a backup, report or other scheduled job fails to run.
- Your jobs run on machines that the internet can't reach, so an outside check can't see them.
- You want a cheap step up: Business is $20 a month for 100 jobs.
Pick UptimeRobot when…
- You need to know when a website or API goes down.
- You watch more than 20 things. The free plan allows 50 monitors.
- You want to sign up without a credit card.
- You want a public status page.
Bottom line
Pick Healthchecks.io to catch cron jobs that fail without a sound. Pick UptimeRobot to catch sites and APIs that go down. Each free plan covers a small setup, so you can run both.
Read the full listings: Healthchecks.io and UptimeRobot. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.