# Healthchecks.io

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/healthchecks-io/

9 people recommended Healthchecks.io in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Dead man's switch that alerts you when scheduled jobs or backups fail to check in, and people say it has saved them repeatedly.

Summary written by Claude from 9 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 8 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Catches failed backups and jobs (2 comments in the sample): "I use a self-hosted healthchecks.io watchdog timer instance to monitor jobs like these and alert if they don’t complete" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850412)) "I use those kind of healthchecks literally for everything, especially for backups - they saved my ass many times over." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49776176))
- Open source, self-hostable option (2 comments in the sample): "Healthchecks.io is great and open source, and you should look at it too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50158951)) "My secret sauce is a healtchecks.io instance that blows up my phone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736701))
- Dependable for years of use (2 comments in the sample): "As a user for over a decade, just here to submit my appreciation. healthchecks.io is fantastic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808751)) "I'm myself very happy with https://healthchecks.io/ for this purpose." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49775466))

## Other uptime monitors people recommend

- [Uptime Kuma](https://hackerapproved.com/p/uptime-kuma/): 13 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize
- [Updog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/updog/): 5 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Claude status page](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-status-page/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 4 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://healthchecks.io/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Healthchecks.io", https://hackerapproved.com/p/healthchecks-io/ (9 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.