The request timeout is the maximum time Uptime Basics allows for an availability probe to receive an HTTP response. If no response arrives within that time, the check fails with a timeout result.
A timeout is not the same as a slow-response alert. A response that arrives before the timeout can still be Up while separately exceeding the slow-response threshold.
Available settings
The New Monitor page offers:
- 5 seconds for consistently fast endpoints;
- 8 seconds, the default and a practical choice for most websites; and
- 10 seconds for healthy sites that sometimes need additional response time.
One-minute monitors are capped at 8 seconds. Other supported intervals allow up to 10 seconds.
On Monitor Details, timeout values are displayed in milliseconds. For example:
- 5 seconds = 5,000 ms;
- 8 seconds = 8,000 ms; and
- 10 seconds = 10,000 ms.
How to choose a timeout
- Review successful response times from a normal day.
- Identify the upper range for healthy responses, not only the average.
- Choose a timeout comfortably above that healthy range.
- Use slow-response alerts to warn about degraded performance before the timeout.
- Reassess the value if healthy checks regularly finish close to the limit.
For example, if a site normally responds within 300 to 900 ms but occasionally takes 2 seconds, a 5-second timeout may be sufficient. If normal healthy requests sometimes take 6 seconds, use 8 or 10 seconds while investigating the performance variation.
What a timeout result means
A timeout means the monitoring request did not complete within the configured budget. Possible causes include:
- an unavailable or overloaded origin;
- slow application processing;
- DNS, connection, routing, or TLS delays;
- firewall or bot-protection behavior;
- a redirect chain consuming the available time; or
- regional or temporary network conditions.
One failed timeout is recorded in Detailed Logs. Uptime Basics uses failure confirmation before declaring a full outage, reducing alerts caused by one temporary slow request.
Change the timeout
- Open the monitor from Monitors.
- Open Monitor Tools and select Monitor Settings.
- Enter the timeout in milliseconds.
- Keep the value within the maximum shown under the field.
- Select Save changes.
The change applies to future checks and does not alter earlier results.
Avoid using timeout as a performance target
Do not lower the availability timeout solely to generate performance alerts. A timeout is treated as a failed availability check. Enable Slow Response Alerts when you want the site to remain Up while warning that responses exceed 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 seconds for the selected number of consecutive checks.
Automatic timeout protection
Repeated full-timeout failures can limit the timeout used for follow-up regional confirmation checks or eventually pause a timeout-heavy monitor. Your selected timeout remains in use for the primary availability check. Monitor Details displays this condition. These safeguards preserve recorded Up and Down results and do not create an overage charge.
Troubleshooting
Healthy checks frequently time out
Compare successful latency, diagnostics, redirect behavior, and regional results. Increase the timeout only when the site is genuinely healthy at the longer response time. Otherwise, investigate the application or network delay.
A 10-second timeout is unavailable
One-minute monitors have an 8-second cap. Change the interval to five minutes or longer if the endpoint legitimately requires a 10-second availability budget.
No failed result appears immediately
The worker must wait for the timeout budget to expire and then save the result. Confirmation and dashboard refresh can add a short delay before the final state is visible.