Website Monitoring & Alerting Guide
Monitoring & Alerting
Source: 16idc
A complete guide to website monitoring — key metrics, tools comparison, alert notification channels, and best practices.
Key Metrics to Monitor
| Metric |
What to Check |
Alert Threshold |
Check Frequency |
| Uptime |
Site accessible? |
1 failed check |
Every 1-5 minutes |
| Response Time |
Server response speed |
> 3 seconds |
Every 5 minutes |
| SSL Certificate |
Days until expiry |
< 30 days |
Daily |
| Disk Usage |
Storage remaining |
> 85% |
Every 30 minutes |
| Memory Usage |
RAM consumption |
> 90% |
Every 30 minutes |
| CPU Load |
Processor utilization |
> 80% sustained |
Every 5 minutes |
| Database |
Connection status |
Connection failure |
Every 5 minutes |
Monitoring Tools Comparison
| Tool |
Type |
Price |
Best For |
| Uptime Kuma |
Self-hosted |
Free |
Small-medium sites |
| Better Uptime |
SaaS |
Free / $20/mo |
Team with on-call |
| Checkly |
SaaS |
Free / $30/mo |
API + Browser monitoring |
| Datadog |
SaaS |
$15/host/mo |
Enterprise full-stack |
| Grafana + Prometheus |
Self-hosted |
Free |
Advanced infrastructure |
| Netdata |
Self-hosted |
Free |
Real-time server metrics |
Recommended Monitoring Stack
For Small Sites (Free)
Uptime Monitoring: Uptime Kuma (self-hosted)
Server Metrics: Netdata (one-liner install)
SSL Check: Uptime Kuma built-in
Notifications: Telegram / Email
For Medium Sites ($0-30/month)
Uptime Monitoring: Better Uptime or Checkly
Server Metrics: Netdata or basic Prometheus
APM: Sentry (free tier for errors)
Logs: Simple log rotation + manual check
Notifications: Slack / Telegram / Email
For Enterprise ($$$)
Uptime: Datadog / Pingdom
Metrics: Grafana + Prometheus
APM: Datadog APM / New Relic
Logs: ELK Stack / Loki
Notifications: PagerDuty / Opsgenie
Alert Notification Channels
| Channel |
Cost |
Urgency |
Best For |
| Email |
Free |
Low |
Daily summaries, reports |
| Telegram |
Free |
Medium |
Real-time alerts, team chat |
| Slack |
Free |
Medium |
Team collaboration |
| Discord |
Free |
Medium |
Dev community channels |
| SMS |
Paid |
High |
Critical issues |
| Phone Call |
Paid |
Highest |
P0 incidents |
Alert Configuration Tips
1. Set Up Alert Escalation
First alert → Telegram/Slack (immediate)
No response in 15 min → SMS
No response in 30 min → Phone call
2. Configure Maintenance Windows
- Exclude scheduled maintenance from alerting
- Set quiet hours for non-critical alerts (e.g., 10 PM - 8 AM)
3. Avoid Alert Fatigue
- Don't alert on every small event
- Use hysteresis (e.g., alert only if 3 consecutive failures)
- Group related alerts
Monitoring Checklist