Why We Built StatusApp: The Monitoring Platform We Wanted to Use

The monitoring market is not short of options. There are dozens of tools, from free open-source projects to enterprise platforms costing thousands per month. So why build another one?

Because we could not find one we actually wanted to use.

The Problem We Kept Running Into

We have been building and operating software products for years. We used the monitoring tools everyone uses. And we kept running into the same frustrations:

Monitoring Tools Were Either Too Simple or Too Complex

On one end, you have tools like UptimeRobot. Simple, free, effective for basic HTTP checks. But the moment you need more — API validation, GraphQL monitoring, DNS checks, server metrics — you hit a wall. You need a second tool. Then a third.

On the other end, you have platforms like Datadog and New Relic. Incredibly powerful, but the setup takes days, the dashboard is overwhelming, and the monthly bill requires a finance meeting. These tools are built for enterprises with dedicated DevOps teams, not for the product engineer who also handles monitoring.

There was nothing in the middle. Nothing that was comprehensive enough to monitor your entire stack and simple enough to set up in an afternoon.

The Dashboards Were Ugly

We spend our days in tools. Design matters. A cluttered, dated dashboard is not just an aesthetic issue — it is a usability problem. When you are debugging a 2 AM incident, you need to find information fast. Dense, poorly organized dashboards slow you down when speed matters most.

We wanted a monitoring dashboard that was genuinely pleasant to use. One where the information hierarchy was clear, the navigation was fast, and the design was intentional.

Analytics Were an Afterthought

Most monitoring tools tell you two things: uptime percentage and average response time. That is the bare minimum. We wanted to know:

How does performance vary across regions?
What is the p95 and p99 response time, not just the average?
Is this endpoint gradually getting slower, or was there a sudden change?
How does performance this month compare to last month?

This kind of analysis should not require exporting data to a spreadsheet. It should be built into the monitoring platform.

Pricing Was Confusing

Per-seat pricing. Per-check pricing. Per-metric pricing. Usage-based pricing with unpredictable bills. Enterprise-only pricing that requires a sales call.

We wanted straightforward pricing: here is what you get, here is what it costs, no surprises.

What We Believe Monitoring Should Be

1. Comprehensive by Default

A single monitoring platform should cover your entire stack:

Website and web app monitoring
REST API monitoring with response validation
GraphQL monitoring with query support
SSL certificate monitoring
DNS record monitoring
Domain expiration monitoring
Server resource monitoring
TCP/UDP service monitoring
Ping/ICMP monitoring
Heartbeat monitoring for cron jobs and background tasks

Ten monitor types in one platform. No need to cobble together three different tools.

2. Fast to Set Up, Deep When You Need It

Adding a monitor should take 30 seconds. But when you need to configure custom headers, request bodies, response validation, and specific monitoring locations, the depth should be there.

Simple does not mean simplistic. It means thoughtful design that surfaces the most common actions while keeping advanced options accessible.

3. Global by Default

We built StatusApp with 35+ monitoring locations worldwide from the start. Not as an enterprise upgrade. Not as a paid add-on. Because monitoring from a single region gives you an incomplete picture of your users’ experience.

4. Beautiful and Functional

The dashboard is where you go when things are breaking. It should be fast, clear, and well-designed. We obsess over the details: typography, spacing, information hierarchy, color coding, dark theme that is actually easy on the eyes at 2 AM.

5. Honestly Priced

Our pricing is on the website. No sales calls needed. No per-seat multipliers. No surprise invoices.

Free: For individuals and small projects
Pro ($15/month): For growing teams, 50 monitors, 30-second checks
Business ($49/month): For serious operations, 500 monitors, advanced analytics
Custom: For organizations with specific needs

We include advanced analytics and reporting on paid plans because we think analytics should be a core feature, not a premium upsell.

What We Did Not Build

Knowing what to leave out is as important as knowing what to include. StatusApp is not:

A log management tool: We do monitoring, not log aggregation
An APM (Application Performance Monitoring) tool: We do external synthetic monitoring, not code-level tracing
An incident management platform: We do alerting and status pages, but not on-call scheduling or post-mortem tools

These are all valuable capabilities. But trying to be everything to everyone is how monitoring tools become bloated and confusing. We integrate with the tools that do these things well (PagerDuty for on-call, Slack and Discord for communication, webhooks for everything else).

Where We Are Going

StatusApp launched with a clear foundation: 10 monitor types, global coverage, fast checks, good analytics, and a clean interface. But we are just getting started.

We are building toward a future where monitoring is more predictive and less reactive. Where your monitoring platform does not just tell you something broke — it warns you that something is about to break, based on patterns it has learned from your historical data.

We are also investing in making StatusApp work seamlessly for teams of every size, from solo developers monitoring a side project to agencies managing hundreds of client sites.

Try It Yourself

The best way to understand StatusApp is to use it. The free plan requires no credit card and takes about two minutes to set up your first monitor.

If you have been frustrated by monitoring tools that are either too basic or too complex, we built StatusApp for you.

See for yourself. Start monitoring free — no credit card required.