Instatus vs OpenStatus
Instatus fast, cheap status pages with an unusually generous free tier. OpenStatus open-source monitoring and status pages, hosted or self-run. Here is how they actually differ.
Verdict in one line each
Instatus
Choose it if: Small teams who want a credible public status page without a per-subscriber bill.
Watch out: Enterprise procurement checkboxes (SSO, audit logs, DPAs) are thinner than the incumbents'.
OpenStatus
Choose it if: Teams with a self-hosting requirement, or who want to avoid vendor lock-in on incident data.
Watch out: Younger project than the incumbents. Self-hosting means you own the uptime of your uptime tool.
Differences that actually matter
- Self-hostable: OpenStatus supports it, Instatus does not.
Not yet verified for both: sms notifications, embeddable widget, private status pages, audience-specific pages, built-in uptime monitoring, sso / saml. We leave these blank rather than guessing.
Full feature comparison
Rows where the two tools differ are highlighted.
| Feature | Instatus | OpenStatus |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domainServe the status page on your own domain, e.g. status.example.com. | Yes | Yes |
| Remove vendor brandingWhether the vendor's own branding can be removed from the public page. | Yes | Yes |
| Per-component statusBreak the page into individual services or components with independent states. | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduled maintenanceAnnounce planned windows in advance and notify subscribers. | Yes | Yes |
| Email subscribersLet customers subscribe to incident updates by email. | Yes | Yes |
| SMS notificationsDeliver incident updates over SMS. | Yes | Not verified |
| Slack notificationsPush incident updates into a Slack workspace. | Yes | Yes |
| WebhooksFire an HTTP callback when incident state changes. | Yes | Yes |
| RSS / Atom feedMachine-readable incident feed. | Yes | Yes |
| Embeddable widgetDrop a live status badge or banner into your own app. | Yes | Not verified |
| Private status pagesRestrict the page to authenticated or invited viewers. | Yes | Not verified |
| Audience-specific pagesShow different components to different customer segments. | Not verified | Not verified |
| Built-in uptime monitoringThe tool can detect outages itself, rather than only displaying states you set manually. | Not verified | Yes |
| Public APICreate and update incidents programmatically. | Yes | Yes |
| SSO / SAMLSingle sign-on for your internal team members. | Not verified | Not verified |
| Self-hostableSource available and deployable on your own infrastructure. | No | Yes |
Yes supported · No not supported · not yet verified by us (we show a dash rather than guessing).
Pricing
Pricing
Not yet verified. We have not independently confirmed this against the vendor since the last pricing change. Check the vendor page before relying on it.
Pricing
Not yet verified. We have not independently confirmed this against the vendor since the last pricing change. Check the vendor page before relying on it.
What each one looks like
Common questions
Do Instatus and OpenStatus include uptime monitoring?
OpenStatus includes its own uptime monitoring. If you already run a monitoring stack, a bundled monitor is overlap rather than value; if you do not, buying both separately usually costs more.
Can Instatus or OpenStatus be self-hosted?
OpenStatus can be deployed on your own infrastructure. The other option in this comparison is hosted only.
What is the main difference between Instatus and OpenStatus?
On verified features: OpenStatus supports self-hostable and Instatus does not. Beyond the checklist, enterprise procurement checkboxes (sso, audit logs, dpas) are thinner than the incumbents'.
Which is cheaper, Instatus or OpenStatus?
Pricing in this category moves often and both vendors meter different things, so we link to the live pricing pages rather than quoting figures we have not re-verified. The variable that usually decides it is subscriber count: tools that charge per notified subscriber get expensive at exactly the point your product starts working.