How to Install Uptime Kuma on a VPS for Status Monitoring

Uptime Kuma is a free, open-source, self-hosted monitoring tool that tracks the availability of your websites, APIs, and services in real time, with a clean dashboard and built-in alert notifications. This guide walks through installing it on a VPS using Docker.

Before starting, connect to your VPS via SSH with a user that has sudo privileges.

Step 1: Install Docker

If Docker isn't already installed on your server, install it using the official convenience script:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

Enable and start the Docker service:

sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Step 2: Create a Directory for Uptime Kuma

Create a dedicated folder to keep Uptime Kuma's data organized, then move into it:

mkdir ~/uptime-kuma && cd ~/uptime-kuma

Step 3: Run Uptime Kuma with Docker

Start the Uptime Kuma container with a single Docker command. This maps the dashboard to port 3001 and stores its data in a persistent Docker volume:

docker run -d \
  --name uptime-kuma \
  --restart=unless-stopped \
  -p 3001:3001 \
  -v uptime-kuma:/app/data \
  louislam/uptime-kuma:1

Docker will download the Uptime Kuma image and start the container in the background. This may take a moment on the first run.

Step 4: Open Port 3001 in the Firewall

If your VPS uses UFW, allow access to the dashboard port:

sudo ufw allow 3001/tcp

For added security, you can restrict this to your own IP address instead of opening it to everyone:

sudo ufw allow from YOUR_IP_ADDRESS to any port 3001

Step 5: Access the Uptime Kuma Dashboard

Open a browser and go to your VPS IP address on port 3001:

http://your-vps-ip:3001

On first access, you'll be prompted to create an administrator username and password. Uptime Kuma has no built-in password recovery option, so store these credentials securely.

Once logged in, you can start adding monitors for websites, APIs, ports, or other services, and configure alert notifications through channels such as Telegram, Discord, or email.

Since Uptime Kuma runs continuously to check your services, it needs a stable, always-on environment. A Linux VPS gives you the dedicated resources and uptime needed to keep monitoring reliable around the clock.

With Uptime Kuma running, you now have a self-hosted status monitoring dashboard that alerts you the moment something goes down, without relying on a third-party service.