Perhaps I have a little too much faith in the webhosts that I have used, but never have I feared that my site might be down. I came across a site that puts the question “Are my sites up?” out of mind, however, I didn’t really see a use for it until working with a friend’s site which has been having some issues.
This service with quite an obvious name, Are My Sites Up?, provides users with a quick answer to that very question.
The free version, which I am using, allows you to check the status of up to 5 sites every hour. If any thing is amiss, the service shoots you an email. You are also informed via email if things are cleared up. So far, I’ve only received two of these (one for down, and the other for up), but it is nice to be able to keep tabs on my sites as well as my hosts. Note: I believe you are also able to receive text messages of site status.
Screen capture of Are My Sites Up? status page
A plethora of other options are available to paying users. The three tiers of paid service consist of Standard, Plus and Pro, which cost $25, $50, and $75 per year, respectively. Each increased service cost allows for more sites to be checked in a greater variety of ways with a smaller interval between tests. With the Standard tier comes use of the iPhone app and RSS feeds for instant checks, while Plus users can take advantage of Twitter integration and fetch site summary reports through RSS. View their premium services page for more detailed information.
Overall, Are My Sites Up? provides a great product at an exceptional price. I highly recommend it to anyone with some websites to watch.