TunnelHQ vs UptimeRobot
UptimeRobot is a respected, mass-market uptime monitor that does HTTP, ping, port, and keyword checks at massive scale. TunnelHQ is a VPN-specific monitor that performs actual protocol handshakes on WireGuard, OpenVPN, VLESS, and 7+ other VPN protocols. They're aimed at different problems — here's how to pick.
TL;DR
Pick UptimeRobot if: you're monitoring websites, APIs, SSL certificates, or generic TCP ports. UptimeRobot's free tier is generous (50 monitors with 5-minute intervals) and their interface is solid.
Pick TunnelHQ if: you're monitoring VPN servers and need to know whether the VPN actually works — not just whether a port is open. TunnelHQ catches silent WireGuard handshake failures, expired OpenVPN certs, VLESS REALITY drift, and other issues invisible to port-only monitors.
The fundamental difference
UptimeRobot monitors that a TCP port is open or that an HTTP endpoint returns 2xx. That works perfectly for websites.
It doesn't work for VPNs. Here's the problem:
- A WireGuard server on UDP/51820 will appear "up" to any port probe — the kernel's WireGuard module responds to all UDP packets on that port. Even if every client's key has been invalidated, even if the preshared key expired — the port is still "up". UptimeRobot sees green. Your users see failed connections.
- An OpenVPN server on TCP/443 will complete a TLS handshake with any incoming connection. UptimeRobot sees green. But if the server cert expired, if TLS-Auth keys don't match, if the OpenVPN process crashed but systemd is restarting it — users see "TLS error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds". UptimeRobot still sees green.
- A VLESS server fronted by REALITY literally looks indistinguishable from a generic HTTPS site. UptimeRobot will get a 200 from the masquerade target. Meanwhile Xray has crashed and VLESS clients are failing.
TunnelHQ performs the actual VPN protocol handshake using your config's keys and peer details. Only a real successful handshake counts as "up". You know the VPN works, not just that the port answers.
Feature comparison
| TunnelHQ | UptimeRobot | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | VPN server monitoring | Generic website/API/TCP monitoring |
| WireGuard | Full handshake check | UDP port probe only |
| OpenVPN | Full TLS + control channel handshake | TCP/UDP port probe only |
| VLESS / VMess / Trojan / Shadowsocks | Native URI auto-detect and real handshake | Not supported — generic TCP only |
| Hysteria2 / IKEv2 / OpenConnect | Native protocol-aware checks | Not supported |
| Subscription URL monitoring | Yes — auto-detects rotation | Not supported |
| Free tier | 5 monitors, 10-minute intervals | 50 monitors, 5-minute intervals (more generous for HTTP) |
| Fastest interval | 1 minute (Business) | 30 seconds (paid plans) |
| Global check locations | US, EU, APAC, SA | 13+ regions — strong coverage |
| REST API | 30–120 req/min by plan | 10 req/10s — well-documented |
| Status pages | Included | Included |
| Team workspaces / RBAC | Yes (Owner/Admin/Manager/Viewer) | Team plan available |
When UptimeRobot is the better choice
UptimeRobot is a mature, well-liked product. Pick it if:
- You're monitoring websites, REST APIs, or generic services (not VPN-specific)
- You need 30-second intervals for a large fleet of HTTP endpoints
- Your VPN monitoring needs are "does the port answer?" and that's actually sufficient for your use case
- You want their status page ecosystem and broad integration library
When TunnelHQ is the better choice
Pick TunnelHQ if you've ever experienced any of these:
- Your uptime monitor said "up" but customers reported VPN outages
- You're running WireGuard, OpenVPN, VLESS, or other VPN protocols and want real handshake validation
- You operate a V2Ray/Xray subscription URL service and need config-rotation detection
- You've written custom scripts to do VPN health checks and want to stop maintaining them
- You need to prove uptime SLAs to VPN customers — port pings don't cut it for that
Can I use both?
Yes — many teams do. UptimeRobot for websites and APIs, TunnelHQ for VPN servers. Both have webhook alerting, so both can route into the same on-call system.