Uptime Monitoring Compared 2026: UptimeRobot vs Better Stack
Choosing the Right Uptime Monitoring Tool for Your Agency
When your agency manages dozens of client websites, picking the right monitoring tool matters. The wrong choice means missed alerts, frustrated clients, and wasted budget. This article compares three widely-used tools as of May 2026: UptimeRobot, Better Stack, and Miterl.
Plan Overview as of May 2026
Pricing and features shift regularly. The figures below reflect publicly available information as of May 2026 — always verify on the vendors' official sites before making a purchasing decision.
UptimeRobot
- Free plan: 50 monitors at 5-minute intervals. Important: since December 2024, the free plan is restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. Agencies monitoring client sites must use a paid plan.
- Solo: from $9/month (billed annually), 60-second intervals, 50 monitors
- Team: from $38/month (billed annually), multiple team members, higher monitor limits
- Enterprise: from $69/month (billed annually)
Better Stack
- Free plan: 10 monitors at 3-minute intervals, 1 status page, Slack and email alerts
- Team: from $29/month (billed annually), 30-second intervals, 50 monitors, unlimited phone call and SMS alerts (with Responder license), integrated log management and incident management
Better Stack was formerly known as Better Uptime.
Miterl
- Free plan: core features including Japanese UI and Chatwork/LINE alerts available to try
- Paid plans: per-client workspace isolation, automated monthly uptime reports, status pages with custom domain support
Feature and Pricing Comparison
| Feature | UptimeRobot | Better Stack | Miterl |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 50 monitors / 5-min (non-commercial only) | 10 monitors / 3-min | Available |
| Shortest check interval | 60s (paid) | 30s (paid) | 60s |
| SSL certificate monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Slack alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chatwork alerts | No | No | Yes |
| LINE alerts | No | No | Yes |
| Japanese UI | No | No | Yes |
| Status pages | Yes (paid) | Yes (free tier included) | Yes |
| Automated monthly reports | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-client workspace | No | Yes (higher plans) | Yes |
| Log & incident management | No | Yes | Partial |
Tool-by-Tool Deep Dive
UptimeRobot: The Long-Standing Default — Watch the Free Plan Restriction
UptimeRobot has been around for years and built a loyal following thanks largely to its generous free tier. However, a significant change took effect in December 2024: the free plan is now restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. Commercial use — including monitoring client sites, SaaS products, or any revenue-generating project — requires a paid plan. Using the free plan for agency work now violates UptimeRobot's Terms of Service.
Beyond that restriction, UptimeRobot lacks Chatwork and LINE integration, and its interface is English-only. For agencies serving Japanese clients, this creates friction both internally and when sharing dashboards with clients.
Better Stack: Powerful All-in-One, Higher Price Point
Better Stack bundles incident management, log aggregation, on-call scheduling, and status pages into a single platform. The free tier now offers 10 monitors and 1 status page — a notable improvement over earlier versions. The paid Team plan adds 30-second check intervals, unlimited phone call alerts, and integrated observability features.
The platform is well suited for organizations that need to consolidate monitoring, logging, and on-call management in one place. For smaller agencies that primarily need uptime checks and client-facing reports, the additional capabilities may exceed actual needs and push costs higher than necessary.
Miterl: Built for Multi-Client Agency Workflows
Miterl is designed with agencies in mind. It supports Slack, Chatwork, and LINE notifications out of the box, and provides a Japanese-language interface alongside English. The multi-site management workflow covers the full cycle of agency maintenance work: instant failure alerts, incident investigation support, and automated monthly uptime reports shared with clients.
# List all monitored sites in Miterl
curl -s https://miterl.com/api/v1/monitors \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" | jq '.data[] | {name, url, status}'
You can also pull 30-day uptime figures per monitor for inclusion in custom client reports:
# Retrieve 30-day uptime for all monitored sites
curl -s https://miterl.com/api/v1/monitors \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
| jq '.data[] | {name, status, uptime_30d}'
Monthly reports are generated automatically in the dashboard and can be shared via URL or exported as PDF — reducing the manual effort of composing maintenance reports from scratch each month.
How to Decide: Three Key Criteria
If you are stuck choosing between tools, focus on these factors:
- Alert channel support — Does the tool integrate with the chat apps your team and clients actually use? Slack alone is not always enough, particularly in Japan where Chatwork and LINE are common.
- Multi-site management — Can you efficiently manage 20, 50, or 100 monitors without the UI becoming a bottleneck? Workspace-level client separation matters when you are billing per client.
- Cost at scale — Compare total cost based on your realistic monitor count and required features. Note that UptimeRobot's free tier is no longer available for commercial use as of December 2024.
For practical adoption steps, see how agencies bundle monitoring into maintenance contracts. Already using UptimeRobot and ready to switch? The UptimeRobot to Miterl migration guide walks through the full process step by step. You can also test the monitoring experience firsthand by starting for free.
Looking for real-world examples of how agencies use monitoring? Check the use cases page. And if you have questions before getting started, the FAQ covers the most common ones.
The best monitoring tool is the one your team will actually use every day — and one that fits your clients' communication tools, not just a generic feature checklist.