# Pricing & Feature Change Monitor (`frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor`) Actor

Watch public pricing and feature pages for content changes. Compares normalized SHA-256 hashes, emits structured change rows, and charges PPE events (url-check, change-detected). No browser — Cheerio only. Limited permissions: reads public URLs and uses Actor KV/dataset storage only.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Frqnk Frederik](https://apify.com/frqnk) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 url checks

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Pricing & Feature Change Monitor

Watch a list of **public pricing and feature pages**. On each run the Actor fetches the HTML (Cheerio — no browser), normalizes the text, compares a SHA-256 hash to the last snapshot, and writes a structured dataset row: `baseline`, `unchanged`, `changed`, or `error`.

**Store:** [apify.com/frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor](https://apify.com/frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor)

### When to use it

- Competitive intel: notice when a SaaS competitor changes price or feature copy
- Agent workflows: schedule checks and branch only when `status === "changed"`
- Lightweight monitoring without login scraping or headless browsers

### Limitations (honest)

- **Public pages only** — no logins, cookies, or authenticated dashboards
- **Cheerio / static HTML** — works best on server-rendered marketing pages. Heavy SPA shells (empty HTML until JavaScript runs) may need a browser-based Actor later; this one does **not** use Playwright
- Noise filters reduce false positives from timestamps/counters but are not perfect
- Diffs are text-based heuristics (`changeType` / `severity`), not a full visual QA tool

### How it works

1. Fetch each URL with Crawlee CheerioCrawler
2. Normalize HTML (`script`/`style` stripped; optional `contentSelector`; optional noise stripping)
3. Hash normalized text (SHA-256) and load the previous snapshot from a named Key-Value store
4. Emit a dataset row and charge PPE only when the rules below say so

| Situation | Dataset | PPE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First seen, `emitBaseline: true` | `baseline` row | **No charge** |
| First seen, `emitBaseline: false` | No row (state saved) | **No charge** |
| Same hash | `unchanged` | `url-check` |
| Different hash | `changed` + diff snippets | `url-check` + `change-detected` |
| Fetch / process failure | `error` | **No charge** |

**Demos & Store auto-tests:** keep `emitBaseline: true` so the first run produces rows quickly.\
**Production schedules** on the same URLs: you can set `emitBaseline: false` if you only want `unchanged` / `changed` after the first silent snapshot.

### Input example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://stripe.com/pricing",
    "https://github.com/pricing"
  ],
  "contentSelector": "main",
  "profile": "pricing",
  "ignoreNoise": true,
  "minChangePercent": 1,
  "stateStoreName": "pricing-feature-change-state",
  "emitBaseline": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

| Field | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `urls` | (required) | Public pages to monitor |
| `contentSelector` | `main` | Region hashed; falls back to `body` |
| `profile` | `pricing` | Heuristic for `changeType` / severity |
| `ignoreNoise` | `true` | Strip dates / “Updated: …” / counters |
| `minChangePercent` | `1` | Influences severity banding |
| `stateStoreName` | `pricing-feature-change-state` | Named KV for snapshots across runs |
| `emitBaseline` | `true` | Emit first-seen rows (never charged) |
| `maxConcurrency` | `5` | Parallel fetches |

### Output example (`changed` row)

```json
{
  "url": "https://stripe.com/pricing",
  "status": "changed",
  "changed": true,
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-20T15:00:00.000Z",
  "previousCheckedAt": "2026-09-19T15:00:00.000Z",
  "contentHash": "452029c4…",
  "previousHash": "a1b2c3d4…",
  "changeType": "pricing",
  "severity": "major",
  "addedText": ["Pro plan costs $49 per month."],
  "removedText": ["Pro plan costs $29 per month."],
  "diffSnippet": "- Pro plan costs $29 per month.\n+ Pro plan costs $49 per month.",
  "httpStatus": 200,
  "errorCode": null
}
```

`status`: `baseline` | `unchanged` | `changed` | `error`

### Pricing (pay-per-event)

Configured on this Actor:

| Event | Price | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `apify-actor-start` | platform default | Actor starts |
| `url-check` (primary) | **$0.002** | Successful fetch + compare (`unchanged` or `changed`) |
| `change-detected` | **$0.04** | Meaningful hash change |

Baselines and errors are never charged. Platform usage for paying users is handled under Apify’s PPE rules (creator share / costs — see Apify monetization docs).

### Run from an agent or API

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

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });

const run = await client.actor('frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor').call({
  urls: [
    'https://stripe.com/pricing',
    'https://github.com/pricing',
  ],
  profile: 'pricing',
  ignoreNoise: true,
  emitBaseline: false,
  stateStoreName: 'pricing-feature-change-state',
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
const changes = items.filter((row) => row.status === 'changed');
console.log(changes);
```

Or open the Actor in Console, paste URLs, and click **Start**. For recurring checks, add an Apify **Schedule** (daily/hourly) on the same `stateStoreName`.

### Permissions

Limited permissions: public HTTP(S) fetches plus the run dataset and named KV store. No login automation, no residential-proxy requirement for typical public marketing pages.

### Support

Issues and feature requests: open a discussion on the [Store page](https://apify.com/frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor) or contact the publisher via Apify.

### License

Apache-2.0

# Actor input Schema

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

Public pricing or feature page URLs to check for content changes.

## `contentSelector` (type: `string`):

CSS selector for the main content region used for hashing. Falls back to body if missing.

## `profile` (type: `string`):

Hints severity / changeType heuristics: pricing, feature, or generic.

## `ignoreNoise` (type: `boolean`):

Strip common date/time and counter patterns before hashing so cosmetic updates do not count as changes.

## `minChangePercent` (type: `number`):

Minimum approximate text change ratio (0–100) required to treat a hash mismatch as a meaningful change. Below this, severity stays minor.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named KV store used to persist per-URL snapshots across runs.

## `emitBaseline` (type: `boolean`):

When true, push a dataset row for first-seen URLs (status=baseline). Baseline is never charged. Use true for Store/example demos so the dataset is non-empty on first run; production schedules often set false.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Maximum parallel CheerioCrawler requests.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://stripe.com/pricing",
    "https://github.com/pricing"
  ],
  "contentSelector": "main",
  "profile": "pricing",
  "ignoreNoise": true,
  "minChangePercent": 1,
  "stateStoreName": "pricing-feature-change-state",
  "emitBaseline": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "urls": [
        "https://stripe.com/pricing",
        "https://github.com/pricing"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("frqnk/pricing-feature-change-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://stripe.com/pricing",
        "https://github.com/pricing",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("frqnk/pricing-feature-change-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://stripe.com/pricing",
    "https://github.com/pricing"
  ]
}' |
apify call frqnk/pricing-feature-change-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,frqnk/pricing-feature-change-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/wlL2c2qokY0BzCe8W/builds/fB9VjenmY2wcEZqv3/openapi.json