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Comparison, as of November 2026

Website and server monitoring compared

There is no best monitoring tool, only the one that fits: for uptime from outside, UptimeRobot or HetrixTools are enough; Checkmk and Zabbix are built for networks and hardware, Datadog for large environments; and inping combines uptime, server agent, vulnerabilities and page changes for teams that run web applications. Every fact below is linked to its source, including where others can do more than we can.

At a glance

Who covers which area?

Six areas, nine tools. The graphic shows what the vendors state themselves, not how well it works.

Tool UptimeAgentVulnerabilitiesPage changesLogsStatus page
inping stated stated stated stated stated stated
UptimeRobot stated not stated not stated not stated not stated stated
Better Stack stated partly stated not stated not stated stated stated
HetrixTools stated stated not stated not stated not stated stated
Oh Dear stated not stated not stated not stated not stated stated
Checkmk partly stated stated not stated not stated stated not stated
Zabbix stated stated not stated not stated stated not stated
Uptime Kuma stated partly stated not stated not stated not stated stated
Datadog stated stated stated not stated stated stated
stated in the sources partly stated not stated, which does not mean: does not exist

Features

What the tools monitor

On small screens, the table can be scrolled sideways.

Information from the vendors’ public pages, each linked, as of November 2026. “not stated”: not found on the pages we checked.
Tool UptimeServer agentVulnerabilitiesPage changesLogsStatus pagesAlert channels
inping HTTP(S) only, from several locations, from 60 s (Free) or 30 s (Pro) FeaturesLinux, macOS, FreeBSD, Windows, Docker; read-only IntegrationPackages and runtimes from lock files and the host, checked daily against OSV and endoflife.date AdvisoriesText diff per page, new pages from the sitemap FeaturesLogs, errors and traces through the Sentry SDKs FeaturesYes, with your own logo and your own domain FeaturesEmail and signed webhook Features
UptimeRobot HTTP, port, ping, keyword; DNS, SSL, domain, API from Solo; 30 s from Team Source: uptimerobot.com/pricing.md As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, 3 status pages from Solo Source: uptimerobot.com/pricing.md As of November 2026Integrations, including Slack from Solo; SMS and voice credits from Solo Source: uptimerobot.com/pricing.md As of November 2026
Better Stack Monitors, heartbeats, Playwright checks Source: betterstack.com/uptime,Better Stack, comparison page As of November 2026Infrastructure metrics, Prometheus-compatible; own agent not described on the pages checked Source: Better Stack, metrics,Better Stack, comparison page (metrics) As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, logs and traces with retention by bundle Source: betterstack.com/pricing As of November 2026Yes Source: Better Stack, comparison page As of November 2026Email and Slack; phone and SMS unlimited with a responder licence Source: Better Stack, comparison page As of November 2026
HetrixTools HTTP(S), ping, port, SMTP, heartbeat; 1 minute Source: HetrixTools, website monitor As of November 2026Linux, Windows, macOS; CPU, RAM, disks, network, RAID Source: HetrixTools, server monitor As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, on all plans Source: HetrixTools, uptime As of November 2026Email, SMS, phone call, Slack Source: HetrixTools, uptime As of November 2026
Oh Dear Uptime, SSL, ping, TCP port, DNS, domain; every minute Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026not stated (ping and TCP port for servers) Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated (crawl for broken links, Lighthouse) Source: ohdear.app/pricing,Oh Dear, comparison page As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, on all plans Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026Slack, email, SMS, webhooks and others Source: ohdear.app/features/gdpr As of November 2026
Checkmk HTTP check as an active check; Synthetic Monitoring as an add-on Source: Checkmk manual, HTTP check,checkmk.com/pricing As of November 2026Yes, plus SNMP; over 2,000 integrations Source: Checkmk Community,Checkmk, network As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, with the agent plug-in mk_logwatch Source: Checkmk manual, logs As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Rule-based notifications, including through an SMS script Source: Checkmk manual, alerts As of November 2026
Zabbix HTTP(S) web scenarios with several steps Source: Zabbix manual, web As of November 2026Yes, plus SNMP, IPMI, JMX, VMware Source: Zabbix manual, features As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, log files through the agent Source: Zabbix manual, logs As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Email, SMS, script, webhook Source: Zabbix manual, media types As of November 2026
Uptime Kuma HTTP(S), TCP, keyword, JSON, WebSocket, ping, DNS, push, Docker; 20 s Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026Docker containers as a check type; server metrics not stated Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, several, also on your own domain Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026Over 90 services, including Telegram, Discord, Slack, email Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026
Datadog Synthetic Monitoring: API and browser tests, API from US$5 per 10,000 runs Source: Datadog docs, Synthetics,datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026Yes, over 1,000 integrations Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026For hosts and containers on the Enterprise plan, from US$23 per host Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Yes, ingestion from US$0.10 per GB Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026Yes, Status Pages Source: Datadog docs, Status Pages As of November 2026On-Call and Incident Management Source: Datadog, Incident Management As of November 2026

