Dig before you build. Under every rough idea are the tools already selling it, who would pay, and what people search for.
Dig through this one, a status page for small SaaS teams. 2 free digs, no card.
The note
“status page and uptime monitor for small saas teams that phones whoever is on call when it goes down”
- tools already sell it
- 7
- searches a month
- 8,380
- US software companies
- 76,299
UptimeRobot, OneUptime, Uptime Monitor
“status page” alone is 2,400
US Census Bureau, Statistics of US Businesses, 2022
The gap
Nobody manages the schedule for whoever is on call.
“After the Cloudflare outage yesterday, I realised we don't have anything in place for monitoring uptime end-to-end.”
Who already sells it? 7 tools, for the status page. Each one read for its prices and its reviews, and marked against every part of the idea.
On its home page
“Meet the #1 uptime monitoring service.”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: does it
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does it
- Small SaaS teams: does some of it
What its users complain about
- Free plans are too restrictive2
- The interface is clunky, unintuitive, or dated1
What its users say
“The platform does have a few limitations worth noting: it lacks advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, the UI—while functional—is not particularly modern or highly customizable, and historical data retention is somewhat limited on the lower-tier plans.”
“When setting up a test monitor, the service promoted paid options too aggressively, which made the process feel somewhat pushy.”
On its home page
“Agentic observability”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: does it
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does some of it
- Small SaaS teams: doesn’t
What its users complain about
- The software feels buggy or unfinished3
What its users say
“I've purchased a 3 Tier License and I set the service aside for about a year without using it. Then, one year later I found that the app displayed an error to me related to an unpaid invoice.”
“If you have an issue hosting it yourself, you may find yourself delving into the configurations of other people or the code to try and see why it's not working.”
On its home page
“Uptime Monitoring Done Right”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: doesn’t
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: does it
- API endpoint monitoring: does some of it
- Small SaaS teams: doesn’t
What its users complain about
- Alerts lack styling and customization options2
What its users say
“I would love email notifications to be a bit more informative. It's a very simple message without any layout at the moment and it would be lovely for the team to consider adding some style.”
“I would also love to see a registration with Google, instead of creating a user/password”
On its home page
“The Website Monitoring Service for Unmatched Uptime Monitoring”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: doesn’t
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does it
- Small SaaS teams: doesn’t
What its users complain about
- Pricing is rigid, opaque, or changes suddenly2
- The interface is clunky, unintuitive, or dated1
- Alerts lack styling and customization options1
What its users say
“The mobile app has some limitations on iOS. For example, in certain situations, I am unable to edit checks directly from the app. Additionally, I occasionally receive false alarms or an excessive number of notifications.”
“If there’s one area for improvement, it would be the customization options for alert emails. A bit more control over the formatting and content would make a great tool even better.”
On its home page
“Uptime monitoring and alerts. The call is yours.”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: doesn’t
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does some of it
- Small SaaS teams: does some of it
What its users complain about
- Free plans are too restrictive3
- The interface is clunky, unintuitive, or dated1
- Alerts lack styling and customization options1
What its users say
“The free tier is quite limited in features and monitoring frequency, meaning you will likely need to upgrade to a paid plan relatively quickly to unlock its full potential.”
“Pulsetic can't even bypass Cloudflare/captcha, which means it can't reach any modern website, lol. So what's the point of this crap?”
On its home page
“The active reliability layer for developers & agents.”
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: doesn’t
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does it
- Small SaaS teams: doesn’t
What its users complain about
- Pricing is rigid, opaque, or changes suddenly2
- The interface is clunky, unintuitive, or dated1
What its users say
“Sometimes it feels a bit too technical, especially for non-developers. Setting up advanced checks or fully understanding some of the terminology can take time.”
“The pricing tiers can feel a bit rigid—especially for growing teams that fall between the limits of Starter and Team plans. More flexible or usage-based billing would be helpful.”
On its home page
“Website Monitoring That Never Blinks”
Prices
- Synthetic Monitoring$16.50/mo
- Real User Monitoring$16.50/mo
- Enterpriseask
Against your idea
- Uptime and status page: does it
- Automated phone alerts: doesn’t
- On call rotation: doesn’t
- Custom domain status: doesn’t
- API endpoint monitoring: does some of it
- Small SaaS teams: doesn’t
What its users say
“Never heard back from the sales department, we needed to change payment details. Terrible customer experience.”
“I was using this service for years and everything was at least acceptable. But recently my account was suspended few days after payment for the next month.”
- N°08NobodyRotating schedule of developers
What their users complain about, across all 7
- Free plans are too restrictive5
- The interface is clunky, unintuitive, or dated4
- Pricing is rigid, opaque, or changes suddenly4
- Alerts lack styling and customization options4
- The software feels buggy or unfinished3
Who would pay for it? 76,299 US software companies, for the status page. Counted from public tables, times what the tools charge. No figure is a model’s guess.
ideas.so
Market
Status page and uptime monitor for small SaaS teams
Run xc419e · 4 Oct 2026
Who could pay
What they pay, a month
if every one paid
Where you’d start
The share you could win
Server uptime monitoring, North America, 2024. Bigger, because it counts every business with servers, not only software companies.
