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Choose the right monitor type
Match each Watchfox monitor type to the website, content, certificate, job, sitemap, or domain question you need answered.
Uptime#
Use Uptime monitoring when the question is: Does this HTTP or HTTPS URL respond acceptably? Watchfox records response state, status evidence, latency, and redirects where available.
Keyword#
Use Keyword monitoring when the question is: Does the fetched response contain, or not contain, specific text? It is useful for server-rendered content checks, but it is not a full browser or JavaScript transaction test.
TLS#
Use TLS certificate monitoring for certificate validity and expiry awareness. It runs on a fixed lower cadence because certificate state changes much less frequently than website availability.
Heartbeat#
Use Heartbeat monitoring when a cron job, backup, import, feed, or scheduled task must call Watchfox. A missing expected ping becomes the monitored failure.
Sitemap#
Use Sitemap monitoring for bounded sitemap validation and obvious broken or redirected URL findings within the supported sitemap scope. It is not a general deep crawler.
Domain#
Use Domain expiry monitoring for registration-expiry risk. Registry and RDAP coverage varies, so an Unknown/source-limited result is not the same as a confirmed outage.
Common combinations#
- Public website: Uptime + TLS + Domain.
- Important landing or checkout page: Uptime + a carefully chosen Keyword rule.
- Scheduled backup or import: Heartbeat, plus Uptime for any related public endpoint when needed.
- Agency maintenance package: Uptime, TLS, Domain, optional Sitemap, and client reporting/status communication.
Probe coverage wording#
Watchfox chooses the primary scheduled probe group automatically. Normal Uptime and Keyword checks use one primary scheduled probe group. Eligible Agency and Pro failures may use additional smart outage verification coverage. Internal probe-group labels are not guaranteed geographic origins.