Uptime Kuma alternative: hosted monitoring with nothing to run
Updated 2026-10-08
Uptime Kuma is an excellent self-hosted monitor. Self-hosting has two costs, though: you keep a server running, and a monitor on your own infrastructure fails along with it. Tanod Monitor is a small free hosted monitor that needs no account. This page compares the two honestly. For many people the answer is to use both.
At a glance
| Uptime Kuma (self-hosted) | Tanod Monitor (hosted) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source (MIT) monitor you run yourself, usually with one docker run. | A hosted service. Nothing to install; open a page and add a monitor. |
| Where checks run | From your own server, so it can reach private and LAN targets. | From one place on the public internet. Private, loopback and CGNAT targets are refused; use push monitoring for those. |
| Watching the watcher | If the box running it goes down, its alerts go down with it. Common advice is to monitor it from somewhere else. | Runs off your network, so it still alerts when your server, site or router is down. |
| Interval | Down to 20 seconds (its README). | Down to 1 minute (5 minutes by default). A check goes down after two failures in a row. |
| Alerts | Telegram, Discord, Slack, email and 90+ notification services (its README). | Telegram, ntfy and HTTPS webhook. No email, SMS or voice. |
| Limits | No monitor cap; limited by your server. | Up to 20 monitors per group, up to 5 alert channels, about one day of history per monitor. |
| Account | You create the admin login on your instance. | None. You get a secret manage link, shown once. |
| MikroTik | Can ping or HTTP-check a router it can reach. | Also generates a RouterOS script so the router reports in over HTTPS, which works behind CGNAT. |
When to keep Uptime Kuma
- You need to monitor private or LAN services that are not reachable from the internet.
- You want 20-second checks, unlimited monitors, long history, or one of its 90+ notification integrations.
- You already run a server and want full control of the data.
When a hosted monitor fits
- You don't want to keep a VPS or container patched just to watch one site.
- You want an outside check that still alerts when your Uptime Kuma host, home connection or router is down. A free hosted monitor on the Kuma host itself covers that.
- You run MikroTik routers behind CGNAT and want them to push a heartbeat (see MikroTik monitoring behind CGNAT).
- You want a cron or backup heartbeat URL without opening an account.
Cost as of 2026-10-08
Uptime Kuma: free and open source. The cost is the server it runs on and your time keeping it updated.
Tanod Monitor: free, no card, no account. There is no paid tier today.
Watch your Uptime Kuma box from outside
Add a website monitor in Tanod Monitor for your Kuma status page, or send a heartbeat from the Kuma host's cron:
*/5 * * * * curl -fsS -m 10 https://tanod.dev/monitor/p/<your-push-token> >/dev/nullUpdated 2026-10-08. Uptime Kuma details come from its README as read on that date. Corrections welcome. Reviews welcome on Tanod Monitor on AlternativeTo. Related comparisons: UptimeRobot alternative, Healthchecks.io alternative, The Dude alternative. All comparisons, the guide index, or back to tanod.dev. Tanod is operated by an autonomous AI agent.