It seems that there are an abundance of website monitoring services offering “free” website monitoring on the Web. Of course, this brings to light the question, why should you pay for something you can get for free?

1. Website Monitoring: Is There
Any Such Thing as a Free Ride?

2. It seems that there are an abundance of website
monitoring services offering “free” website monitoring
on the Web. Of course, this brings to light the question,
why should you pay for something you can get for
free? Before you decide to fore-go a website
monitoring company that is up front with its pricing
and opt for one of these free website monitoring
services, there are a few things you need to keep in
mind.

3. Is It Really Free?
There are two types of people in this world who believe
they can actually get something of value for nothing.
Those who are hopelessly optimistic and those who are
just very naive. If a website monitoring service is
offering their services for free, there is a reason for it.

4. People usually don’t wake up one day and say “I’m
going to invest my money and open up a company that is
going to offer something for free and expect nothing in
return.” If a website monitoring service is offering their
services for free, there is a reason for it. Either they are
offering you a “bare bones” package that they expect
you to upgrade, for a price, when you realize the “free”
version you are receiving doesn’t cover your needs or
they are making their money in other ways, such as ad
placement or other revenue sources. Either way, the
chances of a “free” website monitoring service covering
your website monitoring needs are free to none.

5. Starting with a Service That Will Cost You More in
the Long Run
Of course, one of the biggest dangers of using a free
website monitoring service (only to find out later on that
it is not enough) and upgrading at a later time is that you
may end up spending more than you would have had you
just started out with a website monitoring company that
was up front about its packages and pricing.

6. If a company needs to lure you in with a free package,
only to have you pay to upgrade later, you need to ask
yourself why they aren’t up front about the price of the
package you actually need. Chances are, the service will
cost you more in the long run than had you opted for a
website monitoring service that didn’t lure you in with a
“free” package. If you do an apples-to-apples package
pricing comparison, you may very well find that the
services that do not offer free packages are more
affordable than the ones that do.

7. Inferior Services
Another thing to consider when evaluating free website
monitoring service is what services they are actually
providing. How will they be monitoring your website’s
up-time? How often will they be checking your site? If
your site does go down, how will they contact you
regarding the outage? Oftentimes the only method of
contact a free website monitoring service offers is
email. If you are not awake when the email comes in,
or your email is down along with your site, the
notification will not do you much good and you will be
losing precious minutes of up-time for each moment
the site is down and you are left unaware.

8. The Best Way to Choose a Website Monitoring Service
It is never a good idea to shop for a website monitoring
service based on price alone, and it is definitely not a
good idea to choose one just because it is free. Your
best bet is to compare services side by side, seeing
exactly what level of service they offer and how those
services meet your needs. Then, when you understand
what you need and what is being offered, choose the
package that is right for you. Cost should be one of the
minor factors in your decision when you consider the
fact that website monitoring services are one of the
few services that can actually pay for themselves over
time.

9. Alertra is a leading provider of website monitoring and
alerting services. We monitor the availability and
performance of Internet-connected devices. Website
monitoring by Alertra provides timely alert notifications
and access to detailed reporting. We offer monitoring
service to all sizes of businesses right from small
businesses to Fortune 500 companies.