# Changed? Has this page really changed since your last check (`omenz/changed-page-check`) Actor

Has a page really changed since your last check? Ignores timestamps, counters and markup churn; never ignores prices, hours or content. Stateless fingerprints, no AI, usually 1 request.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/omenz/changed-page-check.md
- **Developed by:** [OMENZ](https://apify.com/omenz) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, AI, Automation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 page checkeds

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

## Changed?

**Has this page *really* changed since you last looked, or is it just a new timestamp?** One cheap, deterministic check per URL, before your agent or pipeline re-reads, re-scrapes, re-summarizes or re-verifies a page that didn't actually change.

### What you get per page

`state`:

- **NEW**: first check; a baseline was taken
- **UNCHANGED**: same destination, same meaningful content (or the server said 304 Not Modified)
- **CHANGED**: `change_type` = `content` | `metadata` | `destination`; `change_size` = share of text blocks added or removed (0-1)
- **REDIRECTED**: the page now ends on a different site
- **GONE**: dead, parked / for sale, or taken over by spam
- **BLOCKED**: bot protection or rate limiting; we can't see it, so we don't guess
- **UNKNOWN**: timeout, server error, or a page that only renders in a browser (JavaScript shell). **Never reported as UNCHANGED.**

Plus `reason`, `final_url`, `observed_last_modified`, `checked_at` and a **`fingerprint`**.

### Stateless: you keep the fingerprint

We store nothing. Keep each page's `fingerprint` and pass it back next time:

```json
{ "pages": [{ "url": "https://example.com", "fingerprint": "<from your last run>" }] }
```

First time, just send URLs:

```json
{ "urls": ["https://example.com"] }
```

Tip: download your last run's dataset (url + fingerprint columns) and send it back as `pages`.

### What it ignores and what it never ignores

**Ignored (so dynamic-but-same pages stay UNCHANGED):** "updated x minutes ago", timestamps, copyright years, open/closed-now badges, view and review counters, script/style/markup churn.

**Never ignored:** prices, menus, opening hours (including clock times on hours lines), addresses, phone numbers, added or removed paragraphs, title and description changes, redirects.

When unsure it leans to CHANGED, because a false UNCHANGED is the expensive mistake.

### How accurate is it?

- **Method:** this exact version passed a frozen, pre-registered test on **157 pages it had never seen** (77 business sites, 25 fast-changing pages, 24 controlled pages), checked again **4 days later** and graded by hand:
- **Missed real changes (false UNCHANGED): 0 of 43**
- **Overall accuracy: 93.4%**
- **Dynamic-but-unchanged pages correctly left UNCHANGED: 92.3%**
- **Browser-only pages: always UNKNOWN, never UNCHANGED**
- **In the wild it caught** two small businesses changing their opening hours, plus holiday menus, sales and new collections.
- **The previous version failed this test** (it called a JavaScript-only page unchanged) and was fixed before this one shipped.

### Honest limits

- **Known false alarms:** live inventory/result counters, rolling calendar dates, timestamps without a year, "today/tomorrow" hours widgets, captchas and embedded social feeds can show up as CHANGED.
- **It reads what an automated client gets, not what a browser renders.** Browser-only pages are UNKNOWN.
- **It never bypasses bot protection.** Blocked pages are reported as BLOCKED.
- **Lightweight:** usually 1 request per page (often a 304), public pages only, no AI calls.

### Coming back? Tell us what to add

If this runs in your pipeline or agent regularly, open an issue on the **Issues** tab (https://apify.com/omenz/changed-page-check/issues): what you use it for, and the next check you'd want in the same call.

Built by OMENZ: https://omenz.org

### More OMENZ tools

- **[Agent-Ready Checker](https://apify.com/omenz/agent-ready-checker)**: is a business website ready for AI assistants and agents? Score + fixes
- **[Lead List Website Check](https://apify.com/omenz/lead-list-website-check)**: bulk website health + business facts for lead lists

OMENZ builds tools, research and stories for the agentic internet: [omenz.org](https://www.omenz.org/?utm_source=apify\&utm_medium=readme\&utm_campaign=changed-page-check)

# Actor input Schema

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

Pages to baseline. The first check of a page returns NEW plus a fingerprint (max 1000 per run).

## `pages` (type: `array`):

\[{"url": "...", "fingerprint": "..."}] using the fingerprint from your last check.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}
```

# 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://example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("omenz/changed-page-check").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://example.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("omenz/changed-page-check").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://example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call omenz/changed-page-check --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,omenz/changed-page-check"
        }
    }
}
```

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/XccPmpQbdOree426x/builds/5NMOUri7wLyOrPO7d/openapi.json