Wayback Machine Search

🕰️ Trace a website's archived history

Wayback Machine Search helps SEO teams, researchers, site owners, and developers review the history of public URLs and domains in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. It returns dated archive captures with original URLs, playback links, HTTP status, MIME type, content digests, sizes, optional page text, change evidence, timelines, summaries, and monitoring alerts. This gives you source-backed rows for archive research, audits, and change checks.

• Compare archive tools with Wayback Machine Alternative before choosing a history search workflow.
• Open a dated archive view with Web Archive Viewer when you need to inspect a saved page.
• Find older captures of deleted posts with Twitter Archive Deleted Tweets.
• Search saved web pages by URL with Internet Archive Search Engine.
• Review URL and domain history with Wayback Machine Search.

📦 Explore capture and change history

Returned data

The dataset uses recordType to identify snapshot, version, summary, or alert rows. Snapshot rows keep the submitted target, original archived URL, openable Wayback playback URL, source timestamp, ISO archive date, HTTP status, MIME type, content digest, and content length. They can also include readable archived text, text status, distance from a target date, and mechanical change evidence.

Version rows group successive captures into timeline intervals. Summary rows collect target counts, date ranges, coverage details, discovered paths, subdomains, emails, and the source filters used for the run. Alert rows keep the selected trigger, earlier archive state, and a short message. Fields that do not apply to a row are returned as null.

Changes are based on archive status, content digest, content length, or available fetched text. They are source-backed and deterministic. The Internet Archive may not have a capture for every page or date, so the returned history may be partial. This Actor does not crawl the current live web, create new Wayback captures, make visual screenshot diffs, or write AI summaries.

🚀 Run a focused Wayback search

Run steps

1. Add one or more URLs or domains in URLs or domains. You can submit up to 50 targets, and they share one scope and filter set.
2. Choose Archive scope: exact URL, URL prefix, same host, or same domain and subdomains.
3. Set optional archive dates, HTTP status, and MIME filters.
4. Choose an output view: raw snapshots, changed snapshots, a version timeline, the closest snapshot to a date, a Markdown report, or monitoring alerts.
5. Turn on Fetch archived page text when you need readable text. Add a phrase in History search phrase to focus on fetched archive text.
6. Run the Actor and open the dataset or the optional Markdown report.

Set maxResults to a positive number when you want fewer rows. Leave it empty to return all available results until the source is exhausted. When text fetching is on, leave maxContentFetch empty to fetch all available results until the source is exhausted. A metadata-only run leaves Fetch archived page text off.

⚙️ Input

The public input requires outputMode and targets. All targets in one run use the same archive scope and filters. Settings that do not apply to the chosen view are ignored.

Input fields

Field	Type	What it does
outputMode	string	Required. Choose snapshots, changes, timeline, closestDate, report, or monitoring.
targetDate	string	Date for the closest archived capture. Use YYYY, YYYYMM, YYYYMMDD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD. Other views ignore it.
alertOn	string	Select none, anyNewArchiveRow, statusChange, contentChange, statusOrContent, or pageRemovedOrRestored for monitoring alerts. Other views ignore it.
targets	array of strings	Required. Add 1 to 50 URLs or domains to search.
maxResults	integer	Optional positive row limit for each target. Report and monitoring views also use it for snapshot details. Leave it empty to return all available results until the source is exhausted.
matchType	string	Choose exact, prefix, host, or domain to set how broadly each target matches archived URLs.
dateFrom	string	First archive date to include. Use YYYY, YYYYMM, YYYYMMDD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD.
dateTo	string	Last archive date to include. Use YYYY, YYYYMM, YYYYMMDD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD.
statusFilter	string	Include only captures with a three-digit HTTP status such as 200 or 404. Leave it empty for any status.
mimeFilter	string	Include only captures with a MIME type such as text/html. Leave it empty for any type.
historyQuery	string	Optional phrase to find in fetched archived text. Leave it empty to keep all returned captures.
includeContent	boolean	Add readable text from eligible archived HTML or text captures. Leave it off for metadata-only results.
maxContentFetch	integer	When text fetching is on, this optional positive number limits fetched archived pages. Leave it empty to fetch all available results until the source is exhausted. It has no effect when text fetching is off.

Example input

This small example is copied from a successful current-beta run:

{
  "outputMode": "snapshots",
  "alertOn": "statusOrContent",
  "targets": [
    "http://example.com:80/"
  ],
  "maxResults": 2,
  "matchType": "exact",
  "statusFilter": "200",
  "mimeFilter": "text/html",
  "includeContent": false,
  "maxContentFetch": 1
}

🧾 Output

The Actor writes dataset rows and can also create a Markdown report. The recordType value marks each row as snapshot, version, summary, or alert. Fields that do not apply are returned as null.

