HTTP Monitoring Setup

HTTP monitoring makes a request to your URL and considers it successful if the server responds with a status code in the 200–399 range within 10 seconds. This guide covers the full range of configuration options.

Standard HTTP check

The default check sends a HEAD request to your URL. This is lightweight and works for most websites and APIs — it confirms the server is responding without downloading the full response body.

Keyword monitoring

If you need to verify that a page is returning the correct content — not just that it's responding — use keyword monitoring. UptimeWiz fetches the full page body using a GET request and checks that the keyword appears in the response.

• Useful for catching maintenance-mode pages that return HTTP 200 but show a placeholder page
• Detects application-level errors that the server doesn't express as 5xx status codes
• Keyword matching is case-sensitive
• Set your keyword to a unique string that only appears when your app is healthy (e.g. a specific heading or JSON field name)

Custom headers

For APIs that require authentication or specific headers, configure custom request headers on each monitor. Common examples:

• Authorization: Bearer your-api-key
• X-API-Key: your-api-key
• Accept: application/json
• User-Agent: UptimeWiz-Monitor

Response validation rules

A check is considered successful when all of the following are true:

• The server responds within 10 seconds
• The HTTP status code is between 200 and 399 (inclusive)
• If a keyword is configured: the keyword appears in the response body

Redirects and SSL

Redirects (301, 302, and others) are followed automatically. The final destination's status code is used for validation, so a redirect to a healthy page still passes. SSL certificate errors are currently treated permissively and do not fail the check — this prevents false alerts for services with self-signed certificates.