# Uptime Kuma

17 Hacker News commenters recommended Uptime Kuma and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source uptime monitor that is easy to self-host and sends alerts to chosen channels, including certificate expiry warnings. Critics note it lacks features for small teams and is single-user.

## Why people recommend it

- Warns before certificates expire (3 comments): "Uptime Kuma supports certificate expiry notifications and will send you messages in whatever channel you configure ahead of time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47143631)) "Supports all sorts of alerts and can even tell you if it ever looks like your TLS certs will soon expire" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46138060)) "ask it to alert you on expiration proximity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46407419))
- Alerts to Slack, ntfy and more (4 comments): "Uptime Kuma supports certificate expiry notifications and will send you messages in whatever channel you configure ahead of time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47143631)) "Supports all sorts of alerts and can even tell you if it ever looks like your TLS certs will soon expire" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46138060)) "We heavily rely on uptimekuma->slack integration for notifications." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48265359))
- Easy to install and configure (2 comments): "Uptime Kuma is FOSS, not sure if it is missing any features you might be expecting. Very easy to set up as well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095315)) "incredibly easy to install and configure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492876))

## What people warn about

- Lacks features for small teams (1 comments): "lacks other features for smaller teams or agencies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47752390))
- Seen as unnecessary for self-hosting (2 comments): "those are things I consider a waste of time for self-hosting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50114365)) "You don't even need Uptime Kuma with docker compose" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113122))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Healthchecks.io](https://hackerapproved.com/p/healthchecks-io.md): 12 recommend
- [Updog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/updog.md): 6 recommend
- [UpDown.io](https://hackerapproved.com/p/updown-io.md): 5 recommend
- [Heartbeat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/heartbeat.md): 5 recommend
- [Sigabrt.dev](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sigabrt-dev.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Uptime Kuma", https://hackerapproved.com/p/uptime-kuma/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).