Create a free public status page

Status page: what is a public status page

A status page is a public web page that displays the real-time health of one or more online services. It indicates whether each endpoint is operational, degraded, or down, lists past incidents, and shows an uptime history. It has become the standard tool for publicly communicating the reliability of a SaaS product to users and customers.

According to a Catchpoint study published in 2024, 78% of B2B users check a vendor's status page before opening a support ticket. A clear status page reduces the volume of incoming tickets by 30 to 50% during an incident, by preventing every user from separately reporting the same problem.

What is a public status page used for

• Incident communication: notify users in real time during an outage, without saturating the support channel.
• Trust and transparency: publicly demonstrate your uptime over 30 or 90 days to reassure prospects and customers.
• Support ticket reduction: prevent each user from opening a ticket for the same ongoing incident.
• SLA and contractual commitments: provide a viewable history to back up your availability commitments.
• Internal team status: share the state of internal services (CI, staging, private API) with your technical teams.

Status page vocabulary

Create a status page in 30 seconds with CaptainDNS

CaptainDNS makes creating a public status page as simple as creating an uptime monitor. No DNS configuration, no paid plan, no trial.

1. Create a free account

Sign up on CaptainDNS with no credit card. The free tier gives you access to HTTP monitors and the associated status pages.

2. Configure your HTTP monitors

Before creating the status page, add the endpoints you want to watch. From the Uptime Monitor tool, set:

• The URL to check (web page, REST API, webhook, healthcheck)
• The check frequency (starting from one minute)
• The expected HTTP method and the acceptable status code
• The latency thresholds to trigger a degraded state

Each HTTP monitor becomes a potential row of your status page.

3. Create the status page

From the Status Pages section of the dashboard, click "Create a status page". Fill in:

• The public title of the page (e.g. "CaptainDNS service status")
• The selection of HTTP monitors to display

4. Customize the branding

Add your logo, your primary color, and an introduction text. The rendering stays clean and readable on mobile and desktop. No paid plan is required to remove the CaptainDNS logo.

5. Share the public URL

CaptainDNS generates a URL with a unique public token. Copy it and broadcast it on:

• The footer of your site
• Your GitHub README
• Transactional emails
• Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams
• Your SLA contracts

No visitor needs to create an account to view the page.

Status page vs Statuspage: why pick a free alternative

The public status page market is dominated by three players: Atlassian Statuspage (29 USD per month minimum), Instatus (20 USD per month), and BetterStack (15 USD per month). All three offer advanced features (subscriber list, webhooks, multiple integrations) but bill for a service that CaptainDNS includes for free with its uptime monitors.

Why a free alternative makes sense

Most projects do not need every feature of Atlassian Statuspage. For a SaaS team of 5 to 50 people, a side project, or a public API, the essentials boil down to three needs:

1. Display the current state of critical endpoints
2. Communicate an incident in real time when something goes down
3. Demonstrate an uptime history over 30 days to reassure

These three needs do not justify a monthly subscription. CaptainDNS covers them by plugging directly into the HTTP monitors you have already set up for internal supervision.

The included with monitoring argument

Buying a status page separately from an uptime monitoring tool creates duplication: you pay on one side to verify availability (Pingdom, UptimeRobot, BetterStack) and on the other to display it (Statuspage, Instatus). With CaptainDNS, the two are linked: a monitor configured once automatically feeds the public status page.

The non-removable logo trap

Several competing services offer a free tier but force a non-removable brand logo, or limit branding to a paid plan. CaptainDNS takes the opposite approach: branding (logo and color) is included from the free tier. The page reflects your identity, not ours.

Customization, branding, and shareable public token

Customizing your status page

Public token and sharing

Each CaptainDNS status page receives a unique identifier (slug) and a shareable public token. The URL is a direct link accessible without authentication. You can:

• Regenerate the token at any time to invalidate the previous link
• Temporarily disable the page without deleting it
• Create several independent status pages (one per customer, for example)

No subscriber list

Unlike Atlassian Statuspage which pushes you toward managing a subscriber list (with email, SMS, Slack opt-in), CaptainDNS stays simple: a link to share, a viewable page. This avoids the additional compliance burden tied to collecting visitor emails and speeds up the rollout.

Custom domain on your status page

Beyond the public token URL, CaptainDNS lets you plug your own subdomain onto a status page. Your page then becomes reachable at status.captaindns.com (or any other subdomain you choose), with a TLS certificate issued automatically.

Why use a custom domain

• Brand consistency: the status page lives on the same domain as your website and transactional emails, with no visual break for your users.
• Trust: a subdomain on your own brand feels more trustworthy than a third-party token link during an incident.
• SEO and controlled indexing: you keep ownership of SEO on your domain, without depending on a CaptainDNS subdomain.
• SLA contracts and public documents: a stable, branded URL fits more naturally in documentation and customer commitments.

How it works

1. Declare the subdomain in CaptainDNS: in the Custom Domain tab of your status page, enter the target subdomain (at least three labels, for example status.captaindns.com).
2. Create the CNAME record: at your registrar or DNS provider, create a CNAME with your chosen subdomain as the name and custom-status.captaindns.com. (with the trailing dot) as the value.
3. Verify ownership: click Verify. CaptainDNS queries DNS and confirms that the CNAME points to the infrastructure.
4. Automatic TLS certificate: once verified, a Let's Encrypt certificate is issued in the background through Fly.io. The status moves from pending to issued within a few seconds to a few minutes.
5. Page served on your domain: as soon as the certificate is issued, your status page responds on https://status.captaindns.com while staying in sync with your HTTP monitors.

No extra TXT verification record is required: the CNAME itself acts as proof of ownership.

DNS record to create

Certificate renewal

The TLS certificate is renewed automatically before expiration as long as the CNAME stays active and correctly pointed. No manual action is required. If the CNAME resolution is broken, renewal fails and the status flips to failed in the interface.

Limitations and rules

• A custom subdomain is tied to a single status page, and each subdomain is globally unique across CaptainDNS.
• The apex domain (for example captaindns.com with no subdomain) is not accepted: a dedicated subdomain is required.
• Removing the custom domain from the interface immediately frees the subdomain for another status page.

Availability by plan

The custom domain is included on the Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. Free and Starter plans keep using the default public token URL, which is also sufficient for internal use or a side project.

European hosting and GDPR compliance

CaptainDNS is an infrastructure hosted in Europe, operated by a European team. Public status pages inherit this characteristic: no data transits through providers outside the EU.

Differences with US-based competitors

Why this matters for a status page

A status page is by definition viewed by your users from any country. If you operate in the EU, you need to make sure that your visitors' data (IP address, user-agent) is not transferred to jurisdictions without an adequacy decision. With CaptainDNS, this constraint is handled natively: no third-party tracker, no external analytics, no fingerprinting.

Cookies and tracking

The CaptainDNS status page sets no tracking cookies. No cookie banner is needed for your visitors. The only technical data collected (IP, user-agent) is used solely to protect against abuse and is not used for analytics or advertising purposes.

Comparison of public status page solutions

Comparison table of the main solutions on the market in 2026.

When to choose another solution

CaptainDNS is not suited to every use case. If you need advanced features (email subscriber list with opt-in, native PagerDuty integrations, detailed post-mortems, large-scale status pages for thousands of services), Atlassian Statuspage remains the reference. CaptainDNS targets teams that want a simple, free public status page, hosted in Europe and synchronized with their HTTP monitoring.

When CaptainDNS is the right choice

• You already have CaptainDNS HTTP monitors or plan to set some up
• You want to avoid a monthly subscription for a status page
• You operate in the EU and GDPR compliance matters
• You prefer link sharing over a subscriber list
• You want clean branding from the free tier

Synchronization with your HTTP monitoring

The major asset of CaptainDNS for status pages is the native synchronization with the Uptime Monitor tool. No third-party integration, no webhook to configure, no glue script to maintain.

How synchronization works

1. You create an HTTP monitor on an endpoint (for example https://api.captaindns.com/health)
2. CaptainDNS runs checks at the configured frequency (1 min, 5 min, 15 min)
3. Each check is stored and feeds the current state of the monitor
4. The status page reads this state in real time and displays it to public visitors
5. If several consecutive checks fail, the monitor goes to down and the page is updated

Displayed states

• Operational: all recent checks respond within thresholds
• Degraded performance: latency exceeds the configured threshold without errors
• Partial outage: some monitors in a group are down
• Major outage: all monitors in a group are down

No incident to create manually

On Atlassian Statuspage, the operator must manually create each incident, update it on every change, then close it. On CaptainDNS, the status follows the real checks automatically. You can optionally add a public note ("Scheduled maintenance", "Cloud infrastructure incident") but the state update is automatic.

