Website monitoring guide
Your website can go down at any time — hosting issues, DNS problems, expired SSL certificates, server crashes, or failed deployments. The worst way to find out is from a customer. The better way is automatic uptime monitoring with instant alerts.
Common causes
Downtime can happen for many reasons — some in your control, some not. Knowing what causes it helps you decide what to monitor.
Without monitoring, you only find out your site is down when a user tells you — or when you happen to check. By then, the damage is already done.
How it works
A website down alert is triggered when a monitoring service checks your website and detects that it is unreachable, returning errors, timing out, or responding unexpectedly.
Instead of manually opening your website to check if it works, the monitor runs checks automatically on a schedule and notifies you the moment something changes — whether a site goes down, recovers, latency spikes, or an SSL certificate is approaching expiry.
Domain Monitor runs cloud checks every 5 minutes from our servers, independent of your device. You get an instant push notification when a target goes DOWN, and another when it recovers.
Alert types
Different events require different responses. Here are the four alert types you should care about.
Instant alerts sent directly to your phone. The fastest way to learn about downtime — no need to log in anywhere or check a dashboard.
Useful for keeping a record, sharing with a team, or less urgent notifications. Domain Monitor sends email alerts for downtime, recovery, latency spikes, and SSL expiry.
Just as important as downtime alerts. A recovery notification tells you when the issue is resolved — so you stop worrying and know the incident is over.
Your site may still be online, but an expired certificate blocks users with browser security warnings. Domain Monitor alerts you at 60, 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 day before expiry.
Mobile-first monitoring
If you manage websites, client projects, side projects, or a small business, you're not always at your desk. A mobile-first uptime monitoring app means you get alerted wherever you are — and can check status, run diagnostics, and react immediately without logging into a dashboard.
Domain Monitor is a native app for iOS and Android built around this idea. Push notifications land directly on your lock screen. On-demand checks run from your phone. Traceroute helps you diagnose routing issues on the spot. Learn more about the website uptime monitoring app.
Free vs automatic
Manual checks are useful when you want to quickly test if a site is online right now. But if you want alerts when your website goes down while you're away, you need automatic cloud monitoring running continuously in the background.
| Plan | Checks | Alerts |
|---|---|---|
| No Account | Manual only — runs from your device on demand | ✕ No alerts |
| Registered (free) | Manual, synced across devices, up to 5 targets | ✕ No alerts |
| Pro PRO | Cloud checks every 5 minutes, up to 12 targets | ✓ Push + email |
New accounts get a 21-day Pro trial automatically.
No credit card. No setup. Start monitoring in under a minute.
FAQ
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Free to start. 21-day Pro trial on signup — no credit card needed.
Also available as a website uptime monitoring app