--- title: UDP Monitoring for DNS, NTP & Game Servers description: UDP monitoring by WatchFor. Send datagrams to your UDP services from around the world, verify they respond correctly, and get alerts when DNS, NTP, SIP, game servers, or custom UDP endpoints stop answering. Included from the Starter plan. canonical: https://watchfor.io/udp-monitoring --- # UDP Monitoring for DNS, NTP, VoIP & Custom Services Know within minutes when a DNS, NTP, SIP or game server stops answering. UDP has no handshake, so WatchFor sends real datagrams and waits for a reply. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View pricing](/pricing) ## Comprehensive UDP Monitoring Features Everything you need to keep your UDP services answering ### Global UDP Checks Send datagrams to your UDP services from multiple regions worldwide to measure real availability and response time from where your users and systems live. ### Real Response Verification Because UDP has no handshake, an open port tells you nothing. Send a payload and the check waits for the reply: no answer before the timeout, or a port-unreachable error, fails it. ### Response Time Tracking Measure how long each UDP service takes to answer on every check, so you can spot a degrading endpoint long before it stops responding entirely. ### Smart Alerting Get notified once a failure is confirmed, usually within a couple of minutes, when a UDP service stops responding or response time crosses your threshold. Email, Slack, Discord, webhooks and the other channels. ### Multi-Location Confirmation Failures are confirmed from several regions before an incident opens, so a single dropped datagram or flaky path never pages you with a false alarm. ### Any Host & Port Point a check at any public host and UDP port, from standard services like DNS (53) and NTP (123) to your own custom application protocols. ### Historical Trends Review response time and availability over time with clear graphs and reports, ideal for spotting slow regressions and proving service reliability. ### Flexible Scheduling Check as often as every minute on Starter and Pro or every 30 seconds on Business, and configure maintenance windows so planned work never triggers unwanted alerts. ## A closer look Send a binary payload as base64, such as a DNS query, over IPv4 or IPv6. Alert when the server stops replying, replies slowly or replies wrong. ## Why Choose Our UDP Monitoring Solution? Some of the most critical services in your infrastructure speak UDP, not TCP — and a simple port check can't tell whether they're actually working. Our UDP monitoring sends real datagrams and waits for a valid reply, so you know the service is genuinely answering. With global probe locations, multi-region confirmation, and response-time metrics, you get an early-warning system for DNS, NTP, SIP, and every custom UDP endpoint you depend on. [Start monitoring now](/auth/sign-up) Monitor any public UDP service on any host and port Verify real responses, not just an open port Response-time and availability metrics on every check Multi-location checks to rule out dropped datagrams Confirmation from several regions before alerting Built for DNS, NTP, SNMP, SIP, RADIUS and game servers Configurable thresholds and check intervals Confirmed alerts via email, Slack, Discord and 13 more channels ## How UDP Monitoring Works Simple setup, real visibility into connectionless services 1 ### Add Your Service Enter the host and UDP port you want to watch, and pick the regions you want to send datagrams from. 2 ### Set Thresholds Set the payload, an acceptable response time and how many failed checks confirm an outage. 3 ### Monitor 24/7 Our global network sends datagrams to your service continuously, checking for a valid reply and timing each response. 4 ### Get Confirmed Alerts When a service stops responding or slows past your limit, it is re-checked from other locations. Once that's confirmed, you get a notification and an incident timeline to act on. ## UDP Monitoring Use Cases Perfect for any connectionless service that must stay live ### DNS & NTP Services Keep your name servers and time servers answering reliably. A DNS or NTP outage cascades fast across an entire infrastructure, and UDP checks catch it before users do. ### VoIP & SIP Endpoints Confirm your voice and SIP signaling endpoints stay reachable and responsive. Silent UDP failures cause dropped calls and registration issues that TCP checks would never surface. ### Game Servers Most multiplayer game servers communicate over UDP for low-latency gameplay. Verify each server is genuinely answering and watch response time so players never hit a dead or laggy host. ### SNMP, RADIUS & Custom Protocols Monitor SNMP agents, RADIUS servers and your own application protocols on UDP: anything that answers a request. Make sure the services your tooling and apps rely on are actually responding around the clock. ## Frequently asked questions Everything you need to know about UDP monitoring [All questions→](/faq)[Ask us directly](/contact) What is UDP monitoring? UDP monitoring checks services that use the User Datagram Protocol instead of TCP. It sends a datagram you define to a host and port and checks the reply: whether one arrives, how fast, how big and whether it matches a pattern. UDP has no handshake, so a reply is the only proof the service is answering. How is UDP monitoring different from a TCP or port check? Which services can I monitor over UDP? What do I send, and how is the reply checked? Why does UDP need multi-location confirmation? How often are UDP checks performed, and on which plans? Can I monitor internal or private UDP services? ## From our blog Guides, deep-dives, and best practices from the WatchFor team [Networking ### TCP vs UDP: the difference, explained simply Apr 04, 2026·3 min readRead article](/blog/tcp-vs-udp)[Networking ### How DNS Works (and What 'Propagation' Really Means) Jun 12, 2026·4 min readRead article](/blog/how-dns-works)[Networking ### What is a Network Port? (and how to monitor one) Feb 14, 2026·3 min readRead article](/blog/what-is-a-network-port) ## Ready to Start Monitoring Your UDP Services? Join the teams who trust our platform to watch over the DNS, NTP, VoIP, and custom UDP endpoints their stack depends on. UDP monitoring is included from the Starter plan. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View documentation](/docs/monitors/network#udp) --- Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/udp-monitoring · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt