Private (Standalone) Heartbeat Monitors
Last updated: 2026-06-30
A private heartbeat (also called a standalone heartbeat) runs and alerts exactly like any other heartbeat monitor, but it is not attached to a status page and never appears in any public view. This mirrors private (standalone) monitors for regular uptime checks.
Use a private heartbeat when:
- You’re monitoring an internal cron job, backup script, or background worker that has no customer-facing equivalent
- You need alerting without exposing anything on a customer-facing status page
- You’re testing a new job’s ping cadence before deciding whether to publish it
- You moved a job off your status page but still want to keep monitoring it
Requirements
Private heartbeats require a paid plan. Free plans do not include standalone heartbeat slots.
Quota
Private heartbeats use a separate quota calculated from your plan’s heartbeat limit:
Standalone slots = floor(heartbeat quota / 3)
Page-attached heartbeats do not count toward the standalone quota, and standalone heartbeats do not count toward your per-page heartbeat limit.
How to Create a Private Heartbeat
Go to Heartbeats → Create Heartbeat.
In the Status Page dropdown, select None — private heartbeat (alerts only).
Fill in the rest of the form as normal.
Note: the Show on public status page checkbox and Public Name field are hidden once you select private — there’s no status page for them to apply to.
Click Create Heartbeat.
If you have no status pages yet, the dropdown defaults to the private option automatically (paid plans only).
How Private Heartbeats Appear in the Dashboard
A muted Private badge appears on the heartbeat’s row in place of the status page link, and on its detail page next to the status badge. A small N private summary badge also appears near the quota bar at the top of the Heartbeats list.
Detaching a Heartbeat from a Status Page
You can convert any existing page-attached heartbeat into a private heartbeat at any time. It keeps running, keeps its ping history, and keeps sending alerts — it simply disappears from the public status page.
- Open Heartbeats.
- Find the heartbeat and click the lock icon (Make Private) on its row — or open the heartbeat’s detail page and click Detach from Status Page.
- Confirm in the dialog.
Detaching clears the status page, public visibility, and public name for that heartbeat. The Notification Channels card on the detail page lets you assign per-heartbeat alert channels once it’s private.
Publishing a Private Heartbeat to a Status Page
To move a private heartbeat onto a status page, edit it and select a status page in the form — no separate “publish” step is needed:
- Open the heartbeat’s Edit form.
- Select a Status Page.
- Save.
The Show on public status page and Public Name fields reappear once a status page is selected, so you can configure public visibility in the same save.
Alerts
Private heartbeats fire alerts exactly like page-attached heartbeats — missed, recovered, escalation reminders, and drift warnings all work the same way. The only difference is that downtime is never reflected on any public status page.
Because a private heartbeat has no status page to inherit channels from, configure alert channels per heartbeat from the Notification Channels card on its detail page (the same card every heartbeat already has).
See also: Notification Channels Overview