24/7 Uptime: What SLA Should You Actually Expect From Your Host?
How to read hosting uptime guarantees, what counts as "downtime," and realistic expectations for a healthy provider.
24/7 Uptime: What SLA Should You Actually Expect From Your Host?
Every hosting company advertises "24/7 uptime," but few explain what that actually means in numbers, or what happens when they miss it. Here's how to read the fine print.
Uptime Percentages, Translated
| Advertised Uptime | Downtime Per Month |
|---|---|
| 99.5% | ~3 hours 39 minutes |
| 99.9% | ~43 minutes |
| 99.95% | ~21 minutes |
| 99.99% | ~4 minutes |
A jump from 99.5% to 99.9% sounds small on paper but is roughly a 5x reduction in real downtime.
What Counts as "Downtime"?
Read the definition carefully — some providers only count downtime caused by their own infrastructure, excluding:
- Scheduled maintenance windows
- Issues caused by your own configuration or software
- Network problems outside their direct control
None of that is necessarily unreasonable, but you should know what's actually covered before relying on the number.
What Happens If They Miss the SLA?
A real SLA includes a remedy — usually service credit for the affected period. If a provider's terms don't mention any compensation for missed uptime, the "guarantee" is really just a marketing statement.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Buy
- Is uptime measured per-node/per-server, or across the whole network (which can hide individual outages)?
- Is there a public status page showing real incident history?
- What's the compensation if the SLA is missed?
- Is scheduled maintenance announced in advance, and how often does it happen?
A provider that's transparent about past incidents on a public status page is usually more trustworthy than one with a suspiciously spotless (or entirely absent) history page.
RepublicNodes runs redundant network infrastructure and publishes a clear uptime commitment for every game and VPS hosting plan, so you know exactly what you're getting before you commit.