Public vs Private Status Pages: Which One Do You Need?

The answer depends on who you're communicating with, what you're building, and how much transparency you're comfortable with.

Public and private status pages solve different problems. Some companies need both. This guide helps you decide what's right for your situation.

What is a Public Status Page?

A public status page is accessible to anyone on the internet. No login required. Anyone with the URL can see your current system status, active incidents, and historical uptime.

Examples you've probably seen:

status.github.com
status.stripe.com
status.notion.so

These pages exist to build trust through transparency. When GitHub has an outage, anyone — users, potential customers, journalists — can see exactly what's happening and when it'll be fixed.

Public status pages typically show:

Current status of all system components
Active incidents with updates
Scheduled maintenance windows
Historical uptime (usually 90 days)
Subscriber option for email/SMS alerts

The URL is usually something like status.yourcompany.com or yourcompany.com/status.

See real examples: 12 real status page examples and what makes them work

What is a Private Status Page?

A private status page is restricted to authorized users. Access requires authentication — a login, an access token, an IP whitelist, or membership in a specific organization.

Private status pages are common in:

Internal IT teams communicating with employees about internal tool availability
B2B companies sharing detailed infrastructure status with enterprise clients
Agencies reporting monitoring results to their clients
Compliance-bound companies who can't publicly disclose infrastructure details

Private status pages often show more technical detail than public pages because the audience is known and typically technical:

Specific server names or cluster IDs
Detailed error metrics and response times
Internal component names
Dependency status (third-party services)
More granular uptime data

Key Differences at a Glance

Aspect	Public Status Page	Private Status Page
Access	Anyone on the internet	Authenticated users only
Audience	Customers, prospects, public	Internal team, specific clients
Detail level	User-friendly, grouped components	Can be more technical and granular
Trust building	Builds public trust and credibility	Builds client-specific confidence
SEO impact	Can be indexed by Google	Not indexed
Security	Must avoid exposing sensitive infra details	Can show internal infrastructure
Compliance	May have regulatory considerations	Easier to control information sharing
Support load	Reduces public support tickets	Reduces internal escalation tickets
Subscribers	Open subscription (email/SMS)	Managed subscriber list

When to Use a Public Status Page

A public status page makes sense when:

You have external users who depend on your service

If customers use your product daily, they need a way to check if issues are on their end or yours. Without a status page, they'll email support, tweet at you, or assume your product is broken.

You want to build trust with potential customers

Prospects evaluating your SaaS will look for a status page. Having one — especially one showing good uptime — signals maturity and transparency. Not having one signals either that you don't care or don't track it.

You want to reduce support tickets during incidents

A visible status page with subscriber notifications can reduce incoming support volume by 50–80% during outages. Users check the status page instead of filing tickets.

You're in a competitive market

In crowded SaaS categories, a public status page differentiates you. It says "we're confident enough in our uptime to show it publicly."

You want to improve SEO and brand presence

Status pages are indexed by Google. "Is [your product] down?" searches can land on your status page instead of random down-detector sites.

Rule of thumb: If your product has external users — even a few — you should have a public status page. The question is how detailed to make it.

When to Use a Private Status Page

A private status page makes sense when:

You're communicating with internal teams

IT departments use private status pages to show employees which internal tools (HR system, CRM, email servers, VPN) are operational. Employees check the page instead of flooding IT with tickets.

You have enterprise B2B clients with SLAs

Enterprise clients often require visibility into the specific infrastructure serving their account. A private status page with detailed uptime metrics supports SLA reporting and builds client confidence.

Compliance requirements restrict public disclosure

Some industries (finance, healthcare, government) have regulations about publicly disclosing system availability or incident details. A private status page lets you share information with authorized parties only.

You're an agency managing client sites

Each client gets a private status page showing the monitoring results for their specific properties. This is professional, builds trust, and reduces "is my site up?" emails.

You need to show technical infrastructure details

Internal server names, database cluster IDs, specific error rates — information that's useful for your team but shouldn't be public.

When to Use Both

Many organizations benefit from running both:

Public page for customers

Grouped, user-friendly components: "App," "API," "Payments"
Incident updates in plain language
Anyone can subscribe
Shows the "what" — what's affected and when it'll be fixed

Private page for internal / enterprise

Granular components: specific servers, databases, queues
Technical detail: error rates, response times, deployment status
Restricted access
Shows the "why" — root cause, affected infrastructure, detailed metrics

Example: A SaaS company might have status.company.com (public) showing "Dashboard — Degraded Performance" while their internal page shows "us-east-1 db-primary — slow queries, 95th percentile response time 4.2s, investigating index regression after deploy #4521."

