Free uptime monitoring · starting credit instead

“Free” can mean a multi-minute blind spot.

up4 has no free plan. Many free monitoring plans check only every 3 to 5 minutes, some from a single location; features and limits differ by vendor (we compared as of 16 October 2026). At up4 you start with €9 of starting credit, no card: about three months with light use, up to 50 monitors. After that you pay €9 per million executions with a €3 monthly minimum, and you see the cost before you save. Choose an interval down to 10 seconds; the app and its primary database run in Germany.

Start monitoring Simulate an outage

€9 starting credit, no card, about three months of light use. After that, pay as you go from €3 a month or choose a monthly plan.

Outage simulation

How fast three plans notice an outage

One simulated outage, three check cadences, modelled with example timings rather than measured vendor behaviour. The clocks start when the site goes down and stop when each plan first sees it. The up4 row keeps running: the first failure triggers two instant parallel confirmation checks, then the alert goes out. Real delivery also depends on response time, timeout, alert plan and channel, so read it as an illustration, not a promise.

t + 0:00
up4 every 10 s · parallel re-checks, then the alert (example: ~3 s)
seen · 5 s in → alert sent · 8 s in
paid plan at 60 s every 60 s
first sees it · 45 s in
free plan at 5 min every 5 min
first sees it · 3 min 45 s in
example run · outage at t0 = 1:15 · press the button for your own roll

With a 5-minute interval, a short outage can fall between two checks and go unnoticed. The other rows stop at first sighting; their alert still has to follow. The up4 clock already includes the confirmation checks and the alert. In this model the tighter cadence notices a lasting outage sooner. Every re-run rolls a new outage.

Free plans

What a free plan can cost you

The blind spot

With five-minute checks, an outage can last almost five minutes before the next check looks. Short incidents such as a failed deploy or a crash loop can fall between two checks and never show up in the history.

Plans change

A vendor can change or end any plan, free or paid. Freshworks ended the Freshping free plan on 6 March 2026; the migration page is for people affected. up4 is funded by published usage prices and subscriptions.

Limits

Faster checks, a status page on your own domain or more teammates often sit in paid tiers; what is locked differs by vendor. At up4 the core features are the same on every plan. Volume, custom status-page domains and status-page business features (€10 per page and month on pay as you go and starting credit) are priced, and subscriber CSV import opens after your first payment.

What it costs instead

Monitoring from €3 a month, with €9 starting credit

€9 per million checks, €3 monthly minimum. Three small fleets, each checked from one region; the calculator prices any other.

5 monitors · every 60 s
216,000 checks × €9 / million€1.94
monthly minimum applies€3.00
total / month€3.00

Sixty-second checks: five times as often as a 5-minute free plan.

10 monitors · every 60 s
432,000 checks × €9 / million€3.89
minimum (€3) already included—
total / month€3.89

The €9 starting credit covers about two months of this bill.

3 critical monitors · every 10 s
777,600 checks × €9 / million€7.00
10-second interval, each execution metered above€0 extra
total / month€7.00

Ten-second checks on three monitors that matter.

Prepaid wallet.Top up from €10; every deduction is visible.
At zero: checks pause.Account, monitors, pages and settings stay; history follows your plan’s retention.
Balance warnings included.We tell you in good time, with a link to top up.
FAQ

Why up4 costs money

Why is there no free plan?
up4 is funded by published usage prices and subscriptions. To try it you get €9 of starting credit, no card required; after that it is €9 per million checks with a €3 monthly minimum.
What does the starting credit include?
The core features, Clients included, for up to 50 monitors and 20 scheduled jobs, funded by €9 of starting credit, no card required. The monthly minimum is charged in arrears, so with light use the credit lasts about three months; heavier use ends it sooner (10 monitors on 60-second checks: about two months). Subscriber CSV import for status pages opens after your first payment, and status-page business features such as removing the up4 branding cost €10 per page and month. When the credit is used up, checks pause until you top up. The product shows the current runway.
What does a small fleet cost?
Five monitors on 60-second checks: €3.00 (the monthly minimum). Ten monitors: €3.89. A 50-monitor fleet at a 5-minute cadence: €3.89. The pricing page has the live calculator, which uses the formula we bill by.
What happens when my balance hits zero?
You will see it coming: we warn you in good time, with a link to top up. Once you have paid, grace mode takes over at zero and keeps checks running at a 5-minute cadence, free, for 7 days, with alerts and status pages live. The starting credit has no grace mode: once it is used up, checks pause. An empty balance does not delete your account, monitors, pages or settings; history follows the retention of your plan (62 days on pay as you go). Top up and checks resume.
What else costs money?
No seat pricing and no interval gates. Core features are in every plan. On pay as you go and starting credit, status-page business features cost €10 per page and month; custom status-page domains cost €2 a month on pay as you go. Every check type has the same rate, accepted cron check-ins cost €3 per million, paused monitors send no checks, and the €3 monthly minimum is shown before signup. SMS and voice alerts run on your own Twilio account, which bills you directly. Prices are net; VAT applies at checkout where it applies.
I am leaving a specific free plan. Where do I start?
If you come from UptimeRobot, the switching page reprices your fleet. Ex-Freshping users have their own page. Everyone else: the switching guide starts with a small pilot and imports the rest from CSV.

Start with €9 credit.

Start monitoring Leaving UptimeRobot?

€9 starting credit, no card, about three months of light use. After that, pay as you go from €3 a month or choose a monthly plan.