openstatus

Openstatus brings uptime monitoring and status pages together, with developer interfaces for teams that want to automate monitoring or operate the software themselves. Its free plan is useful for a small setup, while higher monitor counts and faster checks require paid plans.

Overview

The open-source platform monitors websites, APIs, and services across 28 regions and multiple cloud providers. Teams can manage it through a CLI, typed API with OpenAPI, Node SDK, MCP server, and Terraform, making it a stronger fit for technical workflows than for buyers seeking only a basic hosted checker.

Openstatus is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and supports Docker self-hosting. The product uses HTTPS with modern TLS, while infrastructure providers encrypt data at rest. Sign-in is through GitHub or Google OAuth; API keys have read and write scopes, and workspace data is filtered by workspace ID. Changes made through the dashboard, API, MCP, or Slack integration are recorded in an append-only audit log. The company, founded in 2023, is a bootstrapped, profitable, self-funded two-person team.

Key features

Monitoring and alerts

Openstatus supports SSL expiry alerts, keyword monitoring, and server monitoring. Check frequency ranges from a 10-minute minimum on Hobby to one minute on Starter and 30 seconds on Pro. More frequent checks can shorten the wait to detect an outage, but require a paid plan. Although coverage spans 28 regions, all 28 are included in Pro; Starter's plan details do not promise the same regional reach.

Paid-plan notifications include Slack, Discord, email, webhooks, WhatsApp, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, and Grafana OnCall. The broader channel set also includes SMS, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Telegram, and Ntfy, but those channels are not promised on every plan. Teams should confirm that their chosen plan supports the response channels they rely on.

Status pages and automation

Status pages can support custom domains, themes, subscribers, locale switching, and maintenance status, with availability depending on plan. Starter includes a custom domain and subscribers; Pro adds a custom theme. The CLI, API, SDK, MCP server, and Terraform management give developers several routes to integrate monitoring into existing operations, though that range may be unnecessary for teams that only need a manually managed status page.

Pricing

Openstatus uses a freemium model, with paid plans starting at $30/mo. Annual prices are shown alongside monthly prices; compare the commitment as well as the headline monthly rate.

• Hobby: free. It includes 1 monitor, 1 status page, 3 components, and checks no faster than every 10 minutes. This suits a small project or an initial evaluation, but the single-monitor cap and slowest check interval limit its use for broader or time-sensitive monitoring.
• Starter: $30 a month, or $300/year ($25/mo) billed annually. It includes 20 monitors, one-minute checks, a custom domain, and subscribers. It is the practical step up for a small team that needs faster checks and a branded public page; annual billing lowers the monthly equivalent but costs $300 for the year.
• Pro: $100 a month, or $1,000/year ($83/mo) billed annually. It includes 50 monitors, 30-second checks, all 28 regions, and a custom theme. Choose it when broader regional coverage, more monitors, or faster detection justifies the higher spend.
• Scale: $500 a month, or $5,000/year ($416/mo) billed annually. Its stated features are 500 components, white label, email authentication, and IP restriction. This is aimed at larger deployments needing those controls, but the plan summary does not state a monitor limit.
• Enterprise: custom pricing, with a custom contract and invoicing. It adds SOC2 reports, SAML/SSO, custom regions, higher monitor and status-page limits, and a dedicated SLA, for organizations that need contractual and access controls beyond the standard plans.

The free plan's one-monitor limit is a substantial constraint; Starter raises capacity to 20 and improves check frequency, but custom domain and subscriber support are also plan-gated. Compare the exact status-page and alert features needed before moving up.

Platforms

Openstatus is available through the web, API, and self-hosting, with listed platform support for Linux, macOS, and Windows. CLI installation instructions cover all three desktop operating systems. Docker self-hosting gives teams control over deployment, while requiring them to run the software themselves.

Who it's for

Openstatus suits developers and operations teams that want monitoring and status pages in one product, especially those using APIs, Terraform, or other automation interfaces. Hobby can cover a minimal setup; Starter fits teams needing more monitors and one-minute checks; Pro is the clearest fit for teams that need all 28 regions or 30-second checks. Buyers who want substantial capacity without moving beyond the single-monitor free plan, or who do not need developer-oriented controls, may find the plan progression less compelling.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Several automation interfaces: CLI, typed API, Node SDK, MCP server, and Terraform support integration into technical workflows.
• Self-hosting is an option: AGPL-3.0 licensing and Docker support suit teams that want to run the platform themselves.
• Monitoring and status pages share one product: SSL expiry, keyword, and server monitoring pair with configurable status-page features.
• Enterprise access and audit controls: Scoped API keys, workspace filtering, append-only audit logging, and Enterprise SAML/SSO address different layers of operational control.

Cons

• Hobby is tightly capped: One monitor and 10-minute checks make it a limited choice for anything beyond a small setup.
• Faster checks cost more: One-minute checks begin at $30 a month, and 30-second checks require Pro at $100 a month.
• Feature availability varies by plan: Status-page options and notification channels should be checked against the plan before purchase.
• Scale is a major price step: At $500 a month, it is difficult to justify unless its stated large-scale and access features are needed.

Alternatives

• AppStatus is worth comparing if five monitors on its free plan and one workspace, five team members, or a Kubernetes cluster are a better match than Openstatus's single-monitor Hobby tier.
• StatusIQ is an alternative if a free status page with 10 components and 100 subscribers better fits the requirement.
• Spectate may suit a smaller monitor-and-status-page setup; its Solo plan is $12 a month for one user and 15 monitors or servers.
• Flashduty Status Page is another free-plan option, with a stated allowance of five users and one public status page.
• Instatus is a reasonable alternative for teams whose needs fit its free Starter plan: 15 monitors, two-minute checks, email alerts, and five team members.
• StatusEntry is another freemium status-page option.
• StatusOwl may be a fit if a free plan with 25 monitors checked every three minutes and two team members is preferable to Openstatus's one-monitor Hobby allowance.
• StatusPage.me is another freemium status-page option, with a free plan that includes one status page and three monitors per page.

For category-wide comparisons, see Status Page Software and Uptime Monitoring Software.

Verdict

Choose Openstatus if your team wants monitoring and public status pages alongside developer-friendly automation, or needs the option to self-host. The main reason to look elsewhere is the steep path from Hobby's one monitor and 10-minute checks to paid capacity; teams that need broader monitoring on a free plan should compare alternatives before committing.