I decided subscribing to a service that monitors websites I have a stake in was well overdue, and with a host of free services out there that can do this it seemed silly not to dive in and try one.

The site I decided to trail first is Uptime Robot.

I had two main reasons for trying this one, first it is free which immediately sets it apart from all other sites when all I want is a quick check done and an email sent out if it fails.  The second reason was that it’s name had Robot in it you can have up to 50 websites being monitored, which is more than enough for me.

As well as email alerts you can set up SMS alerts that will only cost you what your operator charges – sadly there are currently no UK network operators listed, this isn’t a huge concern for me because I am always emailed up anyway.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can report back and say how awesome this service is and how much money it has made/saved me.  Until then I would love to hear your opinions on different tools you use for uptime monitoring.