Cost and hosting

Price, hosting, seat and data location

The entry prices measure different things: per monitor, host, service, responder or team. So compare with your own quantities.

Information from the vendors’ public pages, each linked, as of November 2026. “not stated”: not found on the pages we checked.
Tool Entry priceFree to useHostingCompany seatData locationDPA
inping Pro €10 a month plus VAT, one price for the whole team PricingFree for good: 1 project, 10 URLs and 25 pages per project, 2 agents, 1 own runner PricingSaaS; agent and runner also run on your own hardware Integrationmedienakzent, Konstanz, Germany ImprintPlatform on servers in the EU; payment through the reseller Paddle (UK) PrivacyYes, DPA under Art. 28 GDPR DPA
UptimeRobot Solo from around €10 or US$12 a month (10 monitors, 60 s); amount depends on region and payment method Source: uptimerobot.com/pricing.md,uptimerobot.com/pricing As of November 202650 monitors, 5 minutes, 1 basic status page, 5 integrations Source: uptimerobot.com/pricing.md As of November 2026SaaS Source: UptimeRobot Knowledge Hub As of November 2026UptimeRobot s. r. o., Bratislava, Slovakia Source: uptimerobot.com/dpa As of November 2026Several locations worldwide possible, including USA and EU; individual databases in Frankfurt Source: uptimerobot.com/dpa As of November 2026Yes Source: uptimerobot.com/dpa As of November 2026
Better Stack Responder US$34 a month, US$29 when paying annually; telemetry extra Source: betterstack.com/pricing As of November 202610 monitors, 10 heartbeats, 1 status page, 3 minutes, email and Slack Source: Better Stack, comparison page As of November 2026SaaS Source: betterstack.com/pricing As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026Default: EU regions, data centres with DIN ISO/IEC 27001 Source: betterstack.com/security As of November 2026Yes Source: betterstack.com/security As of November 2026
HetrixTools Professional from US$9.95 a month Source: HetrixTools, pricing As of November 202615 uptime and 15 server monitors, 1 minute; login required every 90 days Source: HetrixTools, pricing,HetrixTools, uptime As of November 2026SaaS; agents on your own server Source: HetrixTools, server monitor As of November 2026HetrixTools, Inc.; address not stated Source: HetrixTools, terms As of November 2026not stated (“own infrastructure”, no country named) Source: HetrixTools, GDPR As of November 2026not stated As of November 2026
Oh Dear €15 a month for 2 websites, plus VAT Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026No permanent free plan; 10-day trial without a credit card Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026SaaS Source: ohdear.app/pricing As of November 2026Immutable VOF, Berlaar, Belgium Source: ohdear.app/privacy As of November 2026Main data in Belgium at Combell; check nodes and backups also at AWS, DigitalOcean Source: ohdear.app/features/gdpr,ohdear.app/subprocessors As of November 2026Yes, for every customer Source: Oh Dear, FAQ on the DPA As of November 2026
Checkmk Pro from €190 a month when paying annually, around 3,000 services Source: checkmk.com/pricing As of November 2026Community: free for good, GPLv2, recommended for around 100 hosts Source: checkmk.com/pricing,Checkmk, editions,Checkmk Community As of November 2026Self-hosted or as Checkmk Cloud (SaaS) Source: checkmk.com/pricing As of November 2026Checkmk GmbH, Munich Source: checkmk.com/imprint As of November 2026Self-hosted: with you. Cloud: AWS Frankfurt or N. Virginia, your choice Source: checkmk.com/pricing As of November 2026Yes, for Checkmk Cloud Source: Checkmk, DPA (PDF) As of November 2026
Zabbix Software €0; Zabbix Cloud from €50 a month; Silver support €245 a month Source: zabbix.com/subscriptions As of November 2026Software with no licence fee or device limit, AGPLv3 from 7.0 Source: zabbix.com/subscriptions,zabbix.com/license As of November 2026Self-hosted or as Zabbix Cloud Source: zabbix.com/subscriptions As of November 2026Zabbix SIA, Riga, Latvia Source: zabbix.com/contact As of November 2026Self-hosted: with you. Cloud: region chosen by the customer; account data in the EU Source: Zabbix Cloud, privacy As of November 2026not stated (no dedicated DPA found for the cloud) Source: Zabbix Cloud, privacy As of November 2026
Uptime Kuma €0, server costs and working time on you Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026Complete, MIT licence Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026Self-hosted (Docker or Node.js) Source: Uptime Kuma, installation As of November 2026not stated (open source project with no vendor named) Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026On your own server Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026not stated (self-hosted, no vendor) Source: GitHub, Uptime Kuma As of November 2026
Datadog Infrastructure Pro from US$15 per host a month when paying annually Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026Up to 5 basic hosts, 1 day of metric retention Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026SaaS, agent on your own host Source: datadoghq.com/pricing As of November 2026Datadog, Inc., New York, USA Source: Datadog, Form 10-K (SEC) As of November 2026Site of your choice, including EU1 in Germany Source: Datadog docs, sites As of November 2026Yes Source: Datadog, DPA As of November 2026

