Broken Link CheckerAn expiry monitor reads the date a certificate or a domain registration runs out. It mails you well before that day. By the end of this page you will have set one up and know when each warning arrives.
Add an expiry monitor
- Open the project and click Uptime monitor in the sidebar.
- Click Add monitor.
- Set Type to SSL expiry or Domain expiry.
- Give the monitor a Name.
- Fill in the address:
- For SSL expiry, the URL must start with
https://. The monitor reads the certificate of that host. - For Domain expiry, the field is called Domain. Type the bare domain, such as
example.com.
- For SSL expiry, the URL must start with
- Click Add monitor.
The message "Monitor created. The first expiry check runs within minutes." confirms it.
How often it checks
Expiry monitors check once a day on every plan. They also check right after you create or edit one. The Interval column shows "Daily".
The list shows the expiry date and a chip with the days left. The chip is green above 30 days, yellow from 8 to 30 days and red at 7 days or fewer. An expired certificate or domain shows "expired".
When the warnings arrive
Each warning goes out once, by email:
- Certificates: 30 days, 14 days and 7 days before expiry.
- Domains: 30 days and 7 days before expiry.
The subject reads, for example, "Front page certificate expires in 14 days". The mail gives the expiry date and has a View monitor button.
When you renew, the expiry date moves later. The warnings then reset and run again before the new date.
The mail rounds the days down and the chip rounds them up. So the two can differ by one day.
When it expires
An expired certificate or domain opens an incident right away. The cause reads "certificate expired" or "domain expired", and the down alert goes out at once.
A single daily reading opens this incident. It does not wait for a second location or for Alert after. The incident closes, and the recovery mail goes out, once a reading shows a valid date again.
When the list shows "checking"
The monitor could not read the certificate or the registry record. That can happen when the host does not answer. A failed reading never opens an incident and never sends a mail. The monitor tries again the next day.
Domain expiry works for domain endings with a public registry lookup service. That covers .com, .net, .org, .io and most other common endings. Contact support if a domain still shows "checking" after a day.