# Broken Link Checker for Any Website (`forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker`) Actor

Crawl a site you own or manage and list every broken link (404, 5xx, timeouts, DNS errors) with the page it sits on and its anchor text. Internal and external links, optional images, robots.txt respected.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Nick Mory](https://apify.com/forbearing_guanaco) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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

## Broken Link Checker for Any Website

Crawl your website and get a list of every broken link: which page it is on, the link's URL, its anchor text and the HTTP status (404, 410, 5xx, timeout, DNS or SSL error).

**How it works**

1. Starts at your URL(s) and follows internal links up to the page and depth limits you set.
2. Tests every link found (internal and, optionally, external; optionally images). Uses a quick HEAD request and falls back to GET when a server rejects HEAD.
3. Saves broken links to the dataset. Switch on "Include working links" to get the full link inventory, including redirects and their final URL.

**Good to know**

- Respects robots.txt by default and sends a descriptive User-Agent. Use it on sites you own, manage or are allowed to crawl.
- Each unique URL is tested once per run, even if it appears on many pages.
- Some sites block automated requests and return 403/429 for working links; these are labelled `blocked` (401/403/429) and are saved only when "Include working links" is on, so the default output is real failures only. Use "Skip URLs containing" to ignore such domains.
- Does not run JavaScript: links added only by client-side scripts are not seen.
- No proxies, no login, no personal data collected.

**Output fields**: `sourceUrl`, `url`, `type` (link/image/page), `internal`, `status`, `result` (broken/error/blocked/redirect/ok), `error`, `linkText`, `finalUrl`.

**Input example**

```json
{"startUrls": ["https://example.com"], "maxPages": 100, "maxDepth": 3, "checkExternal": true}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Pages to start crawling from. Only pages on the same site (host) as a start URL are crawled; use sites you own or are allowed to crawl.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of pages of your site to fetch and scan for links.

## `maxDepth` (type: `integer`):

How many clicks away from the start URL to crawl. 0 checks only the start pages.

## `checkExternal` (type: `boolean`):

Also test links that point to other websites (they are tested, not crawled).

## `checkImages` (type: `boolean`):

Also test <img src> URLs.

## `includeWorkingLinks` (type: `boolean`):

By default only broken links are saved. Turn on to get every checked link with its status (redirects show the final URL).

## `respectRobotsTxt` (type: `boolean`):

Skip crawling pages disallowed by robots.txt.

## `urlExcludes` (type: `array`):

Links containing any of these strings (case-insensitive) are neither crawled nor tested, e.g. linkedin.com.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

Simultaneous link tests.

## `timeoutSeconds` (type: `integer`):

Per-request timeout; slower links are reported as errors.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://example.com"
  ],
  "maxPages": 50,
  "maxDepth": 3,
  "checkExternal": true,
  "checkImages": false,
  "includeWorkingLinks": false,
  "respectRobotsTxt": true,
  "concurrency": 10,
  "timeoutSeconds": 15
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker").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 = { "startUrls": ["https://example.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,forbearing_guanaco/website-broken-link-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/jKTmPX4Icf549DqqY/builds/ZNqTfSWZGFjIc8TbE/openapi.json