Hey HN, I am using uptimerobot.com for some years now through its free plan. It monitors some hobby-non really important projects. The same plan is advertised here: https://uptimerobot.com/pricing/
However, before some days I got the following email: "From 1st November 2024, our Free Plan is for non-commercial use only. If you're using it for business, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan and now they are forcing me to update."
by bigs on 11/26/24, 11:33 AM
Sounds like it’s genuinely free…… if you’re using it for non commercial use.
by rozenmd on 11/26/24, 4:03 PM
I also run an uptime monitoring service with the same limitation, it's not sustainable in the long term to offer a free tier otherwise.
A bit annoyed about this change though, I used to recommend folks looking for a ridiculous free tier use uptime robot instead.
by theshrike79 on 11/26/24, 1:10 PM
If you're a business and can't afford $7 a month, then self-host an uptime checking tool like Uptime Kuma on a $5 Digital Ocean server.
by mtmail on 11/26/24, 11:56 AM
In my SaaS niche that's common. Some also exclude automated scripts (free only for manual testing), asset tracking (IOT devices sending 24/7) or "you're not allowed to permanently save the output of the tool". I wouldn't call that fake.
by RockRobotRock on 11/26/24, 12:24 PM
Find a cheap VPS and host Uptime Kuma. Thank me later :)
by stop50 on 11/26/24, 11:27 AM
How is this plan fake?
by xcubic on 11/26/24, 12:20 PM
Are you switching?
by paulcole on 11/26/24, 12:13 PM
If you want a free lunch, I can understand when you’re eventually disappointed.