# AI Competitor Website Changes Tracker (`martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker`) Actor Monitor competitor websites on a schedule for pricing changes, new features, job postings, and ads/CTAs. The Actor differences each page against last run's snapshot and uses AI to generate a "what has been changed and why does it matters" structured report and sends it direstly to your email inbox. - **URL**: https://apify.com/martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker.md - **Developed by:** [Мартин Фидановски](https://apify.com/martinnative) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Automation, E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.15 / competitor url monitored This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Competitor Change Tracker > **Stop manually checking competitor websites. Get an AI-powered weekly digest > of every pricing change, new feature, job posting, and tech shift — > delivered straight to your inbox.** --- ### What this Actor does Competitor Change Tracker monitors a list of your competitor URLs every week and automatically detects what changed. It then sends those changes to an AI that explains **what changed and — more importantly — why it matters for your business**. You get a clean, formatted email digest (and optionally a Slack or webhook notification) every time something worth knowing happens. No code. No setup complexity. Just paste URLs and an email address. --- ### What gets monitored For each URL you add, the Actor tracks **7 categories of change**: | Category | What it watches | |---|---| | Pricing | Price changes, new plans, discounts, plan removals | | Features | New features added, features removed, product updates | | Jobs | New job postings — a strong signal for where a competitor is investing | | Ads / CTAs | Changes to sign-up buttons, trial offers, and call-to-action copy | | SEO & Metadata | Title tag, meta description, OG tags, canonical URL changes | | Tech Stack | Added or removed tools (analytics, chat, payments, A/B testing, CRM) | | Reviews | Rating score and review count changes on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot | **Plus two bonus signals:** - **New pages** — detects when a competitor adds a new section to their site (new product, new market, new pricing tier) by monitoring their sitemap - **Visual changes** — takes a screenshot each week and flags when the page layout changes --- ### What you receive #### Weekly email digest Every week you get a formatted email that includes: - **Hot competitor this week** — the competitor with the most significant activity gets highlighted at the top - **Per-competitor cards** with: - AI-written executive summary of what changed - Change velocity chart showing the last 8 weeks of activity - Every change row colour-coded by severity: High / Medium / Low - AI explanation of *why each change matters* for your business - **New pages** detected via sitemap monitoring - **Visual layout changes** flagged with a distinct indicator #### Dataset (Apify Console) Every detected change is saved as a structured record you can query via API or export: | Field | Example | |---|---| | Competitor | competitor.com | | Section | pricing | | Severity | high | | Category | price-drop | | What changed | Starter plan dropped from $49 to $29/month | | Why it matters | Direct response to market pressure — they may be losing deals on price | | Velocity score | 78 | The dataset has two views: **All changes** and **High severity only** (pre-filtered). #### Full JSON digest A complete JSON digest of the run is saved in the key-value store under the key `DIGEST`, accessible via the Apify API for custom integrations. --- ### How to set it up #### Step 1 — Add your competitor URLs Paste the URLs of the pages you want to monitor. Be specific — add the exact pages that matter: ```` https://competitor.com/pricing https://competitor.com/features https://competitor.com/careers https://www.g2.com/products/competitor/reviews https://www.linkedin.com/company/competitor/jobs ```` > **Tip:** G2, Capterra, and LinkedIn pages are automatically handled with full browser > rendering — no extra configuration needed. #### Step 2 — Enter your email Type your email address in the **Send digest to email** field. That is it — the digest arrives from our sender each week. You can also add a **Slack Webhook URL** to get a formatted Slack notification alongside the email. #### Step 3 — Schedule it weekly Go to **Schedules** in Apify Console and set the Actor to run every Monday morning (or whatever day suits you). It runs automatically from then on forever. --- ### Input reference | Field | Required | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | **Competitor URLs** | Yes | — | The pages to monitor | | **Send digest to email** | No | — | Your email — digest arrives from our sender | | **Sections to track** | No | All 7 | Choose which change categories to monitor | | **Minimum severity** | No | Low | Filter out