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Hey HN, I am using uptimerobot.com for some years now through its free plan. It monitors some hobby-non really important projects. The same plan is advertised here: https://uptimerobot.com/pricing/

However, before some days I got the following email: "From 1st November 2024, our Free Plan is for non-commercial use only. If you're using it for business, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan and now they are forcing me to update."

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rozenmd 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I also run an uptime monitoring service with the same limitation, it's not sustainable in the long term to offer a free tier otherwise.

A bit annoyed about this change though, I used to recommend folks looking for a ridiculous free tier use uptime robot instead.

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bigs 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sounds like it’s genuinely free…… if you’re using it for non commercial use.

	▲	evanelias 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not OP, but part of the problem here is the "non-commercial use" restriction was a retroactive change to their terms of service. Their free plan previously had no such restriction. On November 4, they emailed free plan users describing an "Upcoming Change to UptimeRobot Free Plan ToS" which somehow already took effect on November 1. They aren't actually enforcing the change until December 1, but even then, that's still less than a month of notice. Even for non-commercial purposes, I wouldn't trust this service after this move.

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mtmail 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In my SaaS niche that's common. Some also exclude automated scripts (free only for manual testing), asset tracking (IOT devices sending 24/7) or "you're not allowed to permanently save the output of the tool". I wouldn't call that fake.

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theshrike79 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you're a business and can't afford $7 a month, then self-host an uptime checking tool like Uptime Kuma on a $5 Digital Ocean server.

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RockRobotRock 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Find a cheap VPS and host Uptime Kuma. Thank me later :)

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yread 6 hours ago | parent [-]

I switched to Kuma recently, but it's not all roses either. Their Docker image is based on Debian 10 with Go 1.19 and they don't feel the need to update because "OS level bugs are seldomely exploitable"

https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma/issues/4885

So host it on a separate machine and don't put any secrets in there

	▲	RockRobotRock 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I use Cloudflare zero trust to secure it.

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stop50 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How is this plan fake?

	▲	fer 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		OP didn't explain it well (at least what's happening to me): I am a free user for non-commercial purposes and they're terminating me if I don't upgrade to paid plan. The free option appears but it's unavailable to select. I only use it to monitor the Uptime Kuma that monitors the rest of my homelab.

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xcubic 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Are you switching?

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paulcole 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you want a free lunch, I can understand when you’re eventually disappointed.

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andrew-jack 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I switched from Uptime Robot to https://pulsetic.com/ a month ago, and I couldn’t be happier with the service!

10 free monitors and status pages.

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rozenmd 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Please don't use multiple accounts to promote your business on HN.

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andrew-jack 2 hours ago | parent [-]

It's not my business, I also can recommend the Uptime Kuma (selfhosted)...

	▲	vextea 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What about your earlier Show HN post for the same service where you quote: > I've created the best free website downtime checker. Don't trust me? Try it yourself.

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arminsergiony 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is the custom domain for status pages available on the free plan?

	▲	andrew-jack 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes.

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Heleana 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How about the commercial use of the free plan?

	▲	andrew-jack 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		At this point, yes. I don't know what will happen in future.

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4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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