Better Uptime (BetterStack) is a premium incident-management platform with phone-call alerts and on-call scheduling — ideal for larger ops teams with budget. Vigil covers everything individual developers and small teams actually need (uptime, SSL, heartbeats, status pages, multi-channel alerts, escalation) at no cost.
| Feature | Vigil | Better Uptime |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Full-featured | Trial only |
| HTTP/HTTPS monitoring | ||
| Keyword / content checks | ||
| SSL expiry alerts | ||
| Heartbeat / cron monitoring | ||
| TCP port monitoring | Coming soon | |
| Public status pages | ||
| SVG status badges | ||
| Maintenance windows | ||
| Alert escalation | ||
| On-call scheduling/rotation | ||
| Phone call alerts | ||
| Incident acknowledge/assign | ||
| Monitor tags / labels | ||
| Slack alerts | ||
| Discord alerts | ||
| Telegram alerts | ||
| Webhook alerts | ||
| Email alerts | ||
| REST API | ||
| No credit card required |
Genuinely free
Better Uptime has no meaningful free tier — it offers a short trial, then billing starts. Vigil's full feature set costs nothing.
Discord and Telegram alerts
Better Uptime does not support Discord or Telegram at any tier. Vigil supports both, free.
SVG status badges
Embed a live monitor-status badge in your README or documentation. Better Uptime does not offer this.
No credit card required
Start monitoring in minutes without entering billing details. Better Uptime requires a credit card even for the trial.
Simpler for developers and small teams
Better Uptime's incident-management surface adds overhead that lean teams don't always need. Vigil is focused on the essentials.
Better Uptime (BetterStack)
Trial — limited duration
Paid — from ~$20–25/month
Vigil
Free — $0, forever
Get all core monitoring features at no cost. No trial, no billing setup, no surprises.
Start monitoring freeNo credit card required. No time limit on the free plan.