low-signal changes | | **Monitor sitemap** | No | Off | Detect new pages added to competitor sites | | **Enable screenshots** | No | Off | Visual layout change detection | | **Slack Webhook URL** | No | — | Formatted Slack Block Kit digest to your channel | | **Webhook URL** | No | — | POST the full digest JSON to Make, Zapier, or anywhere | | **Render JavaScript** | No | Off | Force browser rendering (auto-on for G2 / LinkedIn) | --- ### Who is this for - **SaaS product teams** tracking competitor pricing and feature announcements - **Marketing strategists** monitoring positioning changes and ad copy shifts - **Founders** who need competitive awareness without the manual work - **Agency competitive intel** teams running intel for multiple clients - **VC portfolio managers** watching portfolio companies and their competitors - **Sales teams** who need to know when a competitor drops prices or changes their pitch --- ### Pricing Pay-per-result — you only pay for URLs that get monitored each run. | What you pay for | Price | |---|---| | Per competitor URL monitored per run | **$0.25** | | Actor start (once per run) | $0.035 | **Monthly cost at weekly schedule (4 runs/month):** | Competitors | Monthly cost | |---|---| | 3 URLs | ~$3 | | 5 URLs | ~$5 | | 10 URLs | ~$10 | | 20 URLs | ~$20 | Higher Apify plans get automatic discounts: Bronze $0.22 · Silver $0.19 · Gold $0.15 per URL. --- ### Frequently asked questions **What happens on the first run?** The first run per URL captures a baseline snapshot. No changes are reported — this prevents false positives on day one. From run 2 onwards, every run diffs against the previous snapshot. **What if nothing changed?** You still get an email confirming that the digest ran and no changes were detected. Silence means your competitors are quiet this week. **Does it work on JavaScript-heavy sites?** Yes. The Actor uses fast HTTP fetching by default. For LinkedIn, G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot it automatically switches to full headless browser rendering. You can force browser rendering on any URL via the **Render JavaScript** toggle. **Can I monitor multiple pages for the same competitor?** Yes — add as many URLs as you like. Pricing page, features page, careers page, and G2 profile can all be tracked independently. Each URL is priced separately. **How does the AI analysis work?** Each detected diff is sent to an AI model which classifies the change type, assigns a severity level (low / medium / high), writes a plain-English summary, and explains the business significance. This analysis is what makes each digest actionable rather than just a list of raw diffs. **Can I access the data via API?** Yes. All change records are in the default Apify Dataset, accessible via the standard Dataset API. The full digest JSON is also available as a key-value store record. Connect it to Make, Zapier, your own dashboard, or any webhook. **Which sites can it monitor?** Any publicly accessible web page — pricing pages, feature pages, careers pages, blog homepages, review platform profiles, documentation sites. Pages behind login are not supported. **How far back does the history go?** The Actor keeps a rolling 8-week velocity history per competitor URL, stored between runs. Snapshots persist indefinitely so long-term diffs are always accurate. --- ### Output API | Output | Description | |---|---| | **Change records** | Default dataset — one record per detected change, queryable via API | | **Full digest JSON** | Key-value store record `DIGEST` — complete run summary | | **Screenshots** | Named KV store `competitor-screenshots` (when screenshots enabled) | All output URLs appear on the **Output** tab of each run in Apify Console. --- *Built with the Apify platform · AI-generated competitive intelligence · Runs weekly forever* # Actor input Schema ## `competitorUrls` (type: `array`): List of competitor pages to monitor. Add pricing pages, careers pages, G2/Capterra profiles, LinkedIn jobs pages, etc. ## `emailTo` (type: `string`): Your email address to receive the weekly digest. Leave blank to skip email. ## `trackSections` (type: `array`): Which categories of change to extract and report on. ## `minSeverity` (type: `string`): Filter out changes below this AI-assigned severity. ## `monitorSitemap` (type: `boolean`): Detect when competitors add (or remove) pages — early signal of new products, features, or market expansion. ## `enableScreenshots` (type: `boolean`): Take a screenshot each run and flag when the page layout changes visually. Requires more memory and time. ## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`): Optional. POST the full digest JSON here (Make, Zapier, etc.). ## `slackWebhookUrl` (type: `string`): Optional. Send a formatted Slack Block Kit digest to your channel. ## `renderJs` (type: `boolean`): Use a headless browser for all URLs. LinkedIn, G2, Capterra are always rendered automatically. