Step-by-step guide to monitoring your first website or service. This article walks UK users through creating an HTTP(s) monitor, explains the settings that matter, and demonstrates a full example monitoring a WordPress website on SmartXHosting.
How to add an HTTP(s) monitor • Key settings explained • Accepted status codes • Certificate expiry notifications • Upside Down Mode • Organising monitors with tags • Practical example — monitor a WordPress site • FAQ
Adding your first monitor in Uptime Kuma takes less than a minute. The HTTP(s) monitor type is the most common choice — it sends a request to a URL and verifies that the response comes back with an acceptable status code.
https://www.example.co.uk. Always use https:// if the site supports it — this also enables automatic SSL certificate monitoring.While the defaults work well for a basic setup, understanding the key settings helps you fine-tune your monitoring for reliability and accuracy.
This controls how often Uptime Kuma checks your service. The default is 60 seconds, meaning the monitor sends a request once every minute. You can set any value between 20 seconds and 86,400 seconds (24 hours).
The retry count defines how many consecutive failures must occur before the monitor is marked as down and a notification is sent. With the default of 0 retries, the very first failed check triggers an alert. Setting retries to 3 means the monitor must fail four consecutive times (the initial check plus three retries) before going down.
For production services, 1 to 3 retries are recommended. This prevents false positives caused by brief network hiccups or momentary server load spikes.
When a monitor is in a “pending” state (failing but not yet marked as down), the retry interval determines how quickly Uptime Kuma re-checks. You can set this shorter than the main heartbeat interval — for example, 20 seconds — to confirm failures faster without waiting a full cycle.
By default, Uptime Kuma sends a single “down” notification and then stays silent until the service recovers. If you set Resend Notification to a value such as 5, the alert is repeated every 5 heartbeat cycles while the monitor remains down. Useful if you want persistent reminders for ongoing outages.
For HTTP(s) monitors, Uptime Kuma considers the service “up” only when the response status code matches the accepted list. The default is 200–299, which covers all standard success responses.
Common adjustments:
When you create an HTTPS monitor, Uptime Kuma automatically tracks the SSL/TLS certificate of the monitored domain. By default, it sends a notification 30 days before the certificate expires. You can adjust the threshold — for example, setting additional alerts at 14 days and 7 days to ensure you never miss a renewal deadline.
The monitor detail page also displays certificate information including the issuer, the validity period and the exact number of days remaining.
Good to know: if you host your websites with SmartXHosting, your SSL certificates are renewed automatically. Certificate expiry monitoring is most valuable for sites hosted elsewhere or for third-party services you depend on.
Upside Down Mode flips the monitor logic entirely. When enabled, the service is reported as “up” when it is not reachable and “down” when it is reachable. Counter-intuitive, but it serves a specific purpose: confirming that something that should be offline stays offline.
Typical use cases:
As your monitor count grows, tags help you stay organised. Tags are colour-coded labels you create in Settings › Tags and then assign to individual monitors.
Let us walk through a real-world example. Suppose you host a WordPress website at https://www.mybusiness.co.uk and want to monitor it with Uptime Kuma.
https://www.mybusiness.co.ukWatch the first heartbeat appear within seconds. The status indicator should turn green if the site is online and responding with a 200 status code.
Verify that the response time looks reasonable (typically under 1,000 ms for a well-optimised WordPress site on SmartXHosting). If you have already configured a notification channel, the monitor will alert you automatically if the site goes down.
Tip: for an e-commerce shop, consider adding a second monitor that checks a critical page such as the checkout or product catalogue. This way, you are alerted even if the homepage is fine but a key page is broken.
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View Uptime Kuma HostingQ: What heartbeat interval should I use?
A: 60 seconds for standard websites, 30 seconds for mission-critical services, 300 seconds for non-critical checks. Shorter intervals detect outages faster but increase load on the monitored service.
Q: How many retries should I set?
A: 1–3 for production services — avoids false positives from brief network hiccups. 0 for strict health checks where any failure matters. More than 5 usually masks real issues.
Q: What accepted status codes should I use?
A: Default 200–299 works for most websites. Add 301 or 302 if your site uses redirects. For pages behind authentication, include 401. Use just 200 for strict health-check endpoints.
Q: Does Uptime Kuma monitor SSL expiry automatically?
A: Yes. Every HTTPS monitor tracks certificate expiry and sends notifications at the configured threshold — 30 days by default. No extra setup needed.
Q: What is Upside Down Mode?
A: Inverts monitor logic — service is considered up when not reachable, down when reachable. Useful for confirming a decommissioned server or blocked port stays offline.
Q: Can I monitor pages behind login?
A: HTTP monitor accepts optional headers and authentication. For complex auth flows, use a health-check endpoint that doesn’t require login and is designed for monitoring.
Q: How many monitors can I have?
A: On SmartXHosting’s Uptime Kuma plan: unlimited. Self-hosted Uptime Kuma comfortably runs hundreds of monitors on modest hardware.