Free Website Monitoring Services: What You Need To Consider

By Author: Davis J Martin
Total Articles: 8
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Some say that the best things in life are free, but in the real world we know that's not always the case. Sometimes you get what you pay for, especially when it comes to vital business services, and website monitoring services are no exception to that rule. If you know the importance of website monitoring and the role it plays in maximizing the uptime of your website, then you probably know that paying for a quality service that actually protects your site is a much better option than choosing a services that doesn't cost anything, but may be found lacking. Before you decide that free website monitoring is the way to go, here are some things you may want to consider.

Sometimes You Do Indeed Get What You Pay For
Almost all businesses that are on the Web were created with the purpose of generating revenue. If you are being offered a service like website monitoring without any costs attached, you have to ask yourself a few questions. How good can the service really be if the company is providing it free of charge? If you aren't paying for the website monitoring service, how is the company generating its revenue? ...
... No one wakes up one day and decides to put a lot of time, effort, and money into providing quality website monitoring service without getting anything in return. If you aren't being charged for a service, that service is likely going to be lacking in crucial features and, worse yet, the company may be using information that you provide to generate its profits.

Is the Free Version of the Service Just a Lure?
Oftentimes a company will offer free website monitoring service, but the "free" version of the service they provide has quite a few limitations. For example, the free version of the website monitoring service may only offer email alerts when your site goes down. If your email goes down with your site, you won't be notified of the downtime until your email goes back up (and that will likely be when your site goes back up as well). This means that the free service doesn't really notify you of the downtime when you need to know about it, which is the moment it occurs. However, that same service may offer additional methods of notification for a price. You find yourself paying for the service so you can get the features you want, resulting in the "free" service not really being free at all.

Chances are, when you sign up for free website monitoring, you will end up paying for it eventually. Which means when you shop for a service, you need to shop for one based on the features you want and the quality of the service. It is never a wise idea to shop for any type of service based on price alone, and website monitoring service is no exception to this rule.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that while there are free website monitoring services out there, free doesn't equate to quality. When it comes to something as important as the uptime of your website, you do not want to leave your downtime alerts in the hands of a service that is lacking features or does not have the technology needed to truly monitor your site the way you need it to. Since every minute of downtime costs your company money, a "free" service might actually end up costing you more than a paid service would.

Alertra is a leading provider of web site monitoring and alerting services. We monitor the availability and performance of Internet-connected devices. As part of Alertra website monitoring service, we provide timely alert notifications and access to detailed reporting. We offer monitoring service to all sizes of businesses right from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.