UptimeRobot vs Better Stack: free plans, prices and phone alerts

UptimeRobot vs Better Stack: the short answer

UptimeRobot's Free plan holds 50 monitors, while Better Stack gives 10 monitors and heartbeats free. For phone and SMS alerts, Better Stack sells a Responder license at $34 a month billed monthly, and UptimeRobot Solo, its first paid plan, is $13 a month billed monthly for 10 monitors. Prices: UptimeRobot's from its US pricing page as captured on September 29, 2026, Better Stack's as read on 7 October 2026.

Free plans: 50 monitors against 10 monitors and heartbeats

UptimeRobot's Free plan is $0 for 50 monitors at a 5-minute interval, with "No credit card required". Better Stack's is $0 for personal projects: 10 monitors and heartbeats, 1 status page, Slack and email alerts and, per its uptime page, 3-minute checks. Heartbeat checks, where your own scheduled job calls in, start on UptimeRobot's Solo plan; the cron job monitoring tool page covers them.

Better Stack's documentation says its SSL certificate and domain expiration alerts require a paid plan, so they are not on its $0 Free plan. UptimeRobot's Free plan lacks both as well; those reminders start on Solo.

How each prices its paid plans

UptimeRobot prices by monitors per plan: Solo, 10 monitors, is $13 a month billed monthly or $12 a month billed annually ($144 a year). Better Stack prices by Responder license, a seat that adds incident management, on-call and unlimited phone call and SMS alerts: $34 per license per month billed monthly or $29 billed annually.

On one basis, $13 against $34 a month billed monthly and $12 against $29 a month billed annually, the two buy different things: monitors on one side, a responder's alerts on the other. Neither is cheaper outright. See UptimeRobot pricing for every UptimeRobot plan.

Phone, SMS and on-call alerts

UptimeRobot sends SMS and voice alerts from prepaid credits on every plan: 10 credits cost $3.00 and 1,000 cost $100.00, one time, and an SMS to the US uses 1 credit, a voice call 2. Its Free plan sends email and mobile app alerts, and its five Free integrations do not include Slack, which starts on Solo. Better Stack's Free plan alerts by Slack and email; a Responder license adds unlimited phone call and SMS alerts.

Status pages and white-label costs

UptimeRobot's Free plan has 1 status page on an UptimeRobot address; Solo has 3 with an own-domain option, and Team has 100. Its pricing table lists white-label status pages and passwords on Team and Scale. Better Stack charges per page: an extra status page is $15 a month billed monthly or $12 a month billed annually, a password $50 or $42 per page a month, and white-label $250 or $208 per page a month.

Better Stack documents a custom subdomain for a status page, but neither its pricing page nor its documentation names the plan that includes it.

Guarantees and who should pick UptimeRobot or Better Stack

Better Stack's pricing page advertises a 60-day money-back guarantee. UptimeRobot advertises 14 days for new subscriptions and upgrades, requested from support within 14 days of payment, and its Terms say withdrawal does not apply once you have started using the paid service with your consent. Neither pricing page shows a timed trial; each has a free plan, and UptimeRobot's Free plan holds 50 monitors.

• UptimeRobot for 50 monitors at $0, or 10 monitors with 60-second checks at $13 a month billed monthly.
• Better Stack for a team that needs phone and SMS alerts to an on-call person without buying credits. See Better Stack alternatives for other options.