hostnag vs Updown.io

Updown.io is a lean uptime monitor priced per check: HTTP(S), TCP(S) and ICMP checks every 15 seconds to an hour, dual-stack by default, with certificate and domain expiry alerts, pulse monitoring for cron jobs and hosted status pages. One timeline of what will break (certificates, domains, DNS, mail setup) and what is broken, with a flat plan instead of credit arithmetic.

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Free for five hosts. No card, nothing to install.

Side by side

Updown.io read from its public documentation on 2026-09-17. Tell us if it changed.

What breaks, and whether Updown.io or hostnag covers it
What breaks	Updown.io	hostnag
A host goes downwebsite, API, VPN, mail, gateway	YesHTTP(S), TCP(S) and ICMP checks, a downtime confirmed from at least two locations.	Yes
Updown.io: HTTP(S), TCP(S) and ICMP checks, a downtime confirmed from at least two locations.
A certificate expiresdays-before thresholds, daily inside the last window	YesAlerts for an "invalid or expiring soon certificate".	Yes
Updown.io: Alerts for an "invalid or expiring soon certificate".
A domain lapsesregistration expiry from RDAP	YesAlerts "when your domains are about to expire (RDAP/WHOIS)".	Yes
Updown.io: Alerts "when your domains are about to expire (RDAP/WHOIS)".
A certificate is swappedfingerprint changed, wrong host, chain not trusted	PartlyAn invalid certificate raises an alert; nothing states whether a fingerprint change is detected.	Yes
Updown.io: An invalid certificate raises an alert; nothing states whether a fingerprint change is detected.
A DNS record driftsexpected answer missing or changed	UnknownNo DNS check is documented on the site.	Yes
Updown.io: No DNS check is documented on the site.
An ISP link dropsthe public address from several locations, by ping or a TCP port, confirmed by a ping from inside the site	UnknownICMP checks watch a public address from outside; nothing documents an inside confirmation for an office or ISP link.	Yesoutside and inside
Updown.io: ICMP checks watch a public address from outside; nothing documents an inside confirmation for an office or ISP link.hostnag: outside and inside
Mail stops being deliveredMX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and blocklists, at the expiry cadence of your plan	UnknownA TCP check reaches a mail port; nothing documents SPF, DKIM, DMARC or blocklist checks.	Yes
Updown.io: A TCP check reaches a mail port; nothing documents SPF, DKIM, DMARC or blocklist checks.
Someone issues a certificate for your domainnew certificates in the transparency logs, daily	UnknownNo certificate transparency log watch is documented.	Yes
Updown.io: No certificate transparency log watch is documented.
A scheduled job stops runningcron, backups, workers: a heartbeat that goes quiet	Yes"Pulse/cron Monitoring: Keep an eye on your periodic tasks and cron jobs."	Yes
Updown.io: "Pulse/cron Monitoring: Keep an eye on your periodic tasks and cron jobs."
Your nameservers or registrar changenameservers, registrar, DNSSEC, certificate issuer, DNS answers, redirect targets	UnknownNothing documents watching nameservers, a registrar, DNSSEC or redirect targets.	Yes
Updown.io: Nothing documents watching nameservers, a registrar, DNSSEC or redirect targets.
A vendor you depend on has an incidenttheir status page read for an outage or degraded state, the incident named	UnknownNothing documents reading a vendor's status page.	Yesread from their own status page
Updown.io: Nothing documents reading a vendor's status page.hostnag: read from their own status page

UNKNOWN means their documentation did not say either way on the day we read it. PARTLY is covered with a limit noted in the cell.

What Updown.io has that we don't

Pay per check: one credit per check, 100,000 free to start, and checks as often as every 15 seconds.
Zero-configuration dual-stack monitoring over IPv4 and IPv6.
Multi-site status pages and a REST API with webhooks.

Switching

01List your checks from the Updown.io REST API; each is one row.
02Put them in a CSV with at least the columns type and target (name, interval, port, keyword, expected_status and record_type are optional; the import dialog links a template) and upload it in the import dialog.
03HTTP(S) checks become http (a text search becomes the keyword column), TCP(S) checks tcp with their port; pulse checks become heartbeats with a new hostnag ping URL to point the job at.
04Ping (ICMP) monitors carry over as Ping monitors, run from hostnag's own probes.
05Certificate and domain expiry alerts ride on the same host in Updown; in hostnag add a tls_cert and a domain_registration row for each host you want watched.
06Check intervals snap up to the nearest hostnag preset (1, 5, 15, 60, 360 or 1440 minutes).
07Monitors are created up to your plan's limit; the rest stay listed in the preview so nothing is lost silently.

Pricing

Credits, one per check: 100,000 free to start, then from about €5.49 a month for 200,000 down to €1.83 per million at volume, with SMS at €0.10 a message.

Free

$0/ mo

For your own handful of hosts.

Monitors: 5
Groups: 1
Status pages: 1
Seats: 1
Every: 5min
Locations: 1
History: 30days
Channels: Email

Start free

Pro

$19/ mo

For a team's sites, APIs and gateways.

Monitors: 50
Groups: 10
Status pages: 10
Seats: 5
Every: 1min
Locations: 3
History: 90days
Channels: Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, Webhook

Start with Pro

Business

$79/ mo

For many groups: clients, products or offices.

Monitors: 500
Groups: ∞
Status pages: ∞
Seats: 25
Every: 1min
Locations: 5
History: 365days
Channels: Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, Webhook, SMS, PagerDuty, Opsgenie

Start with Business

Sources

Read on 2026-09-17.

https://updown.io/

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