Redirect Chain Analyzer

Trace HTTP redirect chains for any URL. Shows every hop with status codes, headers, and final destination. Detects issues like redirect loops, unnecessary 302s, HTTPS downgrades, and missing canonical redirects.

What does Redirect Chain Analyzer do?

This actor follows HTTP redirects step-by-step and reports the full chain for any list of URLs. It shows every hop with the URL, status code, and relevant headers. It also tests HTTP-to-HTTPS and www/non-www variants to verify canonical redirects are properly configured. Use it for SEO migration audits, redirect debugging, or monitoring redirect health across your domains.

Features

• Full redirect chain -- every hop with URL, status code, and relevant headers
• HTTP/HTTPS testing -- automatically tests if HTTP redirects to HTTPS
• WWW/non-www testing -- checks canonical redirect configuration
• Issue detection -- finds redirect loops, 302s (should be 301), HTTPS downgrades, missing Location headers
• Bulk analysis -- process hundreds of URLs in a single run
• Configurable depth -- set max redirect hops (1-50)

Use cases

• SEO specialists -- verify redirect chains after domain or URL migrations to ensure link equity is preserved with 301 redirects
• DevOps engineers -- confirm all HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS and that www/non-www canonical redirects are properly configured
• Web developers -- debug redirect loops and misconfigured redirects during development and staging
• Marketing teams -- verify that campaign landing page URLs resolve correctly and do not pass through excessive redirect hops
• Security analysts -- detect HTTPS downgrades where a secure URL redirects to an insecure HTTP destination
• Site reliability engineers -- monitor redirect health over time to detect configuration drift or unexpected changes

Why use Redirect Chain Analyzer?

• Complete chain visibility -- see every redirect hop with URL, status code, status message, and headers at each step
• Automatic variant testing -- tests HTTP/HTTPS and www/non-www variants to give you a full picture of redirect behavior
• Issue detection -- automatically flags common problems like redirect loops, unnecessary 302s, and HTTPS downgrades
• Configurable depth -- set the maximum number of redirect hops to follow (1-50) to match your needs
• Batch processing -- analyze hundreds of URLs in a single run with structured results for each
• Pay-per-event pricing -- only $0.001 per URL variant traced, keeping costs predictable

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
urls	array of strings	Yes	--	List of URLs to trace redirect chains for. Domain names without protocol are auto-prefixed with https://.
maxRedirects	integer	No	20	Maximum number of redirect hops to follow per URL (1-50).
checkHttpToHttps	boolean	No	true	Also test the HTTP version of each URL to check HTTPS enforcement.
checkWwwToNonWww	boolean	No	true	Also test the www/non-www variant of each URL to check canonical redirect.

{
    "urls": ["http://google.com", "http://github.com", "apify.com"],
    "maxRedirects": 20,
    "checkHttpToHttps": true,
    "checkWwwToNonWww": true
}

Output example

{
    "url": "http://google.com",
    "finalUrl": "https://www.google.com/",
    "redirectCount": 2,
    "chain": [
        {
            "url": "http://google.com",
            "statusCode": 301,
            "statusMessage": "Moved Permanently",
            "headers": { "location": "http://www.google.com/" }
        },
        {
            "url": "http://www.google.com/",
            "statusCode": 301,
            "statusMessage": "Moved Permanently",
            "headers": { "location": "https://www.google.com/" }
        },
        {
            "url": "https://www.google.com/",
            "statusCode": 200,
            "statusMessage": "OK",
            "headers": {}
        }
    ],
    "finalStatusCode": 200,
    "issues": [],
    "isHttpsRedirect": true,
    "isWwwRedirect": true,
    "totalTimeMs": 342,
    "error": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost?

Event	Price	Description
Start	$0.035	One-time per run
URL traced	$0.001	Per URL variant traced

With both HTTP and www checks enabled (default), each input URL generates 3 checks.

Example costs:

• 5 URLs (15 checks): $0.035 + 15 x $0.001 = $0.05
• 50 URLs (150 checks): $0.035 + 150 x $0.001 = $0.185
• 500 URLs (1,500 checks): $0.035 + 1,500 x $0.001 = $1.535

Using the Apify API

You can start Redirect Chain Analyzer programmatically from your own applications using the Apify API. The following examples show how to run the actor and retrieve results.

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/redirect-chain-analyzer').call({
    urls: ['http://google.com', 'http://github.com'],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/redirect-chain-analyzer').call(run_input={
    'urls': ['http://google.com', 'http://github.com'],
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

Integrations

Redirect Chain Analyzer works with all major integration platforms supported by Apify. Connect it to Make (formerly Integromat), Zapier, n8n, or Slack to build automated redirect monitoring workflows. Export results directly to Google Sheets for collaborative SEO auditing or use webhooks to get notified when redirect issues are detected. You can also chain this actor with the HTTP Status Checker for a comprehensive URL health assessment.

Tips and best practices

• Use HTTP URLs as input -- start with http:// URLs to test the full redirect path from HTTP to HTTPS. If you input https:// URLs, you will miss the HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect check.
• Watch for 302s that should be 301s -- temporary redirects (302) do not pass SEO link equity. If a redirect is permanent, it should use 301. The actor flags this as an issue.
• Reduce costs by disabling variant checks -- if you only need the direct redirect chain, set checkHttpToHttps and checkWwwToNonWww to false to reduce the number of checks from 3 per URL to 1.
• Monitor after migrations -- schedule this actor to run weekly after a site migration to catch redirect chains that break or degrade over time.
• Check redirect chain length -- long redirect chains (3+ hops) slow down page loads and may cause search engines to stop following. Aim for a single redirect from source to destination.

FAQ

What is the difference between a 301 and 302 redirect? A 301 (Moved Permanently) tells browsers and search engines that the URL has permanently moved. It passes SEO link equity to the destination. A 302 (Found/Temporary Redirect) indicates a temporary move and does not pass full link equity. For permanent URL changes, always use 301 redirects.

What is a redirect loop? A redirect loop occurs when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects back to URL A (or through a longer chain that eventually returns to a previous URL). The actor detects these loops and reports them in the issues array.

Why does each input URL generate 3 checks? By default, the actor tests three variants of each URL: the original URL, the HTTP/HTTPS alternate version, and the www/non-www alternate version. This ensures comprehensive coverage of canonical redirect configuration. You can disable variant checks to reduce costs.