StatusCake is a UK website monitor that tells you when your site goes down. Its free account is for personal sites only: StatusCake's terms say "The Free Account is for your own personal use", so it isn't for a business site. Free is £0 with no card and covers 3 monitors at 15-minute checks. Superior is £12.49 a month billed annually, or £14.99 monthly.
What it can do for you
On Free you get 3 HTTP(S) monitors, checked every 15 minutes, with alerts to one contact group. Paid plans add DNS, HEAD, ping, push, SMTP, SSH and TCP checks, plus page speed, SSL and domain monitoring. Push checks suit scheduled jobs: your job pings StatusCake, and you're told if it stops.
The free plan card lists SSL, domain and page speed monitoring, but the comparison table only gives limits for paid plans, so it isn't clear how much of these Free includes. Mobile apps aren't mentioned.
The honest downsides
- Personal use only. The terms rule out using the free account for a business.
- Very limited. 3 monitors, checked every 15 minutes, so an outage can run for a while before you hear.
- Unclear free extras. SSL and domain monitoring on Free aren't clearly spelled out.
- Use it or lose it. The terms say abandoned free accounts may be deleted.
Skip it if
- the site makes money or belongs to a business
- you need more than 3 checks or faster alerts
Alternatives
- Better pick for business sites: UptimeRobot. Its terms allow "any use, including commercial and business use", and Free covers 50 monitors at 5-minute checks. The catch: no SSL or domain expiry alerts on Free.
- HetrixTools is free for 15 sites at 1-minute checks, with SSL and domain expiry alerts. You must log in every 90 days.
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