Creating Monitors

Create a monitor in the dashboard and understand every setting and default

A monitor watches one endpoint, service or scheduled job and opens an incident when it fails. This guide walks through creating an HTTP monitor in the dashboard. The other monitor types work the same way; see Monitor Types for their specific settings.

Before you start

• Create an account and verify your email address. Monitors cannot be created until the email is verified.
• Decide where alerts should go. You can add notification destinations now or after creating the monitor.
• Check your plan limits in Plans & Billing: monitor count and minimum check interval.

Create a monitor in the dashboard

1. Open the new monitor form

   Click Monitors in the sidebar, then Create Monitor.

2. Enter the URL

   HTTP is selected by default. Enter the full URL, for example https://example.com/health. The monitor name is derived from the URL and can be changed later from the monitor’s edit page.

   To monitor something else (heartbeat, ping, TCP port, DNS), open Monitoring something else? and pick the type.

3. Review how often we check (optional)

   Expand How often we check:

   • Check Interval slider. The default is 5 minutes; your plan sets the shortest interval.
   • Monitoring Regions. The default is Let us choose regions. Pro and Scale can pick specific locations.

   See Settings reference.

4. Review HTTP settings (optional)

   Expand HTTP Configuration to change the method, expected status codes, authentication, timeout, headers, request body, redirects and SSL verification. See Settings reference.

5. Choose notification destinations (optional)

   Expand Notifications and select the destinations that should be alerted. Verified destinations are pre-selected.

6. Create the monitor

   Click Create Monitor. The first check runs shortly afterwards and the monitor page shows the status, response time and the location that ran the check.

Settings reference

Setting (dashboard label)	Default	Notes
Monitor Name	Derived from the URL	Editable at any time from the monitor’s Edit page.
Check Interval	5 minutes	Shortest allowed: 5 minutes on Free, 1 minute on Pro and Scale. The slider only offers intervals your plan allows. The longest is 24 hours.
Monitoring Regions	Let us choose regions	Free always uses automatic selection. Pro and Scale can turn it off and select at least one location.
HTTP Method	GET	Also POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD and OPTIONS. HEAD is faster because no body is downloaded.
Expected status codes	200	A check passes only when the response status is in the list.
Authentication	None	None, Basic or Digest.
Timeout	30 seconds	Choose 5 to 60 seconds. Must be shorter than the check interval, so a 60 second timeout needs an interval of 2 minutes or more.
Follow redirects / Max Redirects	On, up to 5	Under Advanced Options. Turn it off to treat redirects as failures.
Verify SSL certificate	On	Under Advanced Options for HTTPS URLs.
Slow Response Alert	Off	Under SSL, domain & performance alerts.
Notifications	Verified destinations selected	Where alerts for this monitor go.

Interval

Use 5 minutes for non-critical sites and 1 minute for services where you need the fastest detection.

Timeout

A timeout that is too short causes false failures on slow endpoints; one that is too long delays failure detection. Use 10 to 15 seconds for fast APIs and up to 60 seconds for slow services.

Locations

UptimeIO checks from multiple probe locations; see Probe locations for the current list.

Setting	Behaviour
Let us choose regions (on)	UptimeIO chooses locations for you. The only option on Free.
Specific locations (Pro and Scale)	Turn the toggle off and select at least one. Regular checks run only from the selected locations.

Whichever locations you select, an incident is only opened after failures are confirmed from multiple locations. See Understanding Incidents.

Advanced options

Expected status codes

Add the codes your endpoint really returns, for example 200, 201 and 204.

Request headers and body

Add custom headers (for example Authorization) and a request body for POST, PUT and PATCH.

Authentication

Choose Basic or Digest and enter the username and password, or send a token in a custom header such as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN. Use a dedicated, revocable credential for monitoring.

Slow Response Alert

Turn on Slow Response Alert and enter a threshold in milliseconds to open a separate slow-response incident when responses exceed it. See Understanding Incidents.

SSL certificate and domain expiry

Turn on certificate and domain expiry warnings in SSL, domain & performance alerts on the monitor form. See Setting Up Alerts.

Test a monitor

After creating a monitor, use Test Now on its page to run an immediate check. The result shows success or failure, response time, status code and the location that ran it.

If a test fails, check the URL, expected status codes, timeout and authentication.

Limits and pausing

• Every monitor that is not deleted counts towards your plan’s monitor limit, including paused monitors. At the limit the dashboard tells you that you have reached your plan’s monitor limit; delete monitors or upgrade to free up room.
• Pause stops checks. Resume is refused when your plan’s limit of active monitors is reached.

Troubleshooting

Monitor shows Down but the site works

• Timeout too short for the endpoint.
• Expected status codes do not match what the endpoint returns (the default is only 200).
• A firewall or rate limiter is blocking the UptimeIO user agent UptimeIO-Monitor/1.0 (+https://uptimeio.com/monitoring-bot).
• An invalid or expired certificate on the target. HTTPS checks fail when the certificate cannot be verified.

I cannot create a monitor

• Your email address is not verified yet. Use the link in the verification email.
• You are at your plan’s monitor limit. Delete monitors or upgrade.
• The check interval is below your plan’s minimum. Choose a longer one.
• A field is invalid, for example the URL. The message next to the field explains what to fix.

Test passes but an incident opened

Incidents come from scheduled checks that fail and are then confirmed from multiple locations. Open the incident to see which checks failed and where.

Next steps

Understanding Incidents

How incidents are opened and resolved

Setting Up Alerts

Send alerts to email, Slack, webhooks and more

Monitor Types

Settings for each monitor type

Reading Metrics

Uptime and response time