Uptime Cairn is a free, open-source monitor for websites and servers that runs on your own infrastructure. It checks HTTP and HTTPS, TCP, ICMP, DNS, TLS and domain expiry, push heartbeats, Docker containers, and gRPC services. Failed checks can open incidents with an acknowledgement and update timeline, and alerts can go to channels including email, webhooks, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, and SMS through Twilio. Public status pages support custom domains and branding, with 7 to 365 days of uptime history and email or webhook subscriptions using double opt-in. Scheduled branded reports can be produced as PDF, HTML, CSV, or JSON, and the REST API can script actions available in the interface. The software runs in one Docker container and uses one data file, with no separate database server. The site describes capacity of 5,000 monitors on one installation and 250 checks per second at a 20-second interval. It recommends a reverse proxy before internet exposure. There is no hosted tier; multi-region probing, SSO, and synthetic browser flows have not shipped.
Who it is for
It suits people who self-host, want monitoring data on their own infrastructure, or need an API and branded status pages. It is not a hosted service.
What is good
- Supports a wide range of network and service checks.
- Status pages allow custom domains and branding.
- Provides a REST API and scheduled reports.
- No features are held back for a paid tier.
What to know first
- There is no hosted tier.
- Multi-region probing, SSO, and synthetic browser flows have not shipped.
- The site recommends a reverse proxy before internet exposure.
Verdict
Uptime Cairn offers broad monitoring, alerting, reporting, and status-page features in a self-hosted package. Its lack of a hosted tier and the listed unshipped features matter if you need those capabilities.
Get started with Uptime Cairn
- Visit the Uptime Cairn website.
- Run it on your infrastructure as a Docker container.
- Configure checks and alert channels.
- Publish a status page or use the REST API as needed.
- Put a reverse proxy in front before exposing it to the internet.
What the free plan stops at
The free plan is self-hosted, with no per-monitor pricing and no features held back for a paid tier. Multi-region probing, SSO, and synthetic browser flows have not shipped; the site describes a scale of 5,000 monitors per install and 250 checks per second at a 20-second interval.
Questions about Uptime Cairn
How much does Uptime Cairn cost?
The Free plan is free. It is open source and self-hosted, with no per-monitor pricing.
Is there a hosted version or free trial?
The site says there is no hosted tier, and there is no free trial.
Which platforms does it support?
The listed platforms are API, Linux, self-hosted, and web.
What license does Uptime Cairn use?
It is released under the Apache 2.0 license.
Can it publish status pages and send reports?
Yes. Status pages support custom domains and branding, and scheduled branded reports can be generated in PDF, HTML, CSV, or JSON.
Does Uptime Cairn have an API?
Yes. Its REST API can script actions available in the interface.
Uptime Cairn plans and pricing
All plansCompared on website monitoring software
- Free plan
- Yes
- Check types
- http
- SSL monitoring
- Yes
- Latency monitoring
- Yes
- Page health checks
- Yes
- Status page
- Yes
- Maintenance windows
- Yes
- API access
- Yes
