Jetpack Monitor (called Downtime Monitoring in the documentation) is free and built into the Jetpack plugin, so many WordPress sites have it "by the way". It does one thing: every five minutes it asks the homepage for its response code. This comparison shows what follows from that and when it is enough.
| MonitorWWW | Jetpack Monitor | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From 49 PLN net per year; 30-day free trial | Free, no Jetpack plan required |
| What is checked | Availability, page content, SSL, DNS, headers, WordPress version and vulnerabilities, exposed files, malware | Homepage response code (a HEAD request), number of redirects and response time |
| Interval | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Outage confirmation | A re-check after a delay set by the user before the alert goes out | Three additional servers in different locations must confirm the outage |
| Requirements | None — nothing is installed on the site | The Jetpack plugin installed and connected |
| Platforms other than WordPress | Yes — any site, plus checks for PrestaShop, Magento, Shopify and WHMCS | No — WordPress with Jetpack only |
| Alerts | Email (to any address), SMS, Telegram, webhook | Email only to the account that connected Jetpack, plus push notifications in the mobile app |
| SSL certificate and domain expiry | Yes, with an alert ahead of time | No |
| WordPress version and known vulnerabilities | Yes | Not as part of this feature |
| Reports | History, email and PDF reports | None |
What Jetpack Monitor will not see
Jetpack's documentation states plainly that only the homepage is checked, and only its response code. In practice the monitor will consider the site up when:
- the homepage returns a 200 status but shows a database error or a blank page,
- the cart or payments in a store are broken while the homepage works,
- Cloudflare sits in front of the site and serves a cached copy although the server is down — the documentation lists this as a limitation,
- the SSL certificate is about to expire or the domain was not renewed,
- a foreign script has appeared in the page source.
We wrote more about why a 200 status alone is not enough for a store in WooCommerce Monitoring: Why Jetpack Alone Isn't Enough.
When Jetpack Monitor is enough
- You have one WordPress site, already use Jetpack and simply want to know when the site stops responding altogether.
- You do not sell anything and an hour of downtime does not cost you money.
- One email address for notifications is enough.
When MonitorWWW is the better choice
- You run a store or a site where downtime or a breach has a real cost.
- You want to know about known vulnerabilities, an expiring certificate and suspicious code, not only that the site is not responding.
- The alert should reach several people or a phone — by SMS or Telegram.
- You look after client sites and do not want to install Jetpack on each of them.
See what Jetpack does not show you
Enter a site address in the free scanner — no sign-up and nothing to install.
Run the scannerSource for Jetpack Monitor data: jetpack.com/support/monitor.
Information about Jetpack Monitor comes from that tool's official pages, as of 2026-10-10. Competitor prices and limits change — check them at the source before deciding. If anything here is out of date, let us know and we will correct it.