Open source alternative to UptimeRobot, Pingdom, Better Stack and Site24x7
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Monitor servers, websites, Docker containers, and infrastructure from one self-hosted dashboard with 10 check types and 12 alert channels.
The Capture agent and Docker monitor together give CPU, memory, disk, network, and per-container health from every host. With 10 monitor types pointing at the same infrastructure, a single Checkmate instance replaces separate uptime, hardware, and container monitoring tools.
If you only need HTTP and ping checks with no server hardware or Docker workloads to watch, a lighter tool may fit better.
Docker Compose gets Checkmate running in under 5 minutes on a single VPS. The status page feature publishes a branded page with per-service uptime bars and incident history, giving customers and support teams a live view without paying a monthly per-monitor fee.
If uptime data must remain accessible from multiple managed cloud regions with no self-hosting, a cloud monitoring service is simpler to operate.
Requires about 1 GB of RAM and a Docker host. The Capture agent runs on Raspberry Pi, so a Pi and a Compose file can watch NAS health, the reverse proxy, and all containers. 100-plus game server types extend coverage to Minecraft, CS2, Valheim, and similar.
If your homelab has less than 1 GB of RAM available for a monitoring stack, Checkmate may not run reliably.
The Capture agent reports CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics without a Prometheus exporter setup. For teams whose monitoring needs are uptime plus hardware health, Checkmate covers the same ground with a lower operational footprint.
If you need custom application metrics, Prometheus exporters, or Grafana dashboard integrations, Capture does not cover those use cases.
Paid uptime monitors charge by the endpoint. A team running dozens of services, several servers, and a Docker host will exhaust any free tier quickly and face per-monitor fees that scale with the fleet. Even at a fully-paid tier, a service like UptimeRobot or Pingdom tells you only whether an HTTP endpoint returned 200. It cannot tell you a container is restart-looping, the disk is 92% full, or a DNS record is pointing somewhere it should not.
Commercial monitoring services also hold your uptime history, server metrics, and incident records on their infrastructure. If the vendor raises prices, changes tiers, or shuts down, that data goes with them. For teams with compliance requirements or strong data-ownership preferences, there is no self-hosted path in those products.
HTTP status and body checks, Ping (ICMP), TCP port checks, gRPC health checks, WebSocket connectivity, DNS record validation, PageSpeed (Lighthouse), infrastructure metrics via Capture, Docker containers, and 100-plus game server types. Each type has its own check schedule, alert thresholds, and history chart.
Alert channels include email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, Twilio SMS, Pushover, ntfy, Matrix, Rocket.Chat, PagerDuty, and Webhooks. Each monitor sets its own channel list, so a Docker alert can page PagerDuty while an HTTP alert posts to Slack.
The Capture agent (a separate lightweight binary) runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi and reports CPU usage, temperature, memory, disk, and network throughput per server. Data flows to the Checkmate dashboard over HTTPS; no Prometheus stack required.
One monitor covers an entire Docker host, tracking container state, health, CPU, memory, and restart count per container. Checkmate connects via local Unix socket, remote TLS daemon, or Capture agent. Optional log collection stores the latest 200 lines per container for 7 days.
Runs Lighthouse on any URL and records performance, accessibility, SEO, and best-practices scores plus Core Web Vitals (LCP, FCP, CLS, TBT). Every run is stored, so a score regression is visible in the history chart before it reaches your users.
Publish a customizable status page with per-service uptime bars, historical data, and your own branding. Each page is accessible at a shareable URL and updates live as incidents open and close, so customers and stakeholders get the same picture as your on-call team.
Both tools provide HTTP uptime monitoring with status pages and multi-channel alerts. They diverge on deployment model. UptimeRobot is a cloud service with per-monitor pricing; Checkmate is self-hosted with no monitor limits.
| Feature | Checkmate | UptimeRobot |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted | Cloud only |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Pricing | Server cost only | Per-monitor pricing |
| Server hardware metrics | Yes, via Capture agent | Not offered |
| Docker container monitoring | Yes | Not offered |
Checkmate is the better choice when you need server hardware metrics, Docker visibility, or unlimited monitors without a recurring bill. UptimeRobot fits teams who want zero infrastructure to manage and only need HTTP and ping checks on a small endpoint set.
Better Stack is a managed cloud monitoring service with per-host pricing. Checkmate gives you unlimited monitors at the cost of running your own server, plus server hardware metrics and Docker monitoring that cloud-only services do not cover on-prem. The tradeoff is self-hosting overhead in exchange for data ownership and no per-monitor billing. Teams who want managed uptime monitoring with no servers to maintain are better served by Better Stack.
Pingdom and Site24x7 are commercial monitoring services with per-check or per-host pricing. Checkmate covers the same uptime monitoring use cases without the metered pricing and adds server hardware metrics and Docker visibility. Pingdom and Site24x7 fit teams who need managed global probe infrastructure with no self-hosting overhead; Checkmate fits teams who prefer owning their monitoring data and need coverage beyond HTTP uptime checks.
Self-hosting Checkmate uses Docker Compose with a MongoDB container.
```bash
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bluewave-labs/checkmate/master/docker/docker-compose.yaml
export JWT_SECRET="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"
docker compose up -d
```A Linux box or any Docker host with about 1 GB of RAM and a few GB of disk. The reference install is two containers pulled from the Docker Compose file in the repository: the Checkmate all-in-one image and MongoDB. Download the Compose file with curl, then run docker compose up to start.
Each instance sends one anonymous heartbeat per day. The payload contains only a random instance ID, the Checkmate version, deployment type (docker or source), queue mode, Node.js version, OS, and CPU architecture. No URLs, hostnames, emails, monitor names, or account data are included. Set TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false on the server container and restart to disable it entirely.
You can run Checkmate on your own infrastructure for free, modify the source, and use it commercially within your team or company without any licensing fees. The copyleft obligation applies when you expose a modified version as a network service to others: in that case you must share your changes under the same AGPL-3.0 license. Internal use does not trigger that requirement.
The README documents a production deployment monitoring 1,600+ servers on a single instance with no reported performance issues. For larger fleets, Checkmate supports horizontal scaling through dedicated worker nodes. Set QUEUE_MODE=worker on additional containers; they process monitoring jobs while the primary node runs the API and web client. This architecture is documented for fleets exceeding 5,000 servers.
Yes. A live demo runs at demo.checkmate.so with credentials [email protected] and password Demouser1!. The demo reflects recent builds and is updated periodically. Checkmate is also available through one-click installs on PikaPods, Coolify, Elestio, Easypanel, and other platforms listed on the GitHub repository.
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Self-host Checkmate on a Hostinger VPS
Keep it running 24/7, even when your laptop is off. A Hostinger VPS gives it a server of its own.
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Install Checkmate
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