Host-Tracker Alternative: More Free Monitors, Fewer Alert Channels
Looking for a Host-Tracker alternative? Host-Tracker is strongest on alerting, with SMS, voice calls, Viber, Discord and a dozen other channels, and weakest on its free plan, which watches 2 sites every 30 minutes. Enterno Scout watches 10 monitors every 5 min with REST API access included. Test a URL with the check above (Moscow, Germany and US East), then press Monitor this to keep checking it after a free sign-up.
Host-Tracker (HostTracker) is a long-running service with a large checkpoint network, so the choice usually comes down to how many sites you watch, how often, and how loudly you need to be woken up.
Enterno.io vs Host-Tracker
| Feature | Enterno.io | Host-Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free · paid from $5/mo | Free · Personal $3.20/mo first year, then $4 |
| Free plan | 10 monitors at 5 min, every check type | 2 sites every 30 min; 30-day trial with 100 sites |
| API | REST API v4 on every plan, 200 calls/day on free | REST API, SDKs, CLI, MCP; API access listed on Solo and Business |
| Shortest interval | 1 min from Navigator | 1 min on Solo, Business and Enterprise |
| Alerts | Email, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Teams, PagerDuty, Jira, webhooks on every plan | Email, SMS, voice, Telegram, Slack, Teams, PagerDuty, webhook, more |
| Status pages | Public status page on every plan | 1 to 10 per account, by plan |
| Check locations | Moscow on plans below Navigator; 13 regions in all from Navigator, incl. Germany, US East, Singapore | 300+ checkpoints |
Free online tool — HTTP header checker: instant results, no signup.
Where Host-Tracker is better
- A large checkpoint network. Host-Tracker advertises 300+ locations and rechecks a failure from other checkpoints before declaring an outage.
- Alert channels. Email, SMS, voice call, Telegram, Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Viber, Discord, Pushover, Pushbullet, Mattermost, web push and webhook, with a monthly SMS credit on paid plans.
- Checks Enterno does not have: synthetic checkout and login transactions, Google Web Risk malware checks, DNS blacklist monitoring, database queries and SNMP.
- Tooling: a REST API, SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server on plans with API access.
Where Enterno fits better
- A bigger, faster free plan. Host-Tracker Free watches 2 sites every 30 minutes. Enterno Scout watches 10 monitors every 5 min, with every check type.
- API on every plan. Host-Tracker lists API access on its Solo and Business plans; Enterno REST API v4 works on Scout too.
- Simple flat plans. Paid plans start at $5/mo, with monitor count and interval fixed per plan.
- Diagnostics in the same account: SSL, DNS and the multi-region check above.
Reading Host-Tracker pricing
Most Host-Tracker plans show an introductory first-year price and a higher renewal price: Personal is $3.20/mo for the first year, then $4; Webmaster $9.90, then $12; Business $18, then $25. Intervals differ by plan too: Webmaster checks every 5 minutes, while Solo, Business and Enterprise check every minute. Compare the renewal price, not the first-year one, when you budget.
New Host-Tracker accounts also get a 30-day trial with up to 100 sites and no card, which is a fair way to test it side by side with Enterno. Status pages scale with the plan as well, from one on Solo to ten on Enterprise, while Enterno includes a public status page on every plan.
Alert channels: what you give up
This is where the two differ most. Host-Tracker sends alerts by email, SMS, voice call, Telegram, Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Viber, Discord, Pushover, Pushbullet, Mattermost, web push and webhook, and paid plans carry a monthly SMS credit.
Enterno sends email, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Jira and webhooks on every plan. There is no SMS or voice call. A webhook can feed your own paging tool, but if a phone call at 3 a.m. is part of your on-call policy, Host-Tracker does it out of the box.
Which one to pick
- A few sites and no budget: Enterno Scout, because the Host-Tracker free plan checks only two sites every 30 minutes.
- Checkout or login journeys, malware or blacklist monitoring, SNMP: Host-Tracker, which covers checks Enterno does not have.
- Escalation by SMS, voice, Viber or Discord: Host-Tracker.
- Users in Russia, SSL and DNS checks plus on-demand diagnostics: Enterno.
Both offer a way to try before paying, so run them side by side on the same URLs for a week.
Moving monitors from Host-Tracker
Collect the addresses you monitor, then add them in Monitors or create them through REST API v4. Bulk CSV import is available on Captain.
curl -X POST https://enterno.io/api/v4/monitors \
-H "X-API-Key: $ENTERNO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url":"https://example.com","check_type":"http","interval_minutes":5,"show_on_status_page":true}'
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Host-Tracker have a free plan?
Yes. The free-forever plan monitors 2 sites every 30 minutes, and the instant check works without an account.
What does the Enterno free plan include?
10 monitors at a 5 min interval, every check type, email alerts, a public status page and REST API access. Alerts also go to Telegram, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Jira and webhooks.
Can Enterno run checkout or login transactions like Host-Tracker?
No. Enterno checks single requests: HTTP with keyword, API, SSL, DNS, domain expiry, ping, port and heartbeat. For multi-step transactions, Host-Tracker is the better tool.
How many locations does Enterno check from?
Free monitors check from Moscow. From Navigator you can add St. Petersburg, Germany, the Netherlands, US East and Singapore.
How does the Host-Tracker trial work?
New accounts get 30 days with full features and up to 100 sites, no credit card, with fair-use limits on SMS and API. Afterwards you choose a plan or switch to the free one; paid plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Which payment methods does Host-Tracker accept?
Cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, bank transfer, payment by agreement and cryptocurrency, according to its pricing page.
Try the live tool that powered this guide
Free plan — 10 monitors, checks every 5 min, no card required. Upgrade for 1-minute interval and multi-region monitoring.