Better Stack (Uptime)
Uptime monitoring and incident management service that alerts teams when websites or services go down
Checkmate
Self-hosted uptime and infrastructure monitoring with real-time alerts
Track server hardware, uptime, response times, and incidents in real-time. Self-hosted monitoring with beautiful visualizations, status pages, and multi-channel notifications.
Overview
What is Checkmate?
Checkmate is a self-hosted monitoring platform designed for teams and individuals who need comprehensive visibility into their infrastructure. It continuously tracks server availability, response times, SSL certificates, and incidents while delivering real-time alerts through email, Discord, Slack, and webhooks.
Core Capabilities
The platform monitors websites, APIs, ports, Docker containers, game servers, and page speed out of the box. For deeper infrastructure insights—CPU, RAM, disk usage, and temperature—deploy the optional Capture agent on Linux, Windows, Mac, or Raspberry Pi devices. Checkmate has been stress-tested with over 1,000 active monitors without performance degradation.
Who Should Use It
Ideal for DevOps teams, SREs, and small businesses requiring full control over monitoring data. Built with React, Node.js, and MongoDB, it offers public status pages, scheduled maintenance windows, and multi-language support across ten languages. Deploy via Docker, Kubernetes, or one-click platforms like Coolify and Pikapods. The exceptionally small memory footprint makes it suitable for resource-constrained environments, including home lab setups on Raspberry Pi hardware.
Highlights
Monitors websites, APIs, SSL, ports, Docker, and game servers with sub-minute intervals
Optional Capture agent for deep infrastructure metrics (CPU, RAM, disk, temperature)
Public status pages with incident tracking and scheduled maintenance windows
Multi-channel alerts via email, webhooks, Discord, and Slack with minimal resource usage
Pros
- Stress-tested with 1,000+ monitors; exceptionally low memory and CPU footprint
- Self-hosted deployment ensures full data ownership and privacy control
- Comprehensive monitoring types including Docker, game servers, and JSON query checks
- Active development with weekly feature releases and multi-language support
Considerations
- Requires MongoDB and Redis dependencies for full functionality
- Infrastructure monitoring needs separate Capture agent installation on target servers
- Documentation noted as work-in-progress with potential outdated sections
- AGPL-3.0 license may restrict commercial derivative works without disclosure
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Fit guide
Great for
- DevOps teams needing self-hosted monitoring with full data sovereignty
- Small to medium businesses tracking mixed infrastructure (websites, Docker, hardware)
- Home lab enthusiasts running monitoring on Raspberry Pi or low-resource devices
- Organizations requiring public status pages with incident and maintenance communication
Not ideal when
- Teams preferring fully managed SaaS solutions without infrastructure overhead
- Enterprises needing enterprise support contracts or guaranteed SLAs
- Users requiring advanced network topology mapping or distributed tracing
- Projects incompatible with AGPL-3.0 copyleft licensing requirements
How teams use it
Multi-Region Website Uptime Tracking
Monitor 100+ customer-facing websites every minute with instant Slack alerts on downtime, reducing mean time to detection by 80%
Docker Container Health Monitoring
Track CPU, memory, and restart events across 50 containers with automated incident creation when thresholds breach
Public Status Page for SaaS Platform
Publish real-time service availability and scheduled maintenance to customers, decreasing support tickets by 40%
SSL Certificate Expiration Prevention
Receive 30-day advance warnings for expiring certificates across 200 domains, eliminating unexpected outages
Tech snapshot
JavaScript82%
TypeScript15%
Shell1%
CSS1%
Dockerfile1%
HTML1%
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the Capture agent to use Checkmate?
No. Checkmate monitors websites, APIs, ports, SSL, and Docker without Capture. The agent is optional and only required for deep infrastructure metrics like CPU, RAM, disk usage, and temperature on remote servers.
What are the minimum system requirements?
Checkmate runs on minimal resources. A production instance monitoring 323 servers uses approximately 398MB for MongoDB and 15MB for Redis. It has been stress-tested with 1,000+ active monitors without performance issues and works on Raspberry Pi devices.
Can I create public status pages for customers?
Yes. Checkmate includes built-in status page functionality with incident tracking and scheduled maintenance windows, allowing you to communicate service availability to external stakeholders.
What notification channels are supported?
Checkmate sends alerts via email, webhooks, Discord, and Slack. You can configure multiple notification channels per monitor to ensure the right teams receive timely alerts.
How do I monitor internal HTTPS endpoints with private CAs?
Checkmate supports custom Certificate Authority trust for Docker deployments. Refer to the Custom CA Trust Guide in the documentation for configuration steps when monitoring endpoints with certificates from private CAs like Smallstep.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 8,967
- Watchers
- 8,967
- Forks
- 650
LicenseAGPL-3.0
Repo age1 year old
Last commit2 days ago
Self-hostingSupported
Primary languageJavaScript
Last synced 2 days ago