Grandma Always Said There isn't any Such Thing as a Free Lunch
In the event you didn't listen to it from your grandmother you've likely heard it somewhere else. There's no such thing like a free lunch. The issue you must consider is, if a company has something worthwhile that they could sell with a profit, why would they just give it away free of charge? A lot of time, work, and investment get into quality website monitoring services as well as the free ones on offer aren't listed as nonprofit organizations, so how are they making their money? When you realize how these businesses make their cash, you realize free isn't free in the end.
Oftentimes a "free" website monitoring service is a simplistic package that the service will give you to get you hooked. The idea is that once you see how vital the service is, but how much the "free" services lacking, you'll upgrade with a paid service - usually with a higher price than had you began by searching for a paid service all along.
Not every Services Are Created Equal
Now, let's say that you do find a website monitoring service that doesn't up-sell and the services really free. Genuine. A free service without any strings attached. What you ought to ask yourself again is, exactly why is the service free? What is it lacking? Or the facts adding? Do you want to or your website be bombarded with advertisements to guide the funding with the service? Or service is with a lack of the features it gives you, such as types of communication. For instance, a website monitoring service that only notifies you of website downtime via email isn't going to do you much good if your email is down as well as your site. You'll need a website monitoring service which will alert you via not just email, but text message and phone calls to appropriate personnel also.
You also have to know how often your site will be checked for downtime whenever considering any site monitoring service. Ideally you would like your site checked every One minute or less to make sure continuity of your site's up-time. In case your site is only checked for downtime every hour, then your site could potentially be down a full 59 minutes before you are even informed about a downtime issue.
Additionally, you want to ensure that the website monitoring service you utilize has multiple server monitoring your website. If there is an electrical failure at one server location, there must be other server locations spread out to ensure that your site's monitoring won't be interrupted.
If you are looking at free website monitoring solutions, the chances that a free service will give you your site with all the comprehensive monitoring and level of technology required to truly protect your internet site from downtime are slim to none. Since website monitoring services are one of the few services that really pay for themselves as time passes, shopping for this kind of service based on price alone isn't a good idea. Instead of looking for something free, choose a service that will actually meet your site's needs and will monitor your website adequately.