Website Technology Auditor — BuiltWith Alternative

Audit website technology stacks from public page evidence. Export detected tools, categories, confidence, source routes, and timestamps per domain. An optional catalog tier adds broader technology coverage. For technical auditors, each dataset record is one domain's technology findings with confidence and source evidence.

Workflow: put the results to work

Use the public-page tier when you need inspectable evidence for a known domain. Select the catalog tier when broader coverage is useful, then review the source route and freshness of each finding. A detection is stronger when its evidence matches the exact website you intended to audit.

Best fit for website technology audits

Use this Actor to audit a prospect, competitor, migration candidate, or website portfolio when you already know the domains. Choose:

Review the Pricing tab for current event rates. Total run cost includes the events actually charged and Apify platform usage; any separately billed provider access is described in the input and data-access guidance.

Review the Pricing tab for current event rates. Total run cost includes the events actually charged and Apify platform usage; any separately billed provider access is described in the input and data-access guidance.

For historical adoption data, reverse technology lists, relationships, or a broader technology-data suite, use BuiltWith or another provider that maintains those records. This Actor focuses on supplied-domain audits and does not turn a technology name into a list of websites.

How this BuiltWith alternative compares

This Actor replaces the supplied-domain technology-audit step: identify technologies associated with a known website and retain machine-readable provenance. BuiltWith remains the better fit when the job needs its historical technology database, reverse lists, relationships data, product datasets, broader reporting, or suite features.

Decision	This Actor	BuiltWith	Best fit
Bounded workflow	Audits known domains through live public responses, with optional managed catalog enrichment.	Provides a broader technology-data suite and API products.	Choose this Actor for a focused domain audit; choose BuiltWith for broader product coverage.
Freshness	Records audit time for live responses and provider last_visited separately.	Offers current and historical technology data products.	Use the Actor for explicit per-source provenance and BuiltWith when history is required.
Output	Returns typed JSON with technologies, evidence, source routes, inspected URLs, and timestamps.	Supports broader data, API, and reporting workflows.	Use the Actor when evidence-linked JSON is the required deliverable.
Billing	Charges per persisted base or premium audit plus Apify platform usage.	Uses product and credit pricing for broader offerings.	Compare current pricing against the exact workload before choosing.
Effective efficiency	Processes a bounded domain batch and returns one reusable JSON row per accepted audit; equal-workload timing evidence remains a release gate.	Supports broader lookup and reporting workflows.	Choose based on the output and operator workflow required for the job.
Automation	Runs through Apify Console or API and stores results in a dataset.	Provides documented APIs and data products.	Use the integration surface already used by the downstream workflow.
Scope boundary	Does not provide reverse-search or historical technology timelines.	Covers historical, reverse-list, relationship, dataset, and broader suite workflows.	Choose BuiltWith when those wider capabilities drive the decision.

BuiltWith is a trademark of its owner. This independent Actor is not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by BuiltWith. DataForSEO is an independent third-party data provider.

From domain input to a stack decision

A sales researcher starts with a bounded list of prospect domains and chooses detailed hybrid_premium coverage. The Actor then inspects the selected public paths, enriches each domain from the managed catalog, and exports one provenance-aware dataset row per usable audit. Next, the researcher filters categoriesSummary for ecommerce, analytics, or support signals and passes the matching domains into qualification or migration review. Repeating the saved task later creates another buyer-owned point-in-time snapshot.

Inputs and quick start

Default live-only audit:

{
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://example.com" }],
    "dataMode": "live_only",
    "pathsToInspect": ["/", "/pricing", "/contact"],
    "maxPagesPerDomain": 3,
    "maxDomains": 10,
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "responseFormat": "detailed"
}

Premium catalog-enriched audit:

{
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://example.com" }],
    "dataMode": "hybrid_premium",
    "pathsToInspect": ["/"],
    "maxPagesPerDomain": 1,
    "maxDomains": 1,
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "responseFormat": "detailed"
}

Run the Actor after deployment:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/khadinakbar~website-stack-evidence-audit/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://example.com"}],"dataMode":"live_only","pathsToInspect":["/"],"maxPagesPerDomain":1,"maxDomains":1,"useApifyProxy":true,"responseFormat":"detailed"}'

Output contract

One dataset row represents one successful domain audit.

