Looking for a hosted Upptime alternative?
Upptime is a clever open-source uptime monitor that runs on GitHub Actions and renders a status page on GitHub Pages. SitePulse is the hosted version of the same idea — same status pages, same flat pricing, no YAML or repo to maintain. Here's the honest comparison.
TL;DR
- Pick Upptime if you enjoy maintaining a GitHub repo, want full source-level control, and your usage fits GitHub Actions' free minutes.
- Pick SitePulse if you'd rather pay $9 to not think about workflow files, secret rotation, or GitHub Actions deprecations.
- Honest gaps in SitePulse today: you can't extend or self-host SitePulse — it's a SaaS. Upptime wins if customisation matters more than the time you save.
Pricing comparison
SitePulse
- Free — 5 monitors · 5-min$0
- Pro — 25 monitors · 1-min · 90-day history$9 / mo
- Business — 150 monitors · 1-min · 1-yr history$29 / mo
Flat pricing. No per-seat. No add-ons.
Upptime
- Free — Self-host on GitHub Actions free tier$0
- Practical reality — GitHub Pro for private repos + Actions minutes$4–10 / mo
Upptime itself is free (MIT). Real cost depends on GitHub plan + Actions minutes used.
Feature-by-feature
Hosting model
Setup time
Free plan monitors
Check interval
Status page
Email alerts
Slack / webhooks
SMS / voice
History retention
Maintenance burden
Customisation
Cost at 25 monitors
Where probes run from
Built by
Upptime pricing and features as of early 2026 — check their pricing page for the latest.
When Upptime is the right call
- You enjoy maintaining open-source infrastructure.
- You want full source-level control over the monitor.
- Your usage fits in GitHub Actions' free minutes.
- You're already deep in the GitHub ecosystem and this fits your workflow.
When SitePulse is the right call
- You want monitoring set up in 60 seconds, not a weekend.
- You don't want to think about workflow files breaking after GitHub Actions updates.
- You need 1-minute checks (Upptime is capped at 5-min).
- You want one bill instead of 'GitHub Pro + Actions minutes + custom email service'.
- Email alerts that don't go through GitHub Issues.
Try SitePulse free
5 monitors, 5-minute checks, email alerts, public status page — free forever. No credit card.
Frequently asked questions
Why would I pay for SitePulse if Upptime is free?+
Maintenance. Upptime is brilliantly designed — it's a clever use of GitHub Actions for uptime monitoring — but it's still a YAML config you maintain in a fork of a repo. Every workflow change, dependency update, or GitHub Actions deprecation becomes your problem. SitePulse trades $9/mo for not thinking about that. If you enjoy maintaining infrastructure, Upptime is great; if you'd rather not, SitePulse exists for that.
Is Upptime really free? What's the catch?+
It's genuinely free if your usage fits in GitHub Actions' free minutes (~2000/month for personal accounts). With 25 monitors at 5-min intervals, you're at ~7200 runs/month — over the free limit unless you're on a Pro account ($4/mo) or your repo is public. So in practice 'free Upptime' usually means 'public repo + free GitHub' or 'paid GitHub'. Once you account for GitHub Pro, it's not always cheaper than $9/mo SitePulse.
Does SitePulse give me a status page like Upptime's?+
Yes. Hosted at sitepulse.satosushi.co/status/your-slug, free on every plan. Upptime's status page is hosted on GitHub Pages and looks great too — both are good options. The difference: SitePulse's status page reads from your live monitor data with no additional setup; Upptime regenerates it on each cron run.
Can I check more than 5-minute intervals on Upptime?+
Not easily. GitHub Actions enforces a 5-min minimum for cron-triggered workflows. For 1-minute checks you'd need to redesign the trigger mechanism (e.g., external pinger), at which point you're rebuilding what hosted services already do. SitePulse Pro runs at 1-min intervals out of the box.
Will my Upptime config import?+
Not automatically. The configs aren't compatible — Upptime uses a YAML format, SitePulse uses a UI/database. But adding 25 monitors to SitePulse takes about 5 minutes (paste each URL, save). Faster than reading the Upptime migration guide for whatever you'd be migrating to.
What does Upptime do better than SitePulse?+
Customisation. Upptime is open source, so you can fork it and bend it to anything — change the report format, add custom checks, integrate with internal tooling. SitePulse is what we ship; you can't extend it. If you have very specific needs, Upptime's flexibility wins.