What is Uptrends?
Uptrends is a cloud-based monitoring platform founded in 2007, now part of the ITRS Group. It offers website, API, server, and synthetic monitoring from 368 nodes across 67 countries. While feature-rich, Uptrends uses a complex per-feature pricing model and requires a 12-month contract with a 90-day termination notice.
What is OnlineOrNot?
OnlineOrNot helps software teams monitor their websites, APIs, and scheduled jobs with 30-second checks from multiple global locations.
Every check runs from multiple regions before alerting—eliminating false positives. When something actually breaks, you get notified instantly via Slack, SMS, PagerDuty, or email.
Status pages are included on all paid plans. And when you need help, you email the founder directly.
Uptrends often presents three critical challenges that hold engineering teams back:
1. Locked into annual contracts
Uptrends requires a 12-month contract with a 90-day termination notice. If your needs change or you're unhappy with the service, you're stuck paying for months before you can leave. Modern SaaS should let you cancel anytime.
2. Confusing per-feature pricing
Instead of simple plans, Uptrends charges separately for each feature - uptime monitoring, synthetic monitoring, RUM, API monitoring. This à la carte model makes it hard to predict costs and means essential features like status pages become expensive add-ons.
3. Enterprise complexity for simple needs
Uptrends was built for enterprise IT departments and it shows. The interface, setup process, and configuration options reflect enterprise requirements that create unnecessary complexity for teams that just need reliable uptime monitoring.
Compare Uptrends vs OnlineOrNot
| Feature | Uptrends | OnlineOrNot |
|---|---|---|
| Check frequency | 1 minute minimum | 30 seconds on all plans |
| Pricing model | Per-feature, annual contract | $2/check/month, cancel anytime |
| Contract requirement | 12-month minimum | No contract, cancel anytime |
| False-alarm prevention | Checkpoint-based | Multi-location verification |
| Cron job monitoring | ||
| Status pages | Third-party integration required | Included on all paid plans |
| Setup time | Hours to days | Minutes |
| SSL certificate monitoring | Advanced with expiry tracking | |
| Support | Ticket-based support | Direct founder access |
How OnlineOrNot improves reliability
Faster detection without the noise
30-second checks catch issues before users notice. Multi-location verification filters out false positives. You get speed without alert fatigue.
Everything in one place
Monitor websites, APIs, cron jobs, and heartbeats from one dashboard. Track SSL certificate expiry on every check. No need to stitch together multiple tools.
Status pages included
Keep customers informed with hosted status pages on your domain. Subscribers get automatic notifications when incidents are created or resolved. Included on all paid plans—not an upsell.
Unlimited team members, real support
Add your whole team on any plan. When you need help, email the founder directly—no ticket queues, no tiered support, responses within hours.
The migration process
1. Sign up free
Create your account with a 14-day trial. No credit card required.
2. Add your critical monitors
Start with your most important endpoints—core URLs, key APIs, any cron jobs that can't fail silently.
3. Run in parallel
Run OnlineOrNot alongside your current tool for 1-2 weeks. Compare alert quality and response times.
4. Migrate fully
Move all monitors over. We offer white-glove migration support—email the founder directly.
5. Cancel the old tool
Turn off your previous monitoring. You'll likely save money while getting faster, more reliable alerts.
Need to pitch OnlineOrNot to your bosses?
Here are the key points to help you get stakeholder buy-in:
"We'll catch issues before customers report them"
30-second checks detect outages 10x faster than 5-minute intervals. Multi-location verification means we only get real alerts.
"We're going to save money"
Transparent per-check pricing. No surprise overages. Status pages included, not an add-on.
"We get everything in one tool"
Uptime, API monitoring, cron jobs, heartbeats, and status pages. One subscription, one dashboard.
"We can actually get support"
Direct access to the founder. No tickets, no tiers, no waiting days for answers.