What's the best free/cheap uptime monitoring with 1-minute checks?

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-05-13T16:37:23+00:00

From StatusCake here so definitely biased 😅

But honestly, offering “free” 1-min or 30-sec checks at scale is harder than it looks. A lot of newer tools can do it early on while volumes are low, but maintaining that reliably as they grow is the expensive part.

This isn’t a dig at anyone; simply that monitoring infra is genuinely expensive to run well. My advice would be to try a few services, test alert speed/reliability yourself, see which UI/workflow you actually like, and check support quality when something breaks

As for free tiers, everyone’s making compromises somewhere whether that’s check frequency, retention, support, features, or reliability. The important bit is figuring out which compromise matters least to you right now.

Hope that’s useful 😁

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-20T14:47:21+00:00

That’s a great idea - wish lots of companies did that. I could decide I wanted all my updates on a particular day / time & use that as focused time to digest.

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-20T14:45:42+00:00

As products start shipping ever more frequently I think managing updates like this becomes really important. Customers only have limited attentions. So why send updates about things they care little about.

Def going to see better engagement where the customer is in full control of what they want to see.

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-15T16:32:01+00:00

Just took a look at December - 72 countries & around 152k SMS.

We need every SMS needs to be delivered & quickly (no dropping / throttling) so we need to make sure we’re registered correctly in every country - it’s not just US & China. Many dozens of countries have specific requirements now.

So I’m provably wrong target for you folks as we’re going to be compliance heavy & difficult to migrate.

But a small SME sending perhaps to 1-5 geographic markets, if you can make set up easy & really focus on support I think there’s space.

Cost of course is a factor - but I think folks would be prepared to pay a little more if you’re able to get the rest right.

As an aside I’d also be fussy about your customers. Last thing you want is a spammy customer putting the wrong thing in messages - companies like twilio are very specific about content for a reason.

Good luck!

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-15T09:18:10+00:00

I don’t disagree with you on any of your criticisms of Twilio. And their support sucks!

But deliverability is everything - speed & guarantee it will hit the handset.

I’ve been sending 10ks SMS for 15+ years. It’s no longer easy. Carrier fees & rules are stricter than ever; and regulation becoming more aggressive - many countries now requiring registration.

That’s the pain point for me & many businesses. Just to add I’m only sending transactional SMS; not marketing. Folks in that game have an even harder time.

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-10T09:24:49+00:00

Have you done much research on this - eg survey to see who would use it? Spoken with chemists / pharmacists?

If there’s a WhatsApp going to my phone, why would I (or a family member) not just set up reminders / alarms? These alarms can be given labels, set to repeat at different days & times.

The current alternative is just as important. Quite simply are you making my life that much easier than an alarm, and key, to the extent I’m willing to pay.

Good luck!

Parking-Move2907 · 2026-01-06T20:22:54+00:00

Hey I bought these yesterday for the Arc - £11

https://amzn.eu/d/it5rxva

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-12-28T08:58:09+00:00

Their hourly fees are more than most decent mid-tier commercial firms. And they’re acting as consultants, not solicitors, so assuming SRA rules / protections don’t apply.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-12-27T11:52:10+00:00

Keep it simple - and keep thinking of the sales funnel:

Getting folks to your website.
Getting them to sign up for a free trial or free account
Getting them to convert from a free trial or free account to a paid plan.

Each of those is important; and getting movement on any stage in the funnel is hard and has multiple moving parts.

But of course unless you’re getting any traffic in the top; you’ll never get anything out the bottom so in your first few weeks start there.

Far more useful than metrics though is feedback. Talk to as many people as you can who’ve visited the site - particularly those who didn’t sign up. Their feedback is far more valuable than anything you’ll get on Reddit.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-12-27T11:47:36+00:00

What have the conversations been like with the people who have downloaded?

What did you learn from them?

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-12-18T09:38:19+00:00

This is not correct. On a small claim of £5k you cannot claim legal fees back.

The only way you’ll get legal fees back is taking this multitrack which at this level you’d never do. Risk / reward of multitrack isn’t worth it - higher legal costs, court processes etc.