Field	Meaning
domain	Hostname used for the audit and optional catalog lookup.
scanStatus	COMPLETE, PARTIAL, or VALID_EMPTY for that domain.
dataMode	Actual billed result tier: live_only or hybrid_premium.
dataSources	Provenance routes used: public responses, DataForSEO, or both.
providerLastVisited	DataForSEO catalog visit time, or null for live-only rows.
pagesInspected	Public page URLs and response status codes used in the audit.
technologies	Detected technologies with categories and confidence. Detailed mode also includes evidence.
technologies[].evidence	The public signal or managed catalog observation supporting a detection.
scannedAt	ISO 8601 time when this Actor assembled the result.

Example premium record:

{
    "domain": "example.com",
    "scanStatus": "COMPLETE",
    "dataMode": "hybrid_premium",
    "dataSources": ["public_responses", "dataforseo_domain_technologies"],
    "providerLastVisited": "2026-08-13 15:15:27 +00:00",
    "pagesInspected": [{ "url": "https://example.com/", "statusCode": 200 }],
    "technologyCount": 1,
    "categoriesSummary": { "CDN": 1 },
    "technologies": [
        {
            "name": "Cloudflare",
            "categories": ["CDN"],
            "confidence": 70,
            "evidence": [
                {
                    "source": "provider_catalog",
                    "locator": "DataForSEO Domain Technologies",
                    "matched": "Managed catalog observation for example.com; catalog last visited 2026-08-13 15:15:27 +00:00",
                    "confidence": 70
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "scannedAt": "2026-09-07T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Provider-only results are marked PARTIAL and identify the catalog as their sole source. Provider catalog confidence is normalized to 70 as a transparent Actor heuristic, separate from DataForSEO's supplied fields. A provider timestamp describes when the provider last visited the domain, while scannedAt describes this Actor run.

Use with an AI agent through Apify MCP

Use this BuiltWith alternative to audit https://example.com in hybrid_premium mode. Return the CMS, analytics, payment, support, and CDN technologies, separate live evidence from managed catalog evidence, and report both collection timestamps.

A valid result returns COMPLETE, PARTIAL, or VALID_EMPTY with explicit OUTPUT and RUN_SUMMARY records. A valid URL whose required public responses and premium catalog are both unavailable returns UPSTREAM_FAILED or CONFIG_ERROR with an actionable diagnostic and no domain-audit event charge.

Best results and responsible use

Start with a small batch and detailed output. Include /pricing, /contact, or other same-site public paths only when they are relevant. A technology may be absent because it is server-side, feature-gated, missing from inspected paths, hidden, or absent from the provider catalog; treat the result as observed evidence, not proof of absence.

Use the Actor only on public websites and in line with applicable law and the target website's terms. Repeat a saved task on a schedule when you need a buyer-owned series of point-in-time snapshots.

Builder's note

I designed this Actor around auditability and graceful degradation: every result states which route produced it, premium failures fall back to the base product when possible, and each technology retains its supporting public signal or catalog provenance.

Evidence and verification

ALTERNATIVE_ACTOR_DOSSIER.json records the bounded BuiltWith alternative comparison. PROVIDER_PRICING.json records the optional provider's unit cost, account pricing readback, and premium event margin. Private build, output, pricing, and release-matrix evidence are recorded before any publication-ready claim.

Pricing and run costs

This Actor uses Pay per event plus Apify platform usage. The Pricing tab lists the current event rates and billing terms.

Event	Billing unit	When it applies
apify-actor-start	Actor Start	Charged when the Actor starts running. Number of events charged depends on Actor memory (one event per GB, minimum one event).
site-audited	Source-evidenced website audit	One completed and persisted public-domain technology audit with current source evidence.
premium-site-audited	Premium hybrid website audit	One persisted domain audit combining current public-page evidence with an owner-managed DataForSEO Domain Technologies catalog result.

Run cost combines the charged events and Apify platform usage. Review the run charge limit and requested result count before starting.

Connect an AI agent

Use the Apify MCP configurator to choose an available client connection. Inspect this Actor’s current input schema and required credentials before running it.