Short answer: Uptime Kuma is genuinely excellent
free software — unlimited monitors, 90+ (via Apprise) notification channels, no license
cost. The catch: you host it and maintain it, and if your server or network goes down, your monitoring can
go down with it. uptent Base Camp is €3/mo and none of that is your problem.
Hosted vs self-hosted comparison
Topic
uptent
Uptime Kuma
Cost
Free plan (1 project, no card). Base Camp paid plan: €3/mo (launch price, normally €8)
Software is free (MIT license, no recurring license fee). Real cost: VPS/hosting roughly $2.50–3/mo plus your time for setup, updates, and backups
Setup effort
Sign up, add a URL — live in minutes. No Docker, reverse proxy, or server config
Install via Docker or Node.js, configure reverse proxy/TLS, set up notifications, and maintain the instance yourself
Check location(s)
EU + US on every plan (external to your infrastructure)
Single location — wherever you host the instance
What happens if your infrastructure goes down
Checks run from uptent servers in EU and US. If your app or its host fails, you still get alerted — monitoring is independent
Checks run from the same server/network you host Kuma on. If that server, its network, or its provider goes down, your monitoring can go down at the same time as the services it watches
SSL monitoring
Yes, all plans — HTTP + SSL checks with expiry alerts
Per-project status pages on all plans; global page + live embed badges on Base Camp
Public, customizable status pages (real-time WebSocket updates)
Ongoing maintenance
None — uptent handles uptime, updates, and infrastructure
You patch security updates, upgrade versions, manage backups, and keep the monitoring server itself online
Uptime Kuma facts last verified 2026-07-09 ( GitHub · uptimekuma.org). Open-source projects change frequently; recheck version and feature details before relying on them.
Where Uptime Kuma wins
Uptime Kuma is genuinely free software with a huge community (76,000+ GitHub stars)
and enormous flexibility: Docker containers, databases, game servers, internal-only services, and
90+ (via Apprise) notification channels. Your data never leaves your infrastructure —
full privacy and control. It is an actively developed project (2.1.x as of early
2026) with frequent releases, including domain expiry monitoring in v2.1. For homelab use and services
only reachable on your own network, it is hard to beat.
Where uptent wins
No server to provision, patch, or back up. Checks run from outside your infrastructure — EU and US —
so uptent can actually tell you when you are down, even if your monitoring box goes down with everything
else. Live in minutes with no Docker or reverse-proxy setup. SSL expiry alerts, status pages, and live
badges are included on Base Camp (€3/mo (launch price, normally €8)). The free Solo Tent plan covers one project with HTTP
+ SSL checks every 3 minutes and email alerts, no card required.
Choose uptent if…
✓You don't want to run and maintain another service just to watch your other services
✓You want monitoring that is genuinely independent from your own infrastructure — so an outage on your server does not take monitoring down with it
✓You need a public site or API watched from outside your network, with SSL alerts and status pages, without Docker or homelab setup
✓Email alerts on the free plan (or email + Telegram on Base Camp) are enough for your workflow
Choose Uptime Kuma if…
→You already run a homelab or VPS you maintain anyway, and adding one more container is no big deal
→You need to monitor internal-only services — databases, printers, LAN APIs, IoT — that an external hosted tool cannot reach
→You want full data ownership and privacy: monitoring data never leaves your infrastructure
→You want zero recurring license cost, unlimited monitors, and 90+ notification channels via Apprise
The software is. Uptime Kuma is open-source under the MIT license with no license fee and unlimited monitors. The real cost is hosting (often roughly $2.50–3/month on a cheap VPS), plus your time to install, configure TLS, set up notifications, apply security patches, and keep backups. That is very different from "free" in the sense of zero effort or zero dollars. uptent offers a free forever plan for one project (no card required) and Base Camp at €3/mo (launch price, normally €8) if you want hosted monitoring with no server to run.
No. Uptime Kuma runs checks from wherever you host the instance — typically the same VPS, homelab, or network as the services you watch. If that server loses power, its network fails, or the hosting provider has an outage, Uptime Kuma goes down too. You may never receive the alert you needed. External hosted monitoring like uptent checks from separate EU and US locations, so it can tell you when your infrastructure is down even when your monitoring box is down with it.
No. All checks originate from the single machine (or single network) where you run Uptime Kuma. There is no built-in multi-region probing from independent external locations. uptent checks every 60 seconds from both EU and US on Base Camp, independent of where your app is hosted.
If you want uptime and SSL monitoring without running Docker, patching a VPS, or worrying about your monitor going down with your app, a hosted service is the easier path. uptent is built for indie hackers and side projects: sign up, add URLs, get email alerts on the free plan, or upgrade to Base Camp (€3/mo (launch price, normally €8)) for 60-second checks from EU + US, SSL expiry alerts, status pages, live badges, and Telegram alerts.
It depends on what you are monitoring. Self-hosting with Uptime Kuma is an excellent fit for homelabs and internal services only reachable on your LAN — things no external SaaS can ping. For public websites and APIs, the single-point-of-failure problem matters: if monitoring lives on the same infrastructure as your app, an outage can silence both. Many teams use Uptime Kuma for internal checks and a hosted tool like uptent for external-facing services. Both approaches are legitimate; the trade-off is maintenance and independence, not software quality.
Try uptent free — no server required
One project, HTTP + SSL monitoring, email alerts, no card required. Upgrade to Base Camp when you need
60-second checks from EU + US, status pages, and Telegram alerts.