Free External Website Monitoring Service

[Mr Chunder]

I looking for a good free website monitoring service i.e. the sort that exists on remote servers and tests your site from the outside.

I used to use Netwhistle but now they are charging :cry:

I also tried SitePatrol but they decided to shutdown for 2 weeks for upgrades but didn't inform anyone ! Can't be worth using with that sort of attitude! :rolleyes:

I'm also trying out internetseer.com but they limit you to 2 websites.

Does anyone have a good, reliable recommendation of a free service, or at least a low cost one that is reliable ? Thanks.

[Martie]

Mr.Chunder!
Always good to see you!
Have you tried Net Mechanic?
http://www.netmechanic.com
:D

[akashik]

http://www.qwkmon.com/

Travis runs a good service and it tweaking and improving all the time. It's quite affordable too.

Mighty fine looking website too!

Greg Moore

[Jaiem]

Netmechanic offers a free report on any domain. Good way to check out the speed of a host before you sign up.

[Mr Chunder]

thanks guys for your suggestions :)

I've looked at Netmechanic before and I feel their prices are too high considering the number of URLs and frequency of checking required.

However, www.qwkmon.com looks interesting. I have subscribed and will let you know how well it works.

Thanks all

[James]

You might also want to check out www.netwhistle.com ,but theyre not cheap :eek:

[thewitt]

I'm trying to understand the value of a web hosting monitor that only checks the site once an hour.

I don't mean to be critical - and especially when you can get this service for free - but if my site is up when the hourly test hits it, and then is down for the next 30 minutes - repeat all day - I may get no notification at all from a free service.

Value here? Is this really just a tickler for the paid service - not a bad thing - or do some of you really see value in an hourly monitor?

Thanks,

-t

[Tommy]

A non dynamic site that's not mission critical could benefit from an hourly check. It's not a bad freebie for a small site.

For a website like Web Host Directory it wouldn't be sufficient.

[akashik]

Naturally an hourly check isn't something you should use for a realistic site monitoring system. That's why they are offered free. Think of it as a trial run. If you like what you see then you'll buy a better time. qwkmon actually has a bit of a deal going there right now, with a affiliate type set up so it's possible to pull back your costs I suppose that way. We used them during their startup days and found them to be quite good.

Netwhistle on the other hand seemed not to notice the fact I'd shut down a domain that it was monitoring. They also sent me a bill via e-mail a little while ago saying I owed them money for their (at the time) free service. It caught me right at the perfect moment for writing a well seasoned response in return. Suddenly it appeared they'd made a mistake and wouldn't be billing at all :rolleyes:

I haven't used Net Mechanic so can't comment good or bad on their service.

Without trying to sound like a saleman, I'd go for the one I recommended earlier. I do know for a fact the guy who set it up is pretty passionate about his creation and is very hands-on, making sure it improves all the time.

Greg Moore

[James]

Sorry for the netwhistle recomendation, it appears that Greg's got first hand experience with them :(

Another company I've heard a lot about lately is http://www.netiq.com , they recently merged with webtrends.com.

[Mr Chunder]

Yeah - I'm getting a similar problem with Netwhistle attempting to bill so they can forget it! But they did work reliably when they were free.

I had a look at netiq.com but I could not find external monitoring which is what I am looking for. These guys seem to be into internal monitoring of all sorts of apps from a single point internally on a large scale.

No, it appears the moment, the best bets are www.internetseer.com and www.qwkmon.com.

Must be some others out there with the same problem ?

[Hyper-Tech]

You might look into www.enotify.com.

[Mr Chunder]

Thanks for your suggestions.

www.enotify.com is charging $8.95 per http target which puts it at near the bottom of the pricing market.

Both www.internetseer.com and www.qwkmon.com appear to be the best free service. Internetseer has one up on the other since it sends out weekly reports. However, my sites have not crashed yet so I cannot see how responsive they are :)