Lunalytics vs PHP Server Monitor
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Lunalytics
Simple self-hosted website and service uptime monitor
VS
PHP Server Monitor
Simple PHP tool for monitoring servers and websites
| Feature | Lunalytics | PHP Server Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 19 · At risk |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | CSS | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1 | ★ 2,188 |
| First released | 2023 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Pingdom, Better Uptime | Pingdom, UptimeRobot |
What are Lunalytics and PHP Server Monitor?
Lunalytics
Lunalytics is a self-hosted uptime monitoring application that tracks websites and services and notifies you of downtime. It offers a clean interface, multi-user support, and several notification channels.
- Website and API monitoring
- Multi-user access
- Notification integrations
- Clean dashboard
PHP Server Monitor
PHP Server Monitor is a lightweight script that checks whether websites and servers are up and sends notifications by email, SMS, or messaging services when they go down. It runs on common LAMP hosting.
- Website and port checks
- Email and SMS alerts
- Uptime history
- Runs on shared hosting
Lunalytics vs PHP Server Monitor: key differences
Lunalytics is written in CSS, while PHP Server Monitor is built with PHP. PHP Server Monitor is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Lunalytics. PHP Server Monitor is the more established project (first released 2010), while Lunalytics arrived in 2023. PHP Server Monitor has the considerably larger community, at 2,188 GitHub stars versus 1.
Why pick each one
Choose Lunalytics if…
- Easy to set up
- Friendly interface
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Smaller feature set
Choose PHP Server Monitor if…
- Very easy to deploy
- Low resource use
Watch out for
- Basic feature set
- Limited graphing
Frequently asked questions
Is Lunalytics or PHP Server Monitor better?
Neither is universally better. PHP Server Monitor has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lunalytics and PHP Server Monitor free and open-source?
Yes. Lunalytics is licensed under GPL-3.0 and PHP Server Monitor under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lunalytics and PHP Server Monitor with Docker?
Lunalytics: yes. PHP Server Monitor: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Lunalytics or PHP Server Monitor?
PHP Server Monitor has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Lunalytics. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.