Host-Tracker.com No Longer Free 

Today I recieved a very disappointing e-mail, host-tracker.com's services are no longer going to be free.  This was a horrible upset for me as I have been using their services for well over 1.5 years and was very happy with the service I received.  They are now going to a payment service that will cost me about $300 a year to use.  So for those of you that are currently using host-tracker be prepared to pay for their services, and if you need more than 5 URL's tracked you will be at the $300 a year mark.

Now, I know that there are a few other options and I will give you some information on them.  Pingdom.com offers a similar service and for $9.95 a month will monitor up to 5 sites, every minute and provides you with SMS alerts and even a web-service API to check your site uptime and history.  I have worked with their service a while back and it was impressive, it is a bit more then the basic host-tracker service however their extra features are great!.  Also there is this nifty alerter application that you can use with their servcie that I wrote for them a while back http://www.pingdom.com/services/api-applications/ 

Otherwise you also have http://www.keepaliveforever.net but I found their services to be a bit lacking.

I have a solution in the works, but I do not have a dedicated server to host the application on.  Once I can secure a hosting environment am planning on launching my own service and I will try to keep it free, otherwise the yearly fee will be under $25.  Stay tuned for more information.  If you have any recommendations/offers/suggestions where I can find a web server to host my monitoring application on the cheap please let me know!

Posted by Mitchel on Thursday, August 23, 2007
Tags: Announcements
 

Comments

Oh yes, would be great a service for less than 25$ !!!!!!!! Just perfect. You have my subscription !


DV
PS: I understood with the email that you can renew for few months the free subscription, and if you do not read correctly the email, you may think that it is not free anymore. I have renew the free service, I will see in few weeks.

By Déclic Vidéo FX on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 10:46 AM

Hey Mitch,
You might want to give SiteUptime.com a try. I've been using it for a few years now and for one domain, it's still free. I think you have to pay for more than one domain:

http://www.siteuptime.com

Hope it helps. Thanks for all of these great tips and tutorials!

By Mark Gordon on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:13 AM

DV,

Yes I should have clarified, they still offer a free service. However, that service will ONLY monitor sites every 30 minutes. Standard ASP.NET Worker Process inactivity settings will cause shutdowns at 20 minutes of inactivity therefore the monitoring with the free service will not accomplish the desired results of preventing application shutdowns.

Mark,

I'll have a look at those individuals services as well

By mitchel.sellers@gmail.com on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:55 AM

An other website monitoring service
www.site24x7.com

Free for 60 min monitor

By Sacha on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 1:41 AM

Mitchel,

That's strange, I have re-new the "contract with host-tracker", and I still have verification each 15 minutes.
Can you verify on your side ??? I agree, you can not do better than 15 minutes.

DV FX

By Declic Video on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 3:54 AM

I just checked my account. 15 minutes is still an option, but for ANY of my sites with 15 minutes selected they have not been checked in 4 days.

SO it appers that they are not actually doing those checks. I have 1 site that was at 30 minutes for a simple uptime monitoring, and not a keep alive and it has been continually checked.

By mitchel.sellers@gmail.com on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 4:46 AM

Does anyone know of a comprehensive review of this type of service anywhere? Reading this post, it seems that such a review would be VERY valuable.

By hismightiness on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 12:44 PM

I might have a server to offer you, can you tell me more about what would be needed?

By Penny on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 5:51 AM

Update:

I have checked my parameter, I have a check every 15 minutes and it is still working as it should. Everyday, I receive my daily update of the checks performed during the day.

DV FX

By Déclic Vidéo FX on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 6:11 AM

Penny,

Thanks for the offer, but at this time I don't yet have the solution made...

DV,

It must be based on how long you are with them....they stopped my monitoring entirely about 2 months ago :(

By mitchel.sellers@gmail.com on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 7:20 PM

Mitchell,

I also received the same message than the one you publish here. I was with them for months. But it is still working. I do not see why I would be the only one ? Are you with them for years ?? In such case, it may explain why....

DV

By Déclic Vidéo FX on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 8:15 PM

Yeah, I was with them for about 2 years before they made the announcement..

By mitchel.sellers@gmail.com on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 4:12 AM

You can also try <a href="http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/">Dotcom-monitor</a>. It has a lots of features, but still very cheap.

By Ziggyff on Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 4:19 AM

I should not have read the price correctly... For me, it is not very cheap, but more expensive than one month hosting if you want a 15 minutes check....

DV

By Déclic Vidéo FX on Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 6:48 AM
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