- 1US Census Bureau, Statistics of US Businesses, 2022
- 2IBISWorld, Software Publishing in the US
- 3Dataintelo, Server Uptime Monitoring Market Report
- 4The tools’ pricing pages, Oct 2026
No figure is a model’s guess
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Is anyone looking for it? 8,380 Google searches a month, for the status page, and posts where people describe the problem in their own words.
Some demand 3.3 of 5
−12% on the year before · US · Google
The verdict is about people shopping for this kind of product; Google doesn’t count searches for what makes this one different. Each signal is scored 1 to 5: how many search counts for 40%, what advertisers pay to reach them for half, and growth on the year before for the rest. Strong is 3.5 and up, little is under 2.
25 searches, a month on average
| Search | Searches | Cost per click | On the year before |
|---|---|---|---|
| status page | 2,400 | $18.05 | 0% |
| status page app | 1,900 | — | +19% |
| uptime monitor | 880 | $23.13 | −45% |
| web uptime monitor | 390 | $29.52 | −56% |
| uptime monitoring tools | 320 | $34.97 | −20% |
| uptime monitoring services | 260 | $16.83 | −47% |
| app status page | 260 | — | +11% |
| website downtime tracker | 210 | $6.34 | +11% |
| system status page | 210 | $10.00 | −64% |
| free uptime monitoring | 170 | $12.51 | −52% |
What people write
a customer reported the website down but it works for me please…
After the Cloudflare outage yesterday, I realised we don't have anything in place for monitoring uptime end-to-end.
How a dig works. From a rough note to research with its sources, in a few minutes, for one credit.
1. Write the idea the way you’d say it
A rough note is enough. No form, no pitch deck.
2. Answer what it asks
Questions about your note, one at a time, each with suggested answers and room for your own.
3. Start digging
One credit. Competitors, market and demand are researched at once, and the page fills in as each lands.
4. Read the Brief
Your idea in one sentence, then one line per section. Each line opens its research, with every source.
5. Hand over the PRD
What to build first, each item tied to what research found. Copy it as Markdown for your coding agent.
One dig, one credit. Your first 2 are free, no card. After that, the bigger the plan, the cheaper each dig.
Free. 2 digs to start, once. No card.
Get started- Choose Trowel
- Choose Spade
SpadeFits your 8
$19a month
10 digs a month
$1.90 a dig
- Choose Pickaxe
- Choose Excavator
Spade, $19 a month2 to spare
- A dig researches competitors, market and demand, and writes the PRD.
- You’re only charged when the research found something.
- Run out? Top up at your plan’s rate, 5 at a time. Top-ups never expire.
- Plan credits reset each month and don’t roll over.
Before your first dig. Where the numbers come from, how a dig runs and what happens to your idea.
- Where do the numbers come from?
- Search counts are Google’s own. Buyer counts come from US Census tables, or from figures printed on public pages, kept only when the page says them word for word. Prices are read off each tool’s pricing page. Posts are quoted as Google shows them, with a link to the thread. The AI decides what to read and what fits your idea; code does every sum.
- Is the research US-only?
- Mostly. Searches, search counts and competitors are looked up from the US, in English. Market counts US buyers unless your idea names another country, and then it counts from that country’s public figures.
- How long does a dig take?
- Usually 2 to 5 minutes. Demand shows up first, in under a minute, and the other sections fill in as they finish.
- Can I change my answers after the dig?
- No. An answer is final once you give it, so the research always matches what you said. To try another angle, write it as a new idea.
- What if a section fails?
- Press Try again on it. While the dig is still running, that’s free. Once it has finished, the section runs as a new dig, charged only if it finds something.
- Can I hand the PRD to a coding agent?
- Yes. Copy it as Markdown or download the .md file, and give it to Claude Code, Cursor or whatever you build with.
- What’s a credit?
- One dig: competitors, market, demand and the PRD, for one idea. If every section fails, the dig is free.
- Do unused credits roll over?
- A plan’s credits are for that month and reset when it renews. Top-ups never expire, and they’re spent after the month’s credits.
- Can I cancel?
- Any time. Your plan runs to the end of the month you’ve paid for. Used credits and part-months aren’t refunded. If you were charged twice, or charged for a dig that shows nothing, write to [email protected] and we’ll put it right.
- Can my team share credits?
- Yes. Credits belong to the workspace, so everyone you invite digs from the same balance.
- What happens to my idea?
- It stays in your workspace. We don’t sell it, and we don’t use it to train AI models.
- Can I write my idea in another language?
- Yes. The questions, the Brief and the PRD come back in the language you wrote in. The research itself searches in English, so Demand measures what people type in English.