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Use Apify Proxy to reduce anti-bot blocking. ## Actor input object example ```json { "competitorUrls": [ "https://competitor-a.com/pricing", "https://competitor-b.com/careers", "https://www.g2.com/products/competitor/reviews" ], "trackSections": [ "pricing", "features", "jobs", "ads", "seo", "techstack" ], "minSeverity": "low", "monitorSitemap": false, "enableScreenshots": false, "renderJs": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `changeRecords` (type: `string`): One dataset item per detected change. Each record includes competitor domain, section (pricing/features/jobs/ads/seo/techstack/reviews/sitemap), AI-generated summary, why it matters, severity, change type, velocity score, and a hot-competitor flag. ## `fullDigest` (type: `string`): Complete run digest stored as a single JSON object in the default key-value store under the key 'DIGEST'. Contains per-competitor summaries, velocity histories, new pages, visual change flags, and the hot-competitor URL. ## `screenshots` (type: `string`): PNG screenshots and hash metadata stored in the named 'competitor-screenshots' key-value store. Only populated when enableScreenshots is true. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "competitorUrls": [ "https://www.example.com/pricing" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "competitorUrls": ["https://www.example.com/pricing"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "competitorUrls": [ "https://www.example.com/pricing" ] }' | apify call martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=martinnative/competitor-website-changes-tracker", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "AI Competitor Website Changes Tracker", "description": "Monitor competitor websites on a schedule for pricing changes, new features, job postings, and ads/CTAs. The Actor differences each page against last run's snapshot and uses AI to generate a \"what has been changed and why does it matters\" structured report and sends it direstly to your email inbox.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "IVi6BLRrldJhHLn9s" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/martinnative~competitor-website-changes-tracker/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-martinnative-competitor-website-changes-tracker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/martinnative~competitor-website-changes-tracker/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-martinnative-competitor-website-changes-tracker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/martinnative~competitor-website-changes-tracker/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-martinnative-competitor-website-changes-tracker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "competitorUrls" ], "properties": { "competitorUrls": { "title": "Competitor URLs", "type": "array", "description": "List of competitor pages to monitor. Add pricing pages, careers pages, G2/Capterra profiles, LinkedIn jobs pages, etc.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "emailTo": { "title": "Send digest to email", "type": "string", "description": "Your email address to receive the weekly digest. Leave blank to skip email." }, "trackSections": { "title": "Sections to track", "type": "array", "description": "Which categories of change to extract and report on.", "items": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "pricing", "features", "jobs", "ads", "seo", "techstack", "reviews" ], "enumTitles": [ "Pricing", "Features", "Job postings", "Ads / CTAs", "SEO & metadata", "Tech stack", "Reviews (G2 / Capterra)" ] }, "default": [ "pricing", "features", "jobs", "ads", "seo", "techstack" ] }, "minSeverity": { "title": "Minimum severity to report", "enum": [ "low", "medium", "high" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter out changes below this AI-assigned severity.", "default": "low" }, "monitorSitemap": { "title": "Monitor sitemap for new pages", "type": "boolean", "description": "Detect when competitors add (or remove) pages — early signal of new products, features, or market expansion.", "default": false }, "enableScreenshots": { "title": "Enable visual change detection (screenshots)", "type": "boolean", "description": "Take a screenshot each run and flag when the page layout changes visually. Requires more memory and time.", "default": false }, "webhookUrl": { "title": "Webhook URL", "type": "string", "description": "Optional. POST the full digest JSON here (Make, Zapier, etc.)." }, "slackWebhookUrl": { "title": "Slack Incoming Webhook URL", "type": "string", "description": "Optional. Send a formatted Slack Block Kit digest to your channel." }, "renderJs": { "title": "Render JavaScript (advanced)", "type": "boolean", "description": "Use a headless browser for all URLs. LinkedIn, G2, Capterra are always rendered automatically.", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration (advanced)", "type": "object", "description": "Use Apify Proxy to reduce anti-bot blocking.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```