What is updown.io?
updown.io is a minimalist website monitoring service founded in France in 2012. It does one thing well: cheap, pay-as-you-go HTTP and SSL uptime monitoring, billed by credits so you only pay for the check frequency you use. New accounts get 100,000 free credits, and a single site checked every minute costs roughly EUR 0.6 per month. It is a developer favourite for its simplicity and price.
When updown.io is the right pick
Choose updown.io when you want dead-simple, dirt-cheap uptime and SSL-expiry checks for a few endpoints and nothing else. Its pay-as-you-go credit model is ideal for hobby projects and small sites where a flat monthly fee feels like overkill, and the clean public status pages are a nice bonus.
Where updown.io leaves gaps
updown.io is deliberately minimal. It has no real load testing, no Lighthouse Core Web Vitals, and no multi-step API monitoring with assertions, it is a single-request HTTP ping plus SSL check. When you need to validate response bodies, simulate traffic, or measure page-speed depth, you outgrow it quickly.
LoadFocus vs updown.io: comparison
| Feature | LoadFocus | updown.io |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime monitoring | Yes. 1-minute checks | Yes (pay-as-you-go) |
| SSL certificate monitoring | Yes. every plan including free (14/7/3-day warnings) | Yes (expiry checks) |
| Real load testing | Yes. JMeter, k6, up to 12,500 VUs | No |
| Page-speed / Core Web Vitals | Yes. Lighthouse LCP, INP, CLS, TTFB | Basic Apdex / response time |
| Multi-step API monitoring | Yes. multi-step, assertions, JSON path | No (single HTTP check) |
| Test locations | 25+ AWS regions | A handful of regions |
| Alert channels | Email, Slack, Teams, webhooks + per-channel routing | Email, SMS, Slack, webhooks |
| Free tier | Forever free tier (10k checks/mo) | 100k free credits on signup |
| Pricing model | $0, then flat ~$19/mo | Pay-as-you-go credits (~EUR 0.6/mo per 1-min site) |
When LoadFocus is the right pick
Pick LoadFocus when ping-plus-SSL is no longer enough: assertion-based multi-step API monitoring, cloud load testing with JMeter and k6 up to 12,500 virtual users, and Lighthouse Core Web Vitals monitoring from 25+ AWS regions, all with a forever-free tier and SSL expiry warnings on every plan.
Migrating from updown.io
Moving from updown.io takes minutes: recreate each check as a LoadFocus monitor with the same URL, set a 1-minute frequency, add assertions if you want body or status validation, and wire up Slack, Teams or a webhook. The free tier lets you trial it without touching your updown credits.
FAQ: LoadFocus vs updown.io
Is LoadFocus as cheap as updown.io?
LoadFocus has a forever-free tier (10,000 checks/month) and a flat $19/mo Starter, versus updown.io's pay-per-credit model. For a few simple checks updown.io can be cheaper; for a full platform LoadFocus replaces several tools.
Does updown.io do API assertions or load testing?
No. updown.io is single-request uptime plus SSL. LoadFocus adds multi-step assertion API monitoring and JMeter/k6 load testing.
Does LoadFocus monitor SSL certificates?
Yes, on every plan including free, with warnings 14, 7 and 3 days before expiry.
Get started with LoadFocus
Outgrowing updown.io's simple pings? Move to LoadFocus for API monitoring, load testing and Core Web Vitals, starting on a forever-free plan.
