Uptime Kuma vs Better Stack: Monthly Cost

Better Stack's uptime monitoring is free for 10 monitors and priced per responder and per monitor pack after that. Uptime Kuma is a self-hosted monitor with no per-monitor price: one small server checks as many sites as it can handle. The money is the smaller half of this decision; where the monitor runs matters more. Better Stack prices below are as of 2026-10-18.

The monthly cost

Uptime Kuma here is the one-click Uptime Kuma app, whose recommended 1 vCPU and 1 GB fits Veloxa Nano ($4 a month, $0.01 an hour).

Monitors and status pages	Better Stack, billed monthly	Better Stack, billed yearly (per month)	Uptime Kuma on VeloxaHost
10 monitors, 1 status page (Free plan)	$0	$0	$4
10 monitors with 1 responder license	$34	$29	$4
60 monitors (1 responder + one 50-monitor pack)	$59	$50	$4
110 monitors and 2 status pages (1 responder + two packs + one extra status page)	$99	$83	$4

Better Stack's pricing page lists the responder license at $34 a month ($29 billed yearly) with 10 monitors and 1 status page included, extra monitors at $25 a month per 50 ($21 yearly), and extra public status pages at $15 a month ($12 yearly).

Uptime Kuma does not charge per monitor, but a server has limits. If hundreds of monitors with short intervals make the Nano slow, Veloxa 1 ($8 a month, $0.02 an hour) doubles the memory.

What the VeloxaHost column leaves out

• A monitor outside what it watches. If your sites run on VeloxaHost in US East and Uptime Kuma does too, a problem in the region can take down both, and nobody gets alerted. Run Kuma with a different provider than the services it checks, or keep a hosted monitor for the monitor itself. Kuma's push monitors can also take a heartbeat from elsewhere.
• One vantage point. A single Kuma server checks from one place. It cannot tell you whether a site is down for everyone or only unreachable from that network.
• Status page on your domain. A status page works on http://<shared address>:<port> from the server's shared IPv4 port block. For your own domain with HTTPS on port 443, add a dedicated IPv4 address, a paid add-on with limited availability. The console shows its current price.
• Email alerts. VeloxaHost blocks outbound port 25 by default; send alert email through a provider on port 587 or 465, or use one of Kuma's chat notification services.
• Your time. You update Kuma and keep its data backed up. Snapshots are not charged.

Where Better Stack is the better pick

• Up to 10 monitors. The Free plan costs $0, less than any server, and runs outside your infrastructure.
• Checks you do not have to host. A hosted service is not affected when your own servers or region have a problem.
• On-call and checks from several places. Better Stack's pricing page lists on-call scheduling for responders, phone call and SMS alerts, and multi-location checks. Kuma does not do on-call rotas, and one Kuma server checks from one place.

Where Uptime Kuma is the better pick

• Many monitors. At 60 monitors Better Stack is $50 to $59 a month; Kuma on a Nano stays at $4.
• Many notification channels. Kuma's README lists more than 90 notification services, among them Telegram, Discord, Slack, Pushover and email over SMTP.
• Internal checks. Kuma can watch TCP ports, DNS records, Docker containers and other things on networks a hosted service cannot reach.
• Several status pages. Kuma has multiple status pages at no extra cost.

FAQ

Is Uptime Kuma free?

Yes. It is released under the MIT license and has no paid tier. The cost is the server: $4 a month on a Veloxa Nano left running all month.

How often can Uptime Kuma check a site?

Kuma's README lists 20-second intervals. Shorter intervals mean more work for the server, so a busy setup may need a bigger size.

Should I run Uptime Kuma on the same provider as my sites?

It is better not to. A monitor that fails together with what it watches cannot warn you. Run Kuma elsewhere, or pair it with a free hosted monitor that watches Kuma.

Can I use both?

Yes, and it covers the weak spot of each: Better Stack's free plan watches your most important endpoints and Kuma itself, and Kuma handles everything else.

Which VeloxaHost size fits Uptime Kuma?

Veloxa Nano ($4 a month, $0.01 an hour): 1 vCPU, 1 GB of RAM and 25 GB of disk, which matches the app's recommended size.