# API Monitor

> Watch a real monitor run for your URL.

API Monitor schedules a real Postman monitor for a URL you paste, runs it on a repeating schedule from a Postman server, and shows each run — response time, status, and pass/fail — on a live chart.

Also: api monitor, website monitor, uptime monitor, api uptime monitoring, endpoint monitoring, monitor a url, scheduled api check, api monitoring tool.

## What it does

A one-off check tells you a site is up right now; a monitor tells you when it goes down while you are not watching. Paste a URL and this provisions a real monitor for it, runs it straight away, then polls its run history onto a dashboard as further runs land. The first result arrives in seconds and the monitor then runs every minute — sign up to keep it running continuously and get alerted on failures.

## When to use it

- You want to see what monitoring an endpoint looks like before committing to setup.
- You just shipped and want a scheduled check watching the endpoint, not a single sample.
- You need to know the moment an API starts failing, not the next time you happen to look.
- You want response-time history for an endpoint over several runs.

## What you give it

| Input | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| URL | Any public http or https endpoint. The scheme is added automatically if you leave it off. |

## What you get back

| Output | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Run history | Each scheduled run as it lands: HTTP result, response time, and whether the status-code test passed. |
| Response-time chart | A bar per run so you can see latency trend and any failures. |
| Summary | Success rate, average / max / min response time, and total runs across the monitored period. |

## How it works

- A collection with a single GET request to your URL is created, then a monitor (job template) is scheduled against it from the US East region.
- The first run is triggered immediately rather than waiting for the schedule, and the monitor then runs every minute, with each run polled back onto the dashboard as it finishes.
- A run passes when the endpoint responds healthily; it is marked failed on a timeout, error, or failing status-code test.

## Key terms

- **Monitor** — a saved request or collection that Postman runs on a schedule from its own servers, recording the result each time so you can see history and get alerted on failures.
- **Run** — one execution of the monitor at a scheduled time, producing a response time, a status, and test results.
- **Checking versus monitoring** — a check is a single sample taken now; monitoring is repeated checks on a schedule with alerting, which is the only way to catch an outage while you are away.

## Questions

### What is this tool?

A live demo of Postman Monitors. Paste any URL and Postman schedules a real monitor for it, then streams each run to a live chart as it happens. No signup, nothing to install. It shows what continuous API monitoring actually looks like before you commit to setting it up.

### How long does the monitor run?

This session runs for a limited window. To keep monitoring your API continuously with alerts and history, upgrade to Postman Monitors.

### What data will I see on the live chart?

Each run's response time and status code, plotted in real time as the monitor pings your URL. You'll see if response times are stable, spiky, or trending upward.

### How is this different from just curling my URL once?

A single test shows one moment in time. This shows a sequence of live runs, so you can see whether the API is stable, degrading, or intermittent. That's the difference between "is it up right now" and "is it healthy over time.".

### Can I keep monitoring my API after the session ends?

No, this session ends automatically. Postman Monitors runs your API continuously (every 5 min to hourly), stores full run history, and alerts you the moment something breaks.

### Does this work for APIs behind authentication?

Not in this tool. Postman Monitors supports Bearer tokens, API keys, OAuth 2.0 with token refresh, mTLS, and signed request patterns.

### Can I check my API from different regions?

Not in this tool, it runs from one region. Postman Monitors runs from multiple global regions to catch region-specific latency or downtime.

### Do I need to sign up to use this tool?

No signup, no credit card. First result runs in seconds. Sign in only when you want persistent monitoring, alerts, or history beyond the session.


## Privacy

The URL you enter is sent to Postman so a monitor can run against it from a server. No account is needed to try it, and nothing else you type is stored.

## Links

- [Use the tool](https://www.postman.com/tools/api-monitor) — the interactive version of this page.
- [Postman Tools](https://www.postman.com/tools) — every free tool in this set.
- [Monitors docs](https://learning.postman.com/docs/monitoring-your-api/intro-monitors/) — Postman documentation.