# Website Screenshot & Visual Change Monitor (`evolve-data/screenshot-monitor`) Actor

Full-page website screenshots on desktop, tablet or mobile, as PNG, JPEG or PDF, with cookie banners hidden. Turn on change detection to see what % of each page changed since the last run, with a diff image. Ideal for scheduled monitoring.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/evolve-data/screenshot-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Ahmed Zaky](https://apify.com/evolve-data) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.60 / 1,000 page captureds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Website Screenshot & Visual Change Monitor

Take clean screenshots of any list of web pages, and **find out automatically when a page changes**.

### Screenshots

- **Full page or visible screen**, or **just one element** (e.g. `#pricing`)
- **Desktop, laptop, tablet (iPad) or mobile (iPhone 14)** with real device emulation: touch, pixel density and mobile layout
- **PNG, JPEG or PDF**
- **Cookie banners hidden automatically** (OneTrust, Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Didomi, Quantcast, Termly and more), plus any elements you choose, such as chat widgets
- Dark mode, lazy-load scrolling, custom delays and wait conditions
- Many URLs per run, in parallel

### Visual change detection

Turn on **Detect visual changes** and schedule the Actor (hourly, daily…). For every page you get:

- `changed`: `true` or `false`
- `changePercent`: how much of the page changed
- `diffUrl`: an image with the changed pixels **highlighted in red**
- `previousScreenshotUrl` next to the new `screenshotUrl`, for a before and after

Turn on **Only output changed pages** to get results only when something actually changed. That's the easiest way to get alerts: connect the Actor to email, Slack or a webhook through Apify integrations.

Use the **change threshold** to ignore tiny changes such as clocks, counters or rotating ads, and **Hide elements** to exclude known noisy areas.

### Use cases

- **Competitor monitoring:** pricing pages, landing pages, feature lists
- **Your own site:** catch broken layouts, missing images and unwanted changes after deploys
- **Compliance and archiving:** timestamped visual records and PDFs of pages
- **Content and SEO:** know when a page you care about is updated
- **AI agents and reports:** give models and people a picture of the page

### Output

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com/pricing",
  "title": "Pricing - Example",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "device": "desktop",
  "screenshotUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/....png",
  "changed": true,
  "changePercent": 4.37,
  "diffUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/...-diff",
  "previousScreenshotUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/...-previous",
  "previousTakenAt": "2026-09-23T09:00:04.120Z",
  "takenAt": "2026-09-24T09:00:03.551Z"
}
```

### How change detection works

The first run for a page saves a **baseline**. Later runs compare the new screenshot pixel by pixel against the last saved version. When a change passes your threshold, the new screenshot becomes the baseline. Baselines are kept in a named key-value store in your own account (`screenshot-monitor-baselines`), separately for each URL, device and settings combination. Use **Monitor name** to keep independent baselines for different jobs.

### Pricing

Pay per page captured. Change detection, diff images, cookie-banner hiding and all devices and formats are included. Every page is captured and compared on each run, so with *Only output changed pages* unchanged pages are still charged, but you only receive the changes. Pages that fail to load are never charged.

Questions or a page that doesn't render correctly? Open an issue. Issues are answered within 24 hours.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Pages to screenshot.

## `device` (type: `string`):

Screen size and device emulation (mobile and tablet use real device settings: touch, pixel density, mobile user agent).

## `fullPage` (type: `boolean`):

Capture the whole scrollable page, not just the visible screen.

## `selector` (type: `string`):

Screenshot a single element, e.g. #pricing or .product-card. Leave empty for the whole page.

## `format` (type: `string`):

Image format. PDF keeps text selectable. Change detection always uses PNG.

## `detectChanges` (type: `boolean`):

Compare each screenshot with the last saved version of the same page and report the % of the page that changed, plus a diff image highlighting the changes. Schedule this Actor to monitor pages. The first run saves the baseline.

## `changeThresholdPercent` (type: `string`):

Minimum % of changed pixels to count as a change. Raise it to ignore tiny changes such as clocks or ads, e.g. 1.

## `onlyChanged` (type: `boolean`):

Save and charge only for pages that changed since the last run.

## `monitorName` (type: `string`):

Keeps separate baselines for different monitoring jobs of the same URLs.

## `hideCookieBanners` (type: `boolean`):

Hide common cookie and consent pop-ups (OneTrust, Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Didomi, Quantcast and more).

## `hideSelectors` (type: `array`):

Extra elements to hide, e.g. chat widgets or rotating ads.

## `darkMode` (type: `boolean`):

Ask the site for its dark color scheme.

## `waitUntil` (type: `string`):

When the page counts as loaded before the screenshot is taken.

## `delayMs` (type: `integer`):

Wait this long after loading before taking the screenshot (animations, lazy content).

## `scrollToBottom` (type: `boolean`):

Scroll through the page to trigger lazy-loaded images before capturing.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Usually not needed. Enable for sites that block data-center traffic.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://apify.com",
    "https://example.com"
  ],
  "device": "desktop",
  "fullPage": true,
  "format": "png",
  "detectChanges": false,
  "changeThresholdPercent": "0.1",
  "onlyChanged": false,
  "monitorName": "default",
  "hideCookieBanners": true,
  "hideSelectors": [],
  "darkMode": false,
  "waitUntil": "load",
  "delayMs": 1000,
  "scrollToBottom": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `screenshots` (type: `string`):

One record per page with the screenshot link and change details.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Counts of changed, unchanged and failed pages.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "https://apify.com",
        "https://example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("evolve-data/screenshot-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": [
        "https://apify.com",
        "https://example.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("evolve-data/screenshot-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "https://apify.com",
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call evolve-data/screenshot-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,evolve-data/screenshot-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/SiBKAd5jjAJheIh50/builds/VgA73nI2nqcThoGpc/openapi.json