An Instatus alternative that writes the update

Page-first versus incident-first

Instatus started as a faster, nicer Statuspage and it shows: the pages are quick, the editor is pleasant, and the paid plans are generous with team members and subscribers. Monitoring, on-call and SMS have been added around that core.

UpButler started from the incident. A status page is only as honest as the signal behind it, so the checks come first: HTTP with JSON, header, latency and TLS-expiry assertions, TCP, DNS, heartbeats for cron jobs, manifest endpoints that report many components at once, scripted API checks on Pro and real-browser checks on Business. Failures are re-checked before anything is declared down, and related failures on the same page become one incident.

The update writes its first draft

When an incident opens, UpButler sends the check context to a language model and attaches a report: likely causes, suggested next steps, and a public summary that is safe to post. When it recovers, you get a post-incident summary. Your own notes can be polished with one click before they go out. Free includes 10 reports a month, Starter 100, Pro 1,000 and Business 5,000.

Push status from your own systems

Not every component has a URL to check. A manifest monitor reads one JSON endpoint and maps every key to a component, and any script can push many statuses in one call. Your backend already knows when the search index is rebuilding; let it say so:

{
  "database": "ok",
  "search":   { "status": "degraded", "message": "Reindexing, results may lag" },
  "billing":  "ok",
  "email":    "down"
}

Built for agents from day one

Every dashboard action is also a REST operation and an MCP tool. The MCP server lets Claude, Cursor or your own agent add a monitored service to a status page in one call, open and update incidents, manage subscribers, and read the event stream. An agent without an account can bootstrap a workspace and send its human a link to claim it.

Where Instatus is ahead

Seats and subscribers: 50 team members and 5,000 subscribers on a $20 plan is generous. SMS, phone calls and on-call on the $20 plan: UpButler has no SMS or calls, and keeps on-call rotations for Business. Private and audience-specific pages on higher plans, and SAML SSO on Business. And if you run a non-profit or open-source project, Instatus gives you Pro for free, which is hard to argue with.

Moving from Instatus

UpButler's built-in importer covers Statuspage, UptimeRobot and Better Stack, but not Instatus yet, so this move is manual. Luckily most status pages have a handful of components. List them with the URL that should drive each one and post them to /api/v1/services: each call creates the monitor and the component, in the right group, on your page.

// Recreate your Instatus components as monitored UpButler components
const services = [
  { name: 'Website', url: 'https://acme.com', group: 'Product' },
  { name: 'API', url: 'https://api.acme.com/health', group: 'Product' },
  { name: 'Dashboard', url: 'https://app.acme.com/login', keyword: 'Sign in', group: 'Product' },
];

for (const s of services) {
  await fetch('https://upbutler.com/api/v1/services', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.UPBUTLER_KEY}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ ...s, statusPage: 'acme' }),
  });
}

1. Recreate components (script above, or ask your agent with the MCP server connected).
2. Pick a theme and fonts; on Pro, add custom CSS to match your old page.
3. Share your new address, your-name.upbutler.com. Bring-your-own domains are rolling out, from Starter.
4. Announce the move on your old page. Email subscribers re-confirm through double opt-in; webhook, Slack and Discord subscribers can re-subscribe in a few clicks.