Output links

Field	Type	What it does
results	string	Link to the dataset view with saved archive rows.
report	string	Link to the Markdown report when outputMode is report.

Shared dataset fields

Field	Type	What it does
recordType	string	Identifies the row as a snapshot, version, summary, or alert.
target	string or null	Submitted URL or domain that produced the row.
originalUrl	string or null	Original URL from the archived capture.
archiveUrl	string or null	Openable Wayback playback link for the capture.
waybackTimestamp	string or null	Source Wayback timestamp in YYYYMMDDhhmmss format.
archiveDate	string or null	Capture time in ISO 8601 format.
statusCode	integer or null	HTTP status recorded by Wayback.
mimeType	string or null	MIME type recorded by Wayback.
contentDigest	string or null	Wayback digest used to identify duplicate or changed captures.
contentLength	integer or null	Archived content length when available.
contentStatus	string or null	Whether archived text was not requested, fetched, capped, unavailable, or skipped.
content	string or null	Readable archived text when fetching was requested and succeeded.
distanceFromTargetDays	number or null	Absolute distance from the requested date for closestDate rows.
change	object or null	Deterministic change evidence compared with an earlier capture or version.
version	object or null	Timeline interval represented by a version row.
diff	object or null	Readable-content differences when text comparison is available.
summary	object or null	Counts, date ranges, coverage, discoveries, and source evidence for a summary.
alert	object or null	Monitoring details for a detected archive change.

All four dataset shapes include the shared fields above. Nested fields appear when their object is present.

Snapshot rows

Snapshot rows describe individual archived captures. The nested change and diff fields use these additional paths:

Field	Type	What it does
change.changed	boolean	Says whether source-backed evidence changed.
change.magnitude	string or null	Gives the measured change size: none, small, medium, or large.
change.category	string or null	Groups the change as status, content, availability, or mixed.
change.cue	string or null	Short source-backed cue for the change.
change.type	string	Names the mechanical change type, such as digestChange or statusChange.
change.previousArchiveDate	string or null	Date of the earlier capture used for comparison.
change.previousWaybackTimestamp	string or null	Wayback timestamp of the earlier capture.
change.evidence	array of strings	Source-backed facts that explain the change.
diff.added	array of strings	Representative text excerpts that were added.
diff.removed	array of strings	Representative text excerpts that were removed.

This row is copied from a successful current-beta snapshots run:

{
  "recordType": "snapshot",
  "target": "http://example.com:80/",
  "originalUrl": "http://www.example.com:80/",
  "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20020328012821id_/http://www.example.com:80/",
  "waybackTimestamp": "20020328012821",
  "archiveDate": "2002-03-28T01:28:21.000Z",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "mimeType": "text/html",
  "contentDigest": "UY3I2DT2AMWAY6DECFCFYMT5ZOTFHUCH",
  "contentLength": 481,
  "contentStatus": "notRequested",
  "content": null,
  "distanceFromTargetDays": null,
  "change": {
    "changed": true,
    "magnitude": "large",
    "category": "content",
    "cue": "Archived content digest changed",
    "type": "digestChange",
    "previousArchiveDate": "2002-01-20T14:25:10.000Z",
    "previousWaybackTimestamp": "20020120142510",
    "evidence": [
      "Digest changed from HT2DYGA5UKZCPBSFVCV3JOBXGW2G5UUA to UY3I2DT2AMWAY6DECFCFYMT5ZOTFHUCH"
    ]
  },
  "version": null,
  "diff": null,
  "summary": null,
  "alert": null
}

Version rows

Version rows group successive captures into timeline intervals. A version row has every field in the shared dataset fields table. Its change and diff objects use the nested paths listed above, and its non-null version object adds:

Field	Type	What it does
version.number	integer	Sequential version number within the target timeline.
version.startDate	string	First capture date in the version interval.
version.endDate	string	Last capture date in the version interval.
version.snapshotCount	integer	Number of captures in the version interval.
version.firstWaybackTimestamp	string	Wayback timestamp for the first capture in the interval.
version.lastWaybackTimestamp	string	Wayback timestamp for the last capture in the interval.

