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Monitors

Create an HTTP or HTTPS monitor

Create a website monitor, choose a public URL and check settings, configure alerts, and understand the initial validation result.

Article MON-001 By Uptime Basics Support Reviewed July 21, 2026

An HTTP or HTTPS monitor checks a public website or endpoint on a fixed schedule and records whether it returned an accepted response before the timeout. Use it for a homepage, application, API health endpoint, checkout path, or another URL that represents a service you are authorized to monitor.

Before you begin

  • Your account needs an available monitor slot.
  • The URL must begin with https:// or http://.
  • The destination must be publicly reachable on port 443 or 80.
  • Private, reserved, loopback, local-network, and embedded-credential destinations are blocked.
  • Use Basic authentication instead of putting a username and password in the URL.
  • Choose a stable URL that does not perform a destructive action when requested.

Uptime Basics validates the destination and performs an initial request before saving the monitor. This helps identify invalid URLs, private destinations, DNS failures, blocked requests, duplicate monitors, and unsupported configuration.

Create the monitor

  1. Sign in and open Monitors.
  2. Select New Monitor.
  3. Under Website details, enter a recognizable Site name.
  4. Enter the complete URL, including https:// or http://.
  5. Under Check timing, choose the check interval and timeout.
  6. Leave Follow redirects enabled for most websites.
  7. Under Alerts, select the email or SMS channels and verified destinations for this monitor.
  8. If needed, configure accepted HTTP status codes, custom request headers, or Basic authentication under Advanced request options.
  9. Optionally enable SSL certificate expiry, domain expiry, or slow-response alerts under Helpful alerts.
  10. Select Create Monitor.

The Create Monitor button remains unavailable until current plan usage is loaded. If the plan's monitor limit has been reached, archive or delete an existing monitor before creating another.

Choose the URL carefully

Monitor the path that best represents customer availability:

  • A homepage is simple and useful for a small marketing website.
  • A lightweight health endpoint can better represent an application or API.
  • A checkout or login page can detect a path-specific failure that the homepage misses.
  • A protected staging endpoint can use custom headers or Basic authentication.

Uptime Basics checks the exact path and query string you enter. It does not sign in through an interactive form, execute JavaScript, submit forms, or verify page content.

HTTP response behavior

Responses below HTTP 400 are accepted by default. If a protected or specialized endpoint intentionally returns a code from 400 through 599, add that exact code under Accepted HTTP status codes. Only add a code when it genuinely represents a healthy response for that endpoint.

For example, a public API that intentionally returns HTTP 401 without credentials can treat 401 as accepted. Do not accept broad failure codes merely to keep a monitor green.

What happens next

After creation, Uptime Basics opens Monitor Details. The monitor begins as Unknown until check results establish its current state.

  • A successful check can establish Up.
  • A failed check is recorded but does not automatically mean a confirmed outage.
  • Repeated failure and multi-region confirmation protect against a single temporary network error.
  • Charts, uptime percentages, and incident history populate as checks are collected.

Troubleshooting

Invalid URL

Confirm the protocol, spelling, hostname, and path. Remove spaces and embedded credentials.

The destination is blocked

The URL may resolve to a private or reserved address, use an unsupported port, or match a protected destination rule. Use a public HTTP or HTTPS endpoint intended for external monitoring.

The site rejects validation

Review the HTTP code and diagnosis. The site may require authentication, a custom header, an accepted status code, or a firewall rule that permits external monitoring.

A duplicate monitor already exists

The same normalized URL and request method cannot be added twice to the same account. Open the existing monitor and adjust its settings instead.

The new monitor is still Unknown

Wait for the first scheduled check and refresh cycle. Open Detailed Logs to confirm whether a check has been recorded.

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