Instatus is affordable. LiveStatus is free — with a native mobile app.
Instatus made status pages cheaper. LiveStatus makes them free to start — and adds a native mobile app, push notifications, and built-in uptime monitoring that Instatus charges extra for.
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The honest pitch
Instatus positioned itself as the cheaper Statuspage.io alternative, and it delivered. Clean UI, fast pages, and pricing that starts at $20/mo instead of Statuspage's $29/mo. It's been a solid option since 2020 and has a loyal user base.
The gap: Instatus has no native mobile app — incident management happens in a web browser. Their uptime monitoring is a paid add-on, not built in. And there's no free plan — the cheapest option is $20/mo, which is fine for funded startups but unnecessary for indie developers and small teams.
LiveStatus starts free with 1 status page, 3 services, and 50 email subscribers. Uptime monitoring is included on every paid plan. And the native iOS + Android app means you can manage incidents from your phone with push notifications — no browser required.
Feature by feature
Side by side. Honest. No marketing fluff.
| Feature | LiveStatus | Instatus |
|---|---|---|
Native iOS + Android mobile app Push notifications for incidents, manage from your phone | ||
Custom branded status pages | ||
Custom domain | Starter ($19/mo) | Pro ($20/mo) |
Built-in uptime monitoring Instatus charges separately for monitoring; LiveStatus includes it | Starter ($19/mo) | Add-on ($5+/mo) |
60-second uptime monitoring | Business ($149/mo) | |
5-minute uptime monitoring | Starter ($19/mo) | Add-on ($5+/mo) |
SSO (Google Workspace, Okta, SAML) | Business ($149/mo) | Business ($300/mo) |
Email subscribers | Unlimited (Pro+) | Plan-limited |
Incident templates | Starter ($19/mo) | Pro ($20/mo) |
Multi-region uptime checks | Pro ($49/mo) | |
Slack, Discord, webhook integrations | Starter ($19/mo) | Pro ($20/mo) |
Free plan Instatus has no free tier; LiveStatus offers a free plan with 1 status page |
Three reasons teams switch
Native mobile app for incident response
Your phone buzzes with a push notification. Open the LiveStatus app. Post an incident update. Done — all without opening a laptop. Instatus has no mobile app, so incident response means opening a browser on a small screen and navigating through the dashboard.
Monitoring included, not bolted on
LiveStatus includes uptime monitoring on every paid plan — 5-minute checks on Starter, multi-region on Pro, 60-second on Business. Instatus charges for monitoring as a separate add-on. With LiveStatus, your status page and monitoring are one integrated system.
Free to start
LiveStatus has a free plan: 1 status page, 3 services, 50 email subscribers. Instatus starts at $20/mo with no free option. If you're an indie developer, open-source maintainer, or small team — try LiveStatus without pulling out your credit card.
“But what about...”
Real concerns from teams considering the switch.
Instatus has been around longer. Can I trust LiveStatus?
Fair concern. LiveStatus runs on Vercel's global edge network with Neon Postgres (multi-AZ). Our Business tier has a 99.99% uptime SLA. We dogfood the product — status.livestatus.dev runs on LiveStatus itself. And we're backed by Leonenko Group LLC, a profitable company with no plans to disappear.
Instatus has some cheaper paid tiers. Is LiveStatus actually cheaper?
Instatus Pro is $20/mo; LiveStatus Starter is $19/mo. Very close. But LiveStatus includes monitoring at no extra cost — Instatus charges $5+/mo on top. And LiveStatus has a free plan that Instatus doesn't offer. For most teams, LiveStatus is cheaper when you factor in monitoring.
Can I migrate from Instatus easily?
Yes. Create your status page on LiveStatus, recreate your services (takes a few minutes), export your subscriber list as CSV from Instatus and import it into LiveStatus, then update your CNAME. Total time: about 20 minutes.
FAQ
How does pricing compare at each tier?
LiveStatus: Free, Starter $19/mo, Pro $49/mo, Business $149/mo. Instatus: Pro $20/mo, Business $50/mo, Enterprise $300/mo. LiveStatus is the only one with a free plan, and monitoring is included on all paid plans (Instatus charges extra).
Do you have a free plan?
Yes — 1 status page, 3 services, 50 email subscribers, manual incident management. Instatus does not offer a free plan.
Does LiveStatus support third-party monitoring integrations?
Yes. You can connect Datadog, Pingdom, UptimeRobot, or any tool that sends webhooks. But you probably won't need to — LiveStatus has built-in monitoring on every paid plan.
Do you have an API?
Yes — REST API with API keys on the Pro plan and up. Automate incident creation from CI/CD, health checks, or any external monitoring tool.
What if Instatus adds a mobile app?
They might! But building a great mobile app isn't just shipping a wrapper — it's push notification infrastructure, offline support, real-time sync, and continuous platform updates. LiveStatus was designed mobile-first from day one.
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