This row is copied from a successful current-beta timeline run:

{
  "recordType": "version",
  "target": "example.com",
  "originalUrl": "http://www.example.com:80/",
  "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20020528114741id_/http://www.example.com:80/",
  "waybackTimestamp": "20020528114741",
  "archiveDate": "2002-05-28T11:47:41.000Z",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "mimeType": "text/html",
  "contentDigest": "UY3I2DT2AMWAY6DECFCFYMT5ZOTFHUCH",
  "contentLength": 481,
  "contentStatus": "notRequested",
  "content": null,
  "distanceFromTargetDays": null,
  "change": {
    "changed": true,
    "magnitude": "large",
    "category": "content",
    "cue": "Archived content digest changed",
    "type": "digestChange",
    "previousArchiveDate": "2002-01-20T14:25:10.000Z",
    "previousWaybackTimestamp": "20020120142510",
    "evidence": [
      "Digest changed from HT2DYGA5UKZCPBSFVCV3JOBXGW2G5UUA to UY3I2DT2AMWAY6DECFCFYMT5ZOTFHUCH"
    ]
  },
  "version": {
    "number": 2,
    "startDate": "2002-03-28T01:28:21.000Z",
    "endDate": "2002-05-28T11:47:41.000Z",
    "snapshotCount": 3,
    "firstWaybackTimestamp": "20020328012821",
    "lastWaybackTimestamp": "20020528114741"
  },
  "diff": null,
  "summary": null,
  "alert": null
}

Summary rows

Summary rows collect run-level counts and source context. A summary row has every field in the shared dataset fields table. Its non-null summary object uses:

Field	Type	What it does
summary.targets	array of strings	Targets covered by the summary.
summary.snapshotCount	integer	Total snapshot rows represented by the summary.
summary.versionCount	integer	Total version rows represented by the summary.
summary.alertCount	integer	Total alert rows represented by the summary.
summary.dateRange	object	Oldest and newest archive dates in the summary.
summary.dateRange.firstArchiveDate	string or null	Oldest archive date represented.
summary.dateRange.lastArchiveDate	string or null	Newest archive date represented.
summary.coverage	array of objects	Per-target archive coverage details.
summary.coverage[].target	string	Target covered by the entry.
summary.coverage[].snapshotCount	integer	Successful snapshots for the target.
summary.coverage[].firstArchiveDate	string or null	Oldest capture for the target.
summary.coverage[].lastArchiveDate	string or null	Newest capture for the target.
summary.coverage[].completeness	string	Whether returned coverage is complete, partial, or unknown.
summary.coverage[].reliability	string	Coverage reliability: high, medium, low, or unknown.
summary.coverage[].observedGaps	array of strings	Known gaps or source limits in the returned history.
summary.discovery	object	Discovered paths, subdomains, and emails.
summary.discovery.paths	array of strings	Distinct archived paths found.
summary.discovery.subdomains	array of strings	Distinct archived subdomains found.
summary.discovery.emails	array of strings	Email addresses found in fetched archived content.
summary.evidence	object	Reproducible source context for the summary.
summary.evidence.source	string	Source used for archive data.
summary.evidence.filters	array of strings	User-visible filters applied to the summary.

This row is copied from a successful current-beta Markdown report run:

{
  "recordType": "summary",
  "target": null,
  "originalUrl": null,
  "archiveUrl": null,
  "waybackTimestamp": null,
  "archiveDate": null,
  "statusCode": null,
  "mimeType": null,
  "contentDigest": null,
  "contentLength": null,
  "contentStatus": null,
  "content": null,
  "distanceFromTargetDays": null,
  "change": null,
  "version": null,
  "diff": null,
  "summary": {
    "targets": [
      "example.com"
    ],
    "snapshotCount": 10,
    "versionCount": 8,
    "alertCount": 0,
    "dateRange": {
      "firstArchiveDate": "2002-01-20T14:25:10.000Z",
      "lastArchiveDate": "2002-08-03T08:05:44.000Z"
    },
    "coverage": [
      {
        "target": "example.com",
        "snapshotCount": 10,
        "firstArchiveDate": "2002-01-20T14:25:10.000Z",
        "lastArchiveDate": "2002-08-03T08:05:44.000Z",
        "completeness": "partial",
        "reliability": "medium",
        "observedGaps": [
          "Results stopped at the requested row limit"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "discovery": {
      "paths": [],
      "subdomains": [
        "www.example.com"
      ],
      "emails": []
    },
    "evidence": {
      "source": "Internet Archive Wayback Machine",
      "filters": [
        "match:domain",
        "status:200",
        "mime:text/html"
      ]
    }
  },
  "alert": null
}

Alert rows

Alert rows show a monitoring change in archive data. An alert row has every field in the shared dataset fields table. Its non-null alert object adds:

Field	Type	What it does
alert.trigger	string	Monitoring condition that created the row.
alert.previousArchiveDate	string or null	Earlier capture date used for comparison.
alert.previousWaybackTimestamp	string or null	Wayback timestamp of the earlier capture.
alert.previousStatusCode	integer or null	Earlier capture HTTP status when relevant.
alert.previousContentDigest	string or null	Earlier capture content digest when relevant.
alert.message	string	Short source-backed alert message.

