HTTP Status Lookup

Check any URL's live HTTP response in one call — status code, final URL after redirects, content type and size, and the Server header. No third-party API: this actor makes the request itself and reports exactly what it gets back, so you don't need to build your own HTTP client for a simple "is this URL alive" check.

Features

• Status & redirect tracking. Status code, whether the request was redirected, and the final URL after any redirect chain.
• Response shape. Content-Type, Content-Length (bytes), and the Server header, all read straight off the live response.
• Quick health flag. statusOk tells you at a glance whether the status code fell in the 2xx range.
• Bulk-friendly. Feed in a list of URLs or bare domains with adjustable maxConcurrency.

How to use HTTP Status Lookup — Redirects & Response Headers API

1. In the Apify Console. Open the actor page and click Start — the items field is already pre-filled with a working example. Results land in the run's dataset as soon as each item is found.
2. Via the API. Call it directly with a POST request — no Console needed once you have an API token:

   curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~http-status-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
     -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"items":["https://apify.com","https://github.com/this-path-does-not-exist-xyz123"]}'
   

3. On a schedule. Save this actor as an Apify Task with the input you want, then add a Schedule (hourly, daily, weekly) so it runs on its own — no server of your own required.

Input

{
  "items": ["github.com", "https://cloudflare.com"],
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

items is the only required field — a list of URLs or bare domains (a scheme is added automatically if missing, defaulting to https://). One dataset row is returned per item; rows with "found": false are never charged. maxConcurrency (default 5, up to 20) controls how many requests run in parallel. proxyConfiguration routes requests through Apify Proxy — useful if a target rate-limits or blocks by IP.

Output

{
  "query": "github.com",
  "found": true,
  "data": {
    "requestedUrl": "https://github.com",
    "finalUrl": "https://github.com/",
    "redirected": true,
    "statusCode": 200,
    "statusOk": true,
    "contentType": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
    "contentLength": 234567,
    "server": "GitHub.com"
  },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-20T12:00:00.000Z"
}

A URL that returns no response at all — DNS failure, connection refused, or the request timing out after retries — gets a dataset row with "found": false and an error note, so you always get one row per input URL, but you're never charged for it. Note that a 4xx or 5xx status code still counts as a valid, charged response: the site answered, it just answered with an error — statusOk: false tells you that at a glance.

Use cases

• Uptime and health spot-checks — verify a list of pages or endpoints is actually live before relying on them elsewhere.
• Redirect auditing — confirm your canonical URLs, migrations, or link shorteners redirect where you expect.
• Link-rot detection — sweep a content library or backlink list for dead or broken URLs at scale.
• Server/CDN fingerprinting — check the Server header across a list of domains to see what infrastructure they're running.

Pricing

$5 per 1,000 results, plus a $0.005 start fee. Misses (found:false) are never charged.

Use it from Clay, n8n, Make, or an AI agent

This actor runs synchronously over plain HTTP — call it directly from a script, a workflow tool, or an AI agent, no Apify Console needed once you have an API token.

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~http-status-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":["https://apify.com","https://github.com/this-path-does-not-exist-xyz123"]}'

n8n. Add an HTTP Request node: Method POST, URL https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~http-status-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>, Body Content Type JSON, JSON Body {"items":["https://apify.com","https://github.com/this-path-does-not-exist-xyz123"]} (swap in an expression from an earlier node for a real value).

Clay. Add an "HTTP API" column: Method POST, URL https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~http-status-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>, Body {"items":["{{value}}"]}, mapping the row's value into the items array.

MCP. In Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client with the Apify MCP server, ask for "HTTP Status Lookup | Apify" — the agent will find and run this actor.

FAQ

Does a 404 or 500 response count as "found"? Yes. Any URL that returns an HTTP response — including error status codes — is "found": true and charged. found: false is reserved for requests that never got a response at all (DNS failure, connection refused, timeout after retries).

Do I need to include https://? No. If you submit a bare domain like github.com, https:// is added automatically. If you already include a scheme, it's used as-is.

How does redirect tracking work? The actor follows the redirect chain itself and reports the final URL plus a redirected flag — you don't need to trace Location headers manually.

Can I check thousands of URLs at once? Yes — maxConcurrency controls how many requests run in parallel (default 5, up to 20). This target has no browser fallback, so keep concurrency conservative against targets that might rate-limit you.

What if a site blocks the request outright? Use proxyConfiguration to route through Apify Proxy. If the request still fails after retries, you'll get a "found": false row with an error field describing what happened.