Is Gatus a good alternative to PingZen?

Gatus is excellent for self-hosted monitoring with YAML configuration and multi-step testing. However, PingZen offers 22 protocols vs 6, requires no server setup, and monitors from multiple global locations. Gatus monitors only from where you deploy it.

Yes, Gatus is completely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. However, you need to provide your own server to run it, which has hosting costs. PingZen is also free but runs as a SaaS — no hosting needed.

Can I use Gatus and PingZen together?

Yes! A common pattern is using Gatus for internal service health checks within your infrastructure, while PingZen handles external monitoring (HTTP, SSL, DNS) from global locations. This gives you both internal and external visibility.

How many GitHub stars does Gatus have?

Gatus has over 10,000 GitHub stars, making it one of the most popular open-source monitoring tools. It is actively maintained with regular releases and a responsive community.

PingZen vs Gatus: Cloud SaaS vs Self-Hosted Go Monitoring

Gatus is an open-source developer-oriented health dashboard written in Go. It monitors HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, ICMP, DNS, and even full DNS query resolution. With 10k+ GitHub stars, it offers built-in alerting (Slack, Discord, PagerDuty, Teams, Telegram), a clean status page, and extremely low resource usage. Configuration is YAML-based with support for multi-step sequential endpoint testing.

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Quick Comparison

Best Value

PingZen

Price: Free forever
Intervals: 30 seconds
Protocols: 22 protocols
Alerts: 12+ channels

Gatus

Price: Free (self-hosted)
Intervals: Configurable (any)
Protocols: 6 protocols
Alerts: 10+ channels

Feature Comparison

Feature Comparison
Feature	PingZen	Gatus
HTTP/HTTPS monitoring
TCP port monitoring
Ping (ICMP)
DNS monitoring
SSL certificate monitoring Use HTTP with cert check
WebSocket monitoring
gRPC monitoring
WHOIS/Domain expiry
SMTP monitoring
UDP monitoring
Multi-step conditions Sequential endpoint testing
Badge generation Uptime badges for README
Telegram alerts
Slack integration
Discord webhooks
PagerDuty integration
Status page
No server required PingZen is SaaS, no hosting needed
Web dashboard
Open source

Why Choose PingZen

22 protocols vs 6 — WebSocket, gRPC, SMTP, WHOIS, UDP, FTP and more
Zero setup — no servers, Docker, or YAML configuration needed
Built-in incident management with timeline and updates
Team workspaces with role-based access control
Global monitoring from multiple regions (not just your server)
SSL certificate and domain expiry monitoring built-in

When Gatus is Better

Fully open source (Apache 2.0) with 10k+ GitHub stars
Run on your own infrastructure — full data ownership
Multi-step sequential endpoint testing with conditions
YAML-based configuration — version control your monitoring
Extremely lightweight (Go binary, minimal resources)
Uptime badges for GitHub README and docs

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Migration Tip

Switch from Gatus to PingZen for the protocols Gatus cannot monitor (WebSocket, gRPC, SMTP, WHOIS) while keeping Gatus for internal service health checks. PingZen's free tier covers all external monitoring with global check locations.