The invention provides an online monitoring method and device of a lightning arrester based on internet of thing communication. The online detection device takes a CPU module as a core, and the CPU module is respectively connected with a sampling module, an ambient temperature detecting module, a power supply module, a liquid crystal display module and a communication module. The online monitoringmethod comprises the following steps: measuring lightning arrester total leakage current; acquiring busbar voltage; performing discrete digitization, Fourier transform and operation on the acquired lightning arrester total leakage current and busbar voltage, obtaining total resistive current in the real-time total leakage current, a resistive current fundamental value and each harmonic value andjudging the failure, the contamination, the dampness or the aging of the lightning arrester in vertical comparison with previous values. The online monitoring method and device provided by the invention have the beneficial effects that the faulty lightning arrester can be discovered and eliminated early, the occurrence of explosion accidents is avoided, the data remote transmission can be performed on the lightning arrester leakage current, a reactive lightning arrester resistive current component and the number of actions, the complexities of manual recording and meter reading are eliminated,and the working efficiency of operation and maintenance personnel is greatly improved.