Decision

How to choose in five questions

  1. What should be monitored? Only availability from outside, the server from inside as well, or whole networks with switches and hardware? This is what separates the tools most.
  2. Who runs the monitoring? Self-hosted, you have full control and all the work, including the question of who monitors the monitor. Hosted, you pay for it and trust a vendor.
  3. Where is the data, and is there a DPA? The company seat alone says little. Check the data location, the sub-processors and the data processing agreement (DPA). The decision and the responsibility stay with you.
  4. How should alerts reach you? Are email and webhook enough, or do you need phone calls, SMS and on-call schedules? inping alerts only by email and webhook.
  5. How does the price grow? Per monitor, per host, per service, per responder or as a team price: calculate with your numbers a year from now, not with the entry price.

If not inping

When another tool fits better

Honestly, inping is not the first choice for these jobs.

One to one

inping or ...?

Questions

Frequently asked questions about the comparison

Which server monitoring is GDPR-compliant?

There is no blanket answer, because it depends on how you use it. Compare data location, sub-processors and DPA in the table. Self-hosted software such as Checkmk, Zabbix or Uptime Kuma gives you control over the location; inping runs the platform on servers in the EU and offers a DPA under Art. 28 GDPR. Responsibility stays with you.

Which tool has the best free plan?

It depends on the goal. UptimeRobot states 50 monitors at 5 minutes, HetrixTools 15 uptime monitors with 15 agents at 1 minute, inping 1 project with 10 URLs at 60 seconds and 2 agents. Uptime Kuma, Checkmk Community and Zabbix are free as self-hosted software.

What can inping not do?

inping checks uptime over HTTP(S) only, so no ping, no ports and no SNMP. Alerts go by email and signed webhook, not by phone or SMS. The platform cannot be self-hosted; only agent and runner run on your side.

Why is a particular vendor missing?

The selection is not a judgement. We have not yet included Pingdom, StatusCake, updown.io and Uptrends. We add vendors as soon as all the information can be backed up from their own pages.

More on our own offer: all features of inping, the plans and GDPR server monitoring.