Coupling with alerts

HTTP monitors trigger the usual alerts (email, webhook) during an incident. The public status page is updated in parallel, with no extra configuration. One single system, one source of truth, two uses: alerting the team and informing users.

Display an email deliverability score on the status page

A CaptainDNS status page publicly proves that your email is authenticated, not just that your services respond. It can display the email authentication score of a monitored domain (its deliverability), not only HTTP availability. The score out of 100 shows up next to your endpoints: your customers see it without having to take your word for it.

Two CaptainDNS tools meet here: the deliverability monitoring, which rescans a domain at regular intervals, and the status page, which publishes its latest result. No on-the-fly rescan when a visitor opens the page. It reads the latest known snapshot, nothing more.

What the visitor sees

• The overall score out of 100 of the monitored domain.
• The 3 pillars: outbound (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), inbound (MX, MTA-STS, DANE, TLS-RPT), and DNS security (DNSSEC, CAA), each with its own score.
• The status of each of these 10 records (present/compliant or not).
• The date of the last check and a link to the detailed report, run live.

The raw content of the records is never published. The visitor sees a status, not your SPF configuration line by line. No leak of the inner workings of your email setup.

Deliverability monitor quota by plan

The number of deliverability monitors you can assign to a status page depends on your plan.

The free tier already displays a deliverability score. No credit card to get started. Free lets you publish the score; Solo adds the official domain badge and the context notes your customers expect from an official page. Create the monitor to publish from the Email Security Monitoring.

Official domain badge: an authenticity signal against phishing

The "Verified official domain: captaindns.com" badge publicly attests that the status page truly belongs to the domain owner. The proof rests on a TXT ownership verification record, not on a mere claim. During an incident, this signal reduces the risk that a visitor lands on a fake status page set up by an attacker. The same proof-by-DNS-record logic underpins email authentication.

During an outage, an attacker can spread a fake status page to harvest panicked credentials. The badge gives your users a verifiable reference point: they know they are on the real page.

How to enable it

1. Verify domain ownership: publish the TXT record requested by CaptainDNS at your DNS provider. The domain switches to verified.
2. Designate it as the official domain: in the status page settings, choose the verified domain to display as a badge.
3. The badge appears: "Verified official domain: captaindns.com" shows up on the public page. Several domains can be attested.

The badge is only rendered while the TXT verification still holds. If the proof disappears, the badge disappears with it. Available from the Solo plan: you then only need to have verified domain ownership. Verify your domain, then display the badge on your status page.

Official domain and custom domain: two distinct things

Do not confuse the two. They serve different needs and stack together.

You can display the official badge on a page served through the default token URL, or combine both for a page under your domain and certified.

Public notes per monitor

A public note is a short text displayed under a monitor on the status page, to spell out context that a green or red light does not tell. Scheduled maintenance tonight? Ongoing cloud infrastructure incident? One line under the relevant monitor, and your visitors are in the loop. This is what turns a red status into useful communication: fewer identical tickets, fewer users left in the dark.

The note accepts restricted Markdown: bold, italic, lists, links, and headings. It works just as well on an HTTP monitor as on a deliverability monitor. Writing public notes is available from the Solo plan.

When to use a public note

• Announce a maintenance window before it starts.
• Give the context of an ongoing incident ("cloud provider outage, ETA 2pm").
• State that an endpoint is intentionally offline (staging environment).
• Point to a detailed incident page through a link.

Write your first note before the next maintenance.

Public status pages FAQ

Q: What is a status page?

A: A status page is a public web page that displays the real-time availability of one or more online services. It indicates whether each endpoint is operational, degraded, or down, lists current and past incidents, and shows an uptime history. It is the standard tool for communicating the reliability of a service to its users.

Q: How do I create a status page for free?

A: Create a CaptainDNS account, configure at least one HTTP monitor through the Uptime Monitor tool, then create a status page from the dashboard. Select the monitors to display, customize the branding, and share the generated public URL. No credit card and no DNS configuration are required.