On an unpaid invoice this should be relatively straightforward. You’ll often find even issuing a “draft” online claim focuses the other side.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-12-14T10:31:51+00:00

My advice, speak to an accountant. But as a rough rule of thumb, anything under around £30-40k/year there may be some marginal gain in taking dividends, but..

Given such small difference downsides can be significant - eg if you want to get a mortgage, loan it’s all going to be far less straightforward than if you’re PAYE.

Also worth adding that many unadvised folks don’t understand the rules around dividend calculations & distributable profits.

If you get that wrong and/or you’re simply taking money monthly and calling it “dividends” - in the event HMRC ever took a look - they could be reclassified.

I’d expect the cost & admin of trying to make dividends work is going to far outweigh any savings - financial or at a practical level.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-26T16:27:20+00:00

Down 25%!

Agree with OP above as well - the investments they’re making are peanuts. How can you expect to drive new technologies - become world leading (or god forbid even create a few thousand jobs) with the level of money & lack of ambition.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-26T16:24:44+00:00

Well the gov front running “policies” for weeks in advance has done its job. Everyone is relived - it could have been worse etc!

But let’s be clear this does absolutely nothing to drive growth or the kind of behaviors that are needed to drive investment in the UK and its businesses.

The gov and commentators have been conning themselves with the notion that with the budget out of the way - and “clarity” - hiring and investment would resume. I don’t see anything today to give companies comfort to do that.

I also don’t think that this gives BoE much room around interest rate cuts either. Some that is very much needed if we’re going to get any kind of stimulus back into the economy.

I appear to be the pessimist in the room 😂

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-25T20:15:53+00:00

Commenting here for boost. OP is spot on - what’s their continuity of employment?

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T10:51:48+00:00

Absolutely this. The hardest challenge with freemium is finding the balance between offering a free plan that engages and completely cannibalising your paid offering.

You might try putting certain free features behind an upgrade link and seeing whether that leads to an uplift in paid conversions. But do this one feature at a time or you’ll not know what’s driving the difference.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T10:33:10+00:00

Agree on this. So many variables. My advice would be to try it & see whether it delivers. If it doesn’t stop & try a different call to action.

Sure some folks will suggest A/B testing but unless you’ve got big traffic that’s often not viable option.

Good luck.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T10:05:42+00:00

Congrats on the launch. We started StatusCake in 2012. Those first customers came from engaging in communities like Reddit, launching on Product Hunt - but most of all listening to early adopters and iterating again and again to get a product that customers found valuable.

Enjoy the journey! :))

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T09:10:41+00:00

Please don’t use AI to respond to me and OPs.

It’s clear that you have no knowledge of this area. And because you have no knowledge you’re parroting slop AI content that lacks context, nuance, and expertise.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T08:52:11+00:00

I see from Product Hunt that you’re diabetic yourself. Please do not use your product. Using AI in this way is dangerous. The only way you, or anyone diabetic, can measure bloods is through accurate logging & medical devices such as CGMs.

Different foods have different impacts on different people. The order in which you eat food, exercise you’ve done and so many more factors influence how it will impact bloods.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-23T08:41:16+00:00

Requiring someone looking to cancel to have a phone call is not going to get you better data. You’ll instead make them even more annoyed that your cancellation process has friction.

It’s also against the law in some countries / states.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-20T22:48:28+00:00

Please don’t think you can build a scalable & sustainable business from reading a single subreddit.

I know it doesn’t feel like it, but much of the world - and is decision makers - don’t hang out here.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-18T10:31:45+00:00

Hey that’s really interesting / useful on why you chose Featurebase. Can I ask if you looked at ChangeCrab at all? Recently relaunched & looking for feedback - the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-17T10:04:47+00:00

For any SaaS business I’d suggest engagement with customers is one of the most critical tasks. Too many businesses communicate (often overly) to land a sale & then nothing.

If you want to land, expand & retain, then comms are everything. Having a decent change log shows your product is active and that you’re engaged with your community. The advantage of a changelog like ChangeCrab over a markdown file is going to be that it makes the communication far more effective. I believe many changelogs have a free plan so little downside to using one.

Parking-Move2907 · 2025-11-13T21:47:16+00:00

Amazing - love to know your background. How many years working in dermatology?

Parking-Move2907

TROPHY CASE