Same incident. Different audiences. Different levels of detail.

More on degradation: Downtime vs degraded performance

What to Show (And What to Hide)

On your PUBLIC status page, show:

Component-level status grouped by user impact (App, API, Billing, Integrations)
Active incidents with regular updates in plain language
Scheduled maintenance windows
Historical uptime (90 days)
Subscription options

On your PUBLIC status page, avoid:

Internal server names or IP addresses
Specific database or infrastructure identifiers
Detailed error codes or stack traces
Information that could help attackers understand your infrastructure
Third-party vendor names (say "payment processing" not "Stripe")

On your PRIVATE status page, you can add:

Specific server/instance identifiers
Detailed performance metrics (response times, error rates)
Deployment status and recent changes
Third-party dependency status
Root cause analysis during active incidents
SLA compliance metrics per client

Security Considerations

Public status pages require security awareness:

Don't expose infrastructure topology

Showing that you run "us-east-1-db-primary" and "us-east-1-db-replica-2" tells attackers about your database setup.

Don't name specific third-party vendors in incidents

"Our payment processor is experiencing issues" is better than "Stripe is down." Naming vendors gives attackers vectors to explore.

Don't show response time graphs that reveal your capacity

If a graph shows your API maxes out at 500 requests/second, that's useful information for a DDoS attacker.

Don't include internal URLs or endpoints

Keep monitoring targets private.

Use generic component names

"API" instead of "api-gateway-v2-production." "Database" instead of "mongodb-cluster-3."

For private status pages:

Require authentication (not just an obscure URL — security through obscurity isn't security)
Audit access regularly
Use SSO/SAML if available
Consider IP whitelisting for sensitive environments

Setting Up Your Status Page

Three paths depending on your needs:

Path 1: Start with a public status page (most common)

If you have external users, start here. List 3–5 user-facing components. Connect it to your monitoring so status updates automatically when checks fail. Enable email subscriptions.

Time to setup: 5–15 minutes with a monitoring tool that includes status pages.

Path 2: Add a private page for internal use

Once your team grows beyond "everyone knows when something is down," add a private page for internal visibility. This reduces "is X working?" Slack messages and helps non-engineering teams self-serve status information.

Path 3: Both public + private for different audiences

When you have enterprise clients or compliance requirements, run both. Same monitoring data, different views with different access levels and detail.

For emergencies (something is down RIGHT NOW):

Create a temporary public status page in 60 seconds, communicate the incident, then formalize your setup later.

PerkyDash includes full-featured status pages — public and private — with every monitoring plan. Connected to real monitoring data. Custom domains supported.

Get started free

Create an emergency status page in 60 seconds Status page examples for inspiration Status pages feature overview

Conclusion

The decision is simpler than it seems:

Have external users? You need a public status page. It reduces support load, builds trust, and is expected by modern SaaS customers.

Have internal teams or enterprise clients who need more detail? Add a private status page.

Not sure? Start public. A simple status page with 3–5 components is better than no status page. You can always add a private page later when the need arises.

The worst status page is the one you don't have.

Start Building Trust Today

Public status page + monitoring from €9.99/mo with PerkyDash. Or create a free emergency status page right now — no signup required.

Start Free Emergency Status Page

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a public and private status page?

A public status page is accessible to anyone on the internet and shows system status to all users. A private status page requires authentication and is restricted to internal teams or specific clients. Public pages use simpler, user-friendly language while private pages can show more technical detail.

Should my startup have a public status page?

Yes. If you have external users who depend on your service, a public status page builds trust, reduces support tickets during incidents, and signals product maturity. Even a simple page with 3 to 5 components is better than nothing.

What should I show on a public status page?

Show component-level status grouped by user impact, active incidents with regular updates, scheduled maintenance windows, and historical uptime. Avoid showing internal server names, IP addresses, specific third-party vendor names, or detailed infrastructure topology.

Can I have both a public and private status page?

Yes, many companies run both. The public page shows user-friendly component status for customers, while the private page shows detailed infrastructure metrics for internal teams or enterprise clients. Both can be connected to the same monitoring data.

How do I secure a private status page?

Require proper authentication such as login credentials or SSO, not just an obscure URL. Audit access regularly, consider IP whitelisting for sensitive environments, and use role-based access to control who sees what level of detail.