Q: What is the best free alternative to Atlassian Statuspage?

A: CaptainDNS offers a free alternative to Atlassian Statuspage included with its uptime monitors. Unlike the Statuspage plan at 29 USD per month or Instatus at 20 USD, CaptainDNS does not bill the feature and includes branding right from the free tier. Status pages are hosted in Europe and automatically synchronized with your HTTP checks.

Q: Is a CaptainDNS status page hosted in Europe?

A: Yes. The CaptainDNS infrastructure is hosted in Europe and GDPR compliant. No third-party cookies, no external trackers, and no data transfer to jurisdictions outside the EU. Your visitors do not have to accept a cookie banner to view the status page.

Q: Can I customize the branding of my status page?

A: Yes, the logo is customizable right from the free tier. The other elements (page title, primary color, and Markdown introduction text) are available on paid plans. Monitor grouping is available from the Solo plan. The layout stays deliberately clean to remain readable on every screen.

Q: How do I share my status page with my users?

A: Each status page receives a unique public token and a direct URL to share (for example via email, Slack, README, or site footer). You do not need to invite users or manage a subscriber list: anyone with the link can view the page.

Q: How many monitors can I display on a status page?

A: The number of monitors per status page follows your uptime monitor quota. The free tier lets you display several HTTP monitors. You can create several independent status pages (one per customer, per product, or per environment).

Q: Can I display a deliverability score on my status page?

A: Yes. Assign a deliverability monitor to the page and the monitored domain's score out of 100 appears publicly: overall score, 3 pillars (outbound, inbound, DNS security), and the status of 10 records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, MX, MTA-STS, DANE, TLS-RPT, DNSSEC, CAA), with a link to the detailed report. The deliverability monitor quota per page depends on the plan: 1 on Free, 3 on Solo, 5 on Starter, 15 on Pro, 40 on Business, unlimited on Enterprise.

Q: How do I add a verified official domain badge?

A: First verify domain ownership by publishing the TXT record requested by CaptainDNS. Once the domain is verified, select it as the official domain of the status page: the "Verified official domain: captaindns.com" badge then shows up publicly. This option is available from the Solo plan (the domain TXT verification is still required), and you can attest several domains.

Q: Are the official domain badge and the custom domain the same thing?

A: No, they are two distinct things. The custom domain serves the page under your own subdomain (for example status.captaindns.com), on the Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, through a CNAME. The official domain badge is an authenticity signal, backed by a TXT ownership record, displayed on the page whatever its URL, from the Solo plan. You can use one, the other, or both.

Q: What are public notes per monitor?

A: A public note is a short text in restricted Markdown (bold, italic, lists, links, headings) displayed under a monitor on the status page, whether it is an HTTP or a deliverability monitor. It is used to spell out context: scheduled maintenance, ongoing incident, environment specifics. Public notes are available from the Solo plan.

Q: Is the status page indexed by Google?

A: By default, public CaptainDNS status pages are accessible through their token URL but are not indexed by Google (meta robots noindex tag). This avoids polluting your SEO with technical pages. You retain full control over distribution through the shared URL.

Q: Can I use my own domain for my status page?

A: Yes, on the Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. You declare a subdomain (for example status.captaindns.com) from the Custom Domain tab of the status page, add a CNAME record pointing to custom-status.captaindns.com., then click Verify. CaptainDNS then issues a Let's Encrypt TLS certificate automatically. One custom subdomain per status page, globally unique.

Q: How do I set up a custom domain on a status page?

A: From the Custom Domain tab of your status page, enter the target subdomain (for example status.captaindns.com). At your registrar or DNS provider, create a CNAME record with your subdomain as the name and custom-status.captaindns.com. as the value. Go back to CaptainDNS and click Verify. Once DNS propagation is complete, the check turns green and the TLS certificate is provisioned.

Q: Is the custom domain TLS certificate managed automatically?

A: Yes. As soon as the CNAME is verified, CaptainDNS triggers the issuance of a Let's Encrypt certificate through the Fly.io infrastructure. The certificate status is displayed in real time (pending, issued, failed) in the interface. No manual renewal: certificates are renewed automatically before expiration as long as the CNAME stays active.

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