Tool profile
Updown.io: cost, fit and limits
Updown.io is a pay-per-check website monitoring service that runs HTTP checks from several locations, alerts by email, webhook, Slack, Teams, Telegram, SMS and other channels, and hosts public status pages without a subscription. The About page presents it as a small product.
What to know first
Updown.io sells credit packs rather than plans: €5 for 200,000 credits, €10 for 500,000 and €25 for 1,500,000, excluding VAT, with one credit per check and no commitment. There is no free plan. Hosting is with OVH in France and Hetzner in Germany, with DigitalOcean for some services. The About page says the product does not need AI because investors expect it.
Updown.io at a glance
| Maker | Not stated on the vendor pages, Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Entry price | €5 (200,000 check credits, excl. VAT) |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Uptime Monitoring Software in 2026, rank 11 of 13 |
| Website | updown.io |
Who Updown.io is best for
Developers with a few services
Credit packs mean you pay for checks actually run, without a monthly fee for seats or monitors you do not use.
EU-minded teams
The privacy policy names OVH in France and Hetzner in Germany for hosting and offers a GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement.
Teams that want many alert channels
Email, webhook, Slack, Teams, Telegram, SMS, Statuspage and Zapier are listed, a wide set for a minimal product. The list is broad for a minimal service.
Updown.io plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| 200,000 credits | €5 excluding VAT | A one-time pack of checks with no commitment; each credit pays for one check run against your endpoints. |
| 500,000 credits | €10 excluding VAT | A larger one-time pack of checks, again with no subscription and no minimum term, which lowers the cost per check. |
| 1,500,000 credits | €25 excluding VAT | The biggest pack shown on the page, aimed at many monitors or short intervals, with the lowest cost per check of the three. |
Checked November 2026.
What Updown.io does
- Pay per request
- One credit is one check, so cost depends on how many monitors you run and how often they fire, not on seats or tiers. Packs are bought in advance and consumed as checks run.
- Several notification channels
- Alerts go out by email, webhook, Slack, Teams, Telegram, SMS, Statuspage and Zapier, so most chat and ticket tools can receive them. Webhooks let any other tool receive alerts with a small script.
- Hosted status pages and API
- Status pages are hosted for you, and a REST API plus webhooks let you manage monitors and read results from scripts. Pages are part of the service rather than an extra product with its own price.
- Monitoring locations
- Checks run from multiple monitoring locations, including Frankfurt and Cape Town as examples named on the page. Frankfurt is relevant for European sites, and Cape Town for African visitors, so response times from near your users can be tested.
How Updown.io handles your data
The privacy policy says account data is removed on request and that logs and backups are gone within one week. It names OVH in France and Hetzner in Germany for hosting, with DigitalOcean for some services, and mentions sub-processors in the EU and the US with Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clause terms. A Data Processing Agreement under GDPR Article 28 is available. No certification is stated.
Where Updown.io falls short in practice
- No on-call or incident tooling. The pages we read show checks, alerts and status pages only, with no schedules, escalation or AI help during an incident. Anything beyond checks and alerts needs another tool.
- Credit math takes work. Because cost is per check, a team must estimate monitors times frequency to know its monthly cost, unlike flat plans. A shorter interval spends credits faster, which raises the bill.
Works with
Alternatives to Updown.io
Updown.io: common questions
How does Updown.io pricing work?
You buy credit packs and each check costs one credit: €5 for 200,000, €10 for 500,000 or €25 for 1,500,000, all excluding VAT, with no commitment. There is no subscription and no free plan on the page we read. Estimate monitors times checks per month to see how long a pack lasts.
Where does Updown.io host its data?
The privacy policy lists OVH in France and Hetzner in Germany for the website and data, with DigitalOcean for some services. It also mentions sub-processors in the EU and the US with DPF and SCC transfer terms. A GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement is available.
Does Updown.io have AI features?
No. The About page says the product does not need AI just because investors expect it, and the pages we read name no AI feature. That suits buyers who want a plain checker. If AI incident help is a requirement, look at Better Stack, Hyperping or Oh Dear.
Which notifications does Updown.io send?
The feature list names email, webhook, Slack, Teams, Telegram, SMS, Statuspage and Zapier. A REST API and webhooks cover custom routing. The pages did not describe escalation schedules, so phone-tree style paging would need an outside tool connected through a webhook.
Can I delete my data from Updown.io?
The privacy policy says account data is removed on request, and logs and backups are gone within one week. That is the vendor's statement on the page we read. It does not describe an export format, so test the API export of your monitor list before depending on it.