Redirect Checker - Bulk Redirect Chains & Migration Map

Redirect Checker: Bulk Redirect Chains & Migration Map Validator

Paste a list of URLs and get every hop of every redirect chain: status codes (301, 302, 303, 307, 308), the Location of each hop, the final URL and its status. Or paste your site migration redirect map (old URL -> expected new URL) and see at a glance which redirects are missing, broken or point to the wrong page.

No login, no browser, no proxies: plain HTTP requests, headers only (page bodies are never downloaded), so it is fast and cheap.

• Full chain per URL, e.g. 301 > 302 > 200, with the URL and Location of each hop
• SEO warnings: chains longer than 1 hop, temporary redirects (302/303/307) where a 301/308 is expected, HTTPS to HTTP downgrades, redirect loops, too many redirects
• Migration validation: matchesExpected is true only when the chain ends on your expected URL with a 200
• DNS, TLS and timeout errors are reported per URL, they never stop the run
• One ok column to filter on: final status < 400, no loop, and expected target matched (if given)
• Parallel checks (up to 50 at once), custom User-Agent to test bot-specific redirects
• Pay per URL checked, see the Pricing tab.

Input examples

Simple list:

{ "urls": ["http://example.com", "example.com/old-page", "https://bit.ly/3xyz"] }

Migration redirect map (paste two columns from a spreadsheet, or use ->). The expected target can be a full URL or a path:

{ "urls": [
    "https://old-shop.com/product/42 -> https://new-shop.com/p/blue-shoes",
    "https://old-shop.com/about -> /company",
    "https://old-shop.com/contact\thttps://new-shop.com/contact"
] }

Example output

{
  "url": "http://apify.com",
  "finalUrl": "https://apify.com/",
  "finalStatusCode": 200,
  "redirectCount": 1,
  "chain": [
    { "url": "http://apify.com", "statusCode": 301, "location": "https://apify.com/" },
    { "url": "https://apify.com/", "statusCode": 200, "location": null }
  ],
  "statusChain": "301 > 200",
  "timeMs": 281,
  "warnings": [],
  "error": null,
  "expectedUrl": "https://apify.com/",
  "matchesExpected": true,
  "ok": true
}

URL comparison for matchesExpected ignores case of scheme and host, default ports, a trailing slash and the #fragment; the query string must match.

Use cases

• Site migrations and redesigns: validate hundreds of old -> new redirects before and after launch
• SEO audits: find redirect chains, 302s that should be 301s, loops and redirects to 404 pages
• Link checking: expand short links (bit.ly, t.co, ...) and affiliate links to their real destination
• Monitoring: schedule the Actor daily and alert (Make, Zapier, n8n, webhooks) when ok becomes false

Integrations

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("extas_corp/redirect-checker").call(run_input={"urls": ["http://example.com"]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["url"], item["statusChain"], item["finalUrl"])

Results can be exported as CSV, Excel or JSON from the dataset, or pushed to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier or n8n.

FAQ

Does it render JavaScript or follow meta refresh redirects? No. It checks HTTP redirects (the Location header), which is what search engines treat as real redirects. JavaScript and <meta refresh> redirects are not followed.

Is it a GET or a HEAD request? GET, because many servers answer HEAD differently. Only the headers are read; the body is not downloaded.

Can it check sites behind a login or a bot wall? No. It sends normal anonymous requests. Sites that block bots may answer 403 or 429; this is reported as is.

Do I need to pay to try it? The Apify Free plan includes monthly platform credit, enough to check thousands of URLs.