An Uptime Kuma alternative that knows your network
Uptime Kuma tells you when something is down. DeviceShelf Server also knows what is on your network in the first place.
Uptime Kuma is an excellent, free self-hosted uptime monitor: you give it URLs and hosts, it checks them and notifies you. What it does not do is discover anything: you have to know your monitors up front, and it can't tell you what a device is or whether it's exposing something it shouldn't.
DeviceShelf Server starts from the other end: it scans and identifies every device on your network, then layers uptime tracking, infrastructure sensors, a security report and alerts on top. Self-hosted, local-first, no account.
DeviceShelf Server vs Uptime Kuma
| Feature | DeviceShelf Server | Uptime Kuma |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime checks (HTTP, TCP, ping) | ✓ | ✓ (plus DNS, keyword, push and more) |
| Device discovery & identification | ✓ (vendor, type, open ports) | — |
| Alert when a new/unknown device joins | ✓ | — |
| Security report (open ports, TLS, SSH, SMB) | ✓ | — |
| Infrastructure sensors (SNMP, Proxmox, NAS, syslog) | ✓ | — |
| Docker monitoring | ✓ | ✓ (container up/down) |
| Notifications | Email, ntfy, Gotify, webhooks (severity routing, digest batching) | 90+ services |
| Public status page | ✓ | ✓ |
| Uptime / SLA history & CSV export | ✓ | ~ (history yes, export limited) |
| Prometheus /metrics | ✓ | ✓ |
| Home Assistant integration | ✓ (MQTT discovery) | ~ (community integration) |
| REST API | ✓ (token-guarded) | ~ (unofficial / partial) |
| Local MCP for AI assistants | ✓ (read-only, off by default) | — |
| Open source | — | ✓ (MIT) |
| Price | Part of the one-time €59 license | Free |
| Install | Docker, .deb, macOS pkg, Windows service | Docker, Node.js |
✓ = yes · — = no · ~ = limited or unofficial. As of July 2026, best-effort from public product pages and documentation; features may change.
Keep Uptime Kuma or switch?
Keep Uptime Kuma if you mainly monitor a known list of websites and services, want the widest choice of notification providers, or want free, open-source software on principle. It does that job very well.
Use DeviceShelf Server if the network itself is the thing you're monitoring: it finds the devices for you, tells you what they are, warns you when something unknown joins, and tracks uptime and infrastructure health on top. The two also coexist fine: plenty of homelabs run a dedicated URL monitor next to a network monitor.
Try it on your own network
DeviceShelf has a 7-day trial, no credit card required. The server edition ships as Docker image, .deb package, macOS package and Windows service — pick your host and compare it with your Kuma dashboard side by side.
Set up DeviceShelf Server See the full comparison hub
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