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StayPresent is free because it is a Python package you install and run yourself, not a hosted monitoring subscription. The trade-off is that you provide the infrastructure and handle deployment and process supervision; “free” does not mean a hosted service is doing the work for you.
What StayPresent does
The official StayPresent repository describes a Python utility that runs a web server alongside an application. It monitors processes, can restart crashed workers, and can detect a process that has stopped responding when the application sends heartbeats. Its built-in /status dashboard shows uptime, restart counts, service states, and recent incidents.
StayPresent is therefore software for operating with an application, rather than a monitoring website that the project hosts for you. The repository documents deployment on hosts that expect an application to expose an HTTP port, giving Render, Railway, Koyeb, and Heroku as examples. These are examples, not required providers, and their mention does not establish that any particular plan is free.
Why the software can be free
The article’s explanation is that StayPresent’s publisher does not operate a hosted monitoring service whose servers and usage costs must be recovered through subscriptions. Instead, users run the package on their own deployment. That shifts the infrastructure and operating work to the user, rather than making those costs disappear. The project materials establish the self-hosted design; they do not independently verify the author’s costs or finances.
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This is different from a free tier of a hosted service: StayPresent is distributed as a package you install, and the repository does not present it as a subscription with a usage limit or upgrade gate. The article describes “free forever” as plausible in this model, but neither that explanation nor the project’s current distribution is a promise about future licensing, support, or availability.
What “free” does—and does not—include
- The package: PyPI lists StayPresent 1.7.0 under the MIT License, requires Python 3.8 or later, and offers a
prodextra. PyPI gives the release date as September 11, 2026; package metadata can change, so check the current PyPI listing for the latest release details. - The deployment: You supply the environment that runs your application and StayPresent. Any hosting charges depend on your provider and plan; the package listing does not make the underlying infrastructure free.
- The runtime setup: The repository recommends installing the optional
prodextra to use Waitress instead of Flask’s development server. Follow the project’s deployment instructions for your environment. - The operational work: You remain responsible for configuring and running the application, ensuring it exposes the expected HTTP port, and checking the status dashboard and incidents.
Accounts, privacy, and external requests
The article says StayPresent requires no account or third-party API key and does not phone home. Treat those as claims made by that article, not as independently established privacy guarantees: the repository’s description of the package and its optional self-ping feature does not prove that every version, configuration, or deployment makes no external requests or handles no user data. If that distinction matters, inspect the current code and configuration you intend to run before deploying it.
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Who should choose this model?
StayPresent makes sense if you want process monitoring and recovery inside an application you operate and are comfortable managing the runtime yourself. A hosted monitoring service may suit you better if you need another party to operate the monitoring infrastructure or want a managed account-based workflow. Those models differ in who runs the service and what operational work you retain; the available project information does not establish a feature-by-feature comparison with any specific hosted alternative.
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