UptimeGlobe vs Better Stack
A polished product with a pricing model that charges you for having colleagues.
Figures below come from Better Stack’s own pages, checked on .
What Better Stack costs
Free
$0
10 monitors · 10 heartbeats · status page · 3-minute checks
Monitors
$25/mo per 50
Additional monitors ($21/mo billed yearly)
On-call responder
$34/mo each
Per responder license ($29/mo billed yearly)
Slack workflows
$9/mo each
Per responder, advanced channel/thread workflows
Better Stack prices modules separately rather than as fixed tiers; the figures above are their published monthly rates, with their yearly rates in brackets.
For reference, UptimeGlobe is free for 10 monitors with checks from 2 regions, and $10/mo for our Starter plan — the full table is on our pricing page.
Side by side
| Feature | UptimeGlobe | Better Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ✓10 monitors · 2 regions · status page | ✓10 monitors, 3-min |
| Multi-region checks on free | ✓2 regions | ? |
| Origin-vs-network diagnosis | ✓on every alert | ? |
| Status page on free | ✓badge + JSON too | ✓ |
| Charges per responder / seat | —never | ✓$34/responder/mo |
| Browser / transaction checks | ✓Pro and up (1,500/mo) | ✓ |
| MCP server for AI agents | ✓paid plans | ? |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
✓ yes · — no · ? not published by Better Stack. Where they publish nothing on an axis we say so rather than assuming the answer.
The on-call licence is where it adds up
Better Stack’s monitoring starts free and their monitor packs are fairly priced. The cost that catches small teams sits further down the page: on-call access is sold per responder at $34 each per month ($29 billed yearly), plus another $9 each for advanced Slack workflows.
That’s per person, every month. Here’s what it does to a bill for fifty monitors as the number of people who need paging grows from one to five:
| 50 monitors, people paged | Better Stack | UptimeGlobe |
|---|---|---|
| Just you | $59/mo | $10/mo |
| You and two colleagues | $127/mo | $10/mo |
| A team of five | $195/mo | $10/mo |
Better Stack column: one 50-monitor pack ($25/mo) plus one on-call responder licence per person ($34/mo each), at the monthly rates on their pricing page — their yearly rates are lower, at $21 and $29. UptimeGlobe column: our Starter plan, $10/mo for 60 monitors checked from one region each (30 if each is checked from two). Starter allows three dashboard logins; the number of people and channels that receive alerts is not capped on any of our plans, which is why our column does not move.
Nobody budgets for the fourth person
The problem isn’t the headline number, it’s when the cost shows up. You hire someone, they should go on the rota, and putting them there costs another $34 a month. So they don’t go on the rota, and the same two people keep carrying the pager.
We price on what you monitor, because that’s what actually consumes our infrastructure. A fifth person receiving a Slack message doesn’t cost us anything measurable, so we don’t charge for it.
What your money buys here instead
All 13 alert channels on every paid plan, with every teammate included. Checks from multiple regions on every tier, free included. And a verdict on each alert telling you whether your origin or the network path failed.
You also get heartbeat monitors for the cron jobs nobody watches, TLS expiry warnings before a certificate lapses, public status pages with badges and a JSON feed, and an MCP server your AI assistant can drive. $10 a month, however many people you page.
Prices move. Tell us if one of these is out of date.
Try the difference on the free plan
10 monitors, checks from 2 regions, a status page you can use commercially, and a diagnosis on every alert. No card.
Start monitoring free