Knowing your site is up shouldn't cost $84–240 a year. DeskUptime checks your URLs from your own machine — pay $19 once, keep it forever.
See the cost math → Get DeskUptimePopular monitors and what they charge per year, per seat.
| Monitor | Cheapest paid tier | Per year | 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| UptimeRobot Pro | $7/mo | $84 | $420 |
| Pingdom | $12/mo | $144 | $720 |
| StatusCake | ~$6/mo | $72 | $360 |
| Better Stack | $20/mo | $240 | $1,200 |
| DeskUptime | $19 once | $19 | $19 |
Prices are each vendor's published entry tiers as of 2026 and may change — check their sites before deciding. The point stands either way: subscriptions compound, one-time purchases don't.
Because there are no servers between your machine and your sites.
Cloud monitors pay for data centers 24/7 and bill you monthly to cover it. DeskUptime runs those same HTTP, TLS and content checks locally — zero infrastructure cost after purchase.
Nothing to sign up for, nothing phoning home. Your URL list lives on your disk, not in someone else's database. That privacy is a feature, not a cost saving we apologize for.
The CLI (npx github:mahope/deskuptime check <url>) is free forever and open source. You can verify exactly how checks work before spending anything.
A one-time desktop tool isn't right for everyone. Here's when it wins and when it doesn't.
| Cloud SaaS monitor | Self-hosted (Kuma) | DeskUptime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost over 3 years | $216–720+ | ~$60–180 VPS | $19 |
| Setup time | Account + config | Server + Docker + updates | Install, add URLs, done |
| Checks while your PC sleeps? | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ — needs the machine on |
| Team dashboards, status pages | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
| Who sees your URLs | Their servers | Your server | Nobody — local only |
If you need 24/7 coverage while every machine is off, or status pages for clients, a SaaS is genuinely the better fit — pick one and pay them. If you monitor a handful of sites during working hours, that's what you're overpaying for.
Yes — DeskUptime is a desktop app. You pay $19 once for a license key and it keeps checking your sites from your machine. Free routes also exist (cron scripts, self-hosted Uptime Kuma) but they mean building or hosting something yourself.
The catch is honest and stated above: checks stop when your computer is off, and there are no team dashboards or hosted status pages. Cloud SaaS earns its subscription for teams that need those. Solo developers and freelancers usually don't.
For continuous watch mode, yes. Quick manual checks work any time the machine is on. Many users pair DeskUptime during the day with a free cloud tier overnight — and still save money versus a paid SaaS plan.
Yes. Checks happen at the HTTP/TLS level, so WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Squarespace, static sites and API endpoints all behave identically. Nothing gets installed on your server.
You receive a license key by email instantly via Lemon Squeezy. Enter it once in the desktop app and Pro features get — 3 machines per license. 14-day refund policy, no questions asked.