Summary
Uptime Kuma is a popular open-source, self-hosted uptime monitor: it is free to use, but you run and maintain the server yourself. Uptime Tracker is a hosted service that can import an Uptime Kuma JSON backup and adds incidents, team seats and on-call without a server to look after. Pick Uptime Kuma if you want full control or need to monitor private networks; pick Uptime Tracker if you would rather not operate your own monitoring.
Quick summary
Uptime Tracker is a hosted alternative to Uptime Kuma for people who like Kuma's approach but no longer want to run the monitoring server themselves. Uptime Kuma is open-source software under the MIT license that you self-host, typically with Docker or Node.js. It costs nothing to license, but you are responsible for the server, updates, backups and keeping the monitor itself online.
Uptime Tracker can import an Uptime Kuma JSON backup directly, so switching does not mean starting from scratch.
What Uptime Tracker offers
Uptime Tracker runs the monitoring infrastructure for you: checks, alert delivery, status pages and backups are operated as a service, with continuous database backups and tested restores. Because the monitor runs outside your network, it keeps alerting even when your own servers go down. Failures are confirmed with consecutive re-checks, and probe or platform errors are shown as "unknown" rather than counted as your downtime.
- Free ($0): 2 standard monitors at a 5-minute interval, 5 heartbeat monitors, 1 status page, 1 login seat, email, Slack, Discord, Telegram and signed webhook alerts. Commercial use is allowed.
- Starter ($9/month or $90/year): 10 monitors down to 60-second checks, 10 heartbeat monitors, 3 status pages with custom domains, 2 seats, SMS from prepaid credit, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Pushover, ntfy, Gotify, Mattermost and Rocket.Chat, routing rules, ping, domain expiry and advanced HTTP checks.
- Team ($49/month or $490/year): 50 monitors down to 30-second checks, 50 heartbeat monitors, 10 status pages including private password-protected pages, 10 seats plus 20 read-only guest viewers, PagerDuty, on-call rotations, escalation policies, monitor dependencies, gRPC, SMTP/IMAP and multi-step API workflows.
Every new owner can try Team free for 14 days without a card; the trial ends on Free automatically. Annual billing costs 10 times the monthly price. Downgrading never deletes data: excess monitors are paused and excess status pages archived.
Beyond what a single-user self-hosted monitor typically covers, Uptime Tracker adds team seats and roles, automatic incidents with acknowledgement and assignment, on-call and escalation (Team), a REST API with scoped tokens, and an audit log (Team). See incident management and status pages.
Current limitations, stated plainly: checks run from a single probe location today, with additional probe regions planned. There are no voice-call alerts, no browser or synthetic (scripted click-through) checks, and heartbeat monitors accept expected intervals from 15 seconds up to 1 hour, so daily or weekly jobs are not a fit yet. HTTPS monitors show the certificate expiry date and alert when a certificate is expired or invalid, but there are no separate advance expiry warning emails yet.
Where Uptime Kuma is a strong choice
Uptime Kuma is a strong choice if you want free, open-source software you fully control. Its repository lists many monitor types, including HTTP(S), keyword, JSON query, TCP, ping, DNS, push, WebSocket, Docker containers and game servers, and integrations with a very large number of notification services.
- Private and internal targets: Kuma can run inside your network and check internal services. Uptime Tracker blocks private and internal addresses for security, so it can only monitor publicly reachable endpoints.
- Cost and control: there is no subscription, and your data stays on your own server.
- Notification breadth: Kuma supports more notification services than Uptime Tracker does.
- Open source: you can read, modify and contribute to the code.
Key differences to evaluate
| Consideration | Uptime Tracker | What to check with Uptime Kuma |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Fully hosted; nothing to install | Who will maintain the server, apply updates and handle backups? |
| Monitoring the monitor | Runs independently of your infrastructure | Where will Kuma run so it stays up when your own servers fail? |
| Cost | $0, $9 or $49 per month per workspace | What do the server, storage and your time cost each month? |
| Internal targets | Public endpoints only | Do you need to monitor services on a private network? |
| Teams | Up to 10 seats, roles, projects, guest viewers (Team) | How will multiple people share access and responsibilities? |
| Incidents and on-call | Automatic incidents, rotations, escalation, PagerDuty (Team) | Do you need incident tracking and on-call beyond notifications? |
| Probe locations | One location today; more regions planned | Will you run multiple Kuma instances for geographic coverage? |
Switching from Uptime Kuma
Uptime Tracker imports Uptime Kuma JSON backups directly. HTTP and keyword, port, ping, DNS, push and gRPC monitors are mapped to equivalent Uptime Tracker monitors, and any unsupported types are listed in an import report so nothing disappears silently.
- In Uptime Kuma, export a JSON backup from its settings.
- Sign in to Uptime Tracker and run the Uptime Kuma import with that file.
- Review the import report. Some mapped types need a paid plan: ping requires Starter and gRPC requires Team. Check intervals are also bounded by your plan's minimum: 5 minutes on Free, 60 seconds on Starter, 30 seconds on Team.
- Update cron jobs that used Kuma push monitors so they call the new heartbeat URL, for example
curl -fsS https://uptimetracker.live/api/v1/heartbeats/<token>. Heartbeat intervals must be between 15 seconds and 1 hour. - Recreate alert destinations and status pages, then run both systems in parallel before shutting Kuma down.
Monitors that point at private or internal network addresses cannot be checked by Uptime Tracker, so keep those in a self-hosted tool. Historical data does not transfer. See the help center for details.
Bottom line
Choose Uptime Kuma if you want free, open-source monitoring under your control, especially for internal services. Choose Uptime Tracker if you want the same kind of monitoring hosted for you, with team access, incidents and on-call, and a direct import path from your Kuma backup. See our pricing to compare against the cost of running your own server.
Uptime Kuma is a trademark of its respective owner. This page is an independent comparison based on publicly available information as of October 2026; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Uptime Kuma. Check the vendor's own website for current features and pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Uptime Tracker a hosted version of Uptime Kuma?
No. Uptime Tracker is a separate hosted service, not affiliated with the Uptime Kuma project. It can import Uptime Kuma JSON backups so you can move monitors over without rebuilding them by hand.
Which Uptime Kuma monitor types can be imported?
HTTP and keyword, port, ping, DNS, push and gRPC monitors are mapped. Unsupported types are reported after the import. Ping requires the Starter plan and gRPC requires the Team plan.
Can Uptime Tracker monitor services on my private network?
No. For security, monitors cannot target private or internal network addresses. If you need internal monitoring, a self-hosted tool such as Uptime Kuma is a better fit.
Do my Kuma push monitors keep working after switching?
Push monitors become heartbeat monitors with a new secret URL. Update your jobs to call the new URL; expected intervals must be between 15 seconds and 1 hour.
Is Uptime Tracker free?
The Free plan costs $0 and includes 2 monitors at a 5-minute interval, 5 heartbeat monitors and 1 status page, with commercial use allowed. Paid plans are $9 and $49 per month.