This row is copied from a successful current-beta monitoring run:

{
  "recordType": "alert",
  "target": "github.com",
  "originalUrl": "http://github.com:80/?",
  "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20080618201317id_/http://github.com:80/?",
  "waybackTimestamp": "20080618201317",
  "archiveDate": "2008-06-18T20:13:17.000Z",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "mimeType": "text/html",
  "contentDigest": "7HRNG6K4OGFHZZU4KVQO4ZMO7M7LYMLQ",
  "contentLength": 3474,
  "contentStatus": "notRequested",
  "content": null,
  "distanceFromTargetDays": null,
  "change": {
    "changed": true,
    "magnitude": "small",
    "category": "content",
    "cue": "Archived content digest changed",
    "type": "digestChange",
    "previousArchiveDate": "2008-05-14T21:01:48.000Z",
    "previousWaybackTimestamp": "20080514210148",
    "evidence": [
      "Digest changed from L4YKKNIYL4FNB5SJWPQ4YII5FJTLWHRF to 7HRNG6K4OGFHZZU4KVQO4ZMO7M7LYMLQ"
    ]
  },
  "version": null,
  "diff": null,
  "summary": null,
  "alert": {
    "trigger": "anyNewArchiveRow",
    "previousArchiveDate": "2008-05-14T21:01:48.000Z",
    "previousWaybackTimestamp": "20080514210148",
    "previousStatusCode": 200,
    "previousContentDigest": "L4YKKNIYL4FNB5SJWPQ4YII5FJTLWHRF",
    "message": "New Wayback capture found for http://github.com:80/? at 2008-06-18."
  }
}

💳 Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. The charged event is Archive output, and it applies when a successful snapshot, version, summary, or monitoring alert is saved. Check the Actor Pricing tab for current tier rates.

🔌 Integrations

Export dataset rows as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML, or use the dataset and Markdown report with the Apify API, schedules, and webhooks.

❓ FAQ

What happens when no snapshots match my targets?

A run can save no rows when the source has no matching captures. Check the target scope, date range, status, and MIME filters.

What does closestDate return?

It returns the capture closest to the date you enter and reports the absolute distance in distanceFromTargetDays.

Why is content sometimes null?

Text is null when fetching is off or the source text is unavailable, capped, or skipped. Use contentStatus to see the text state.

How are changes and timeline different?

changes focuses on captures with source-backed changes. timeline groups successive captures into version rows with date spans and capture counts.

How does monitoring compare archive history?

Monitoring compares the latest saved archive state for the same target and filters. alertOn chooses the conditions that create alert rows.

Can I search the archived pages by keyword?

No. Search targets are URLs or domains. historyQuery can focus on a phrase in text fetched from returned captures, but it is not a full archive text index.

Does this crawl the live website or create a new capture?

No. It reads existing Internet Archive data. It does not crawl the current site or create a Wayback capture.

Do I need a Wayback Machine API key or login?

No. The Actor reads public archive data and does not ask for a buyer-supplied API secret or login.

📝 Changelog

1.0: Expanded archive history workflows

• Added focused snapshot, change, timeline, closest-date, report, and monitoring views.
• Added readable archive text, source-backed change evidence, coverage summaries, and monitoring alerts.

0.1: Initial release

• Initial release.

🆘 Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, file a ticket and I'll fix or implement it in less than 24h 🫡

🔗 Related Actors

• Website URL Crawler & Link Extractor - Build a URL list from links and sitemaps before searching its archive history.
• Website Change Monitor & Diff Checker - Monitor current public pages when you need repeat checks outside archived history.
• Wayback Machine Search - Query another Wayback search Actor for archive snapshots of URLs and domains.
• Wayback Machine Snapshot Lookup - Look up exact-URL capture history and per-URL archive summaries.
• Wayback Machine Scraper - Track Website Changes Over Time - Review historical captures with website change tracking features.

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Dupré