Broken Link Checker

Broken Link Checker

Check any list of URLs for broken links, redirects, and slow pages in one run. Each URL is tested with a real HTTP request and reported with its status code, response time, and any errors. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Broken links hurt your SEO, user trust, and crawl budget. Manually checking each URL is tedious and error-prone. This Actor takes a list of URLs and checks each one for broken links, redirects, 404s, and slow responses, returning a clean dataset you can act on immediately.

Who uses it	What they scrape Broken Link Checker for
SEO specialists	Find and fix broken links on their own site or a client's site to improve rankings and user experience.
Web developers	Automate link checking during site maintenance or before launch to ensure all links work.
Content managers	Regularly verify that outbound links in articles and resources are still valid.
Digital marketers	Monitor backlink profiles and identify broken links on partner or affiliate sites.

What it does

This Actor checks a list of URLs for broken links, redirects, and slow pages, and returns each URL with its status code, response time, and error details.

• 🔗 Multi-URL input: Provide an array of URLs to check in one run, from a handful to thousands.
• ⏱️ Custom timeout: Set a per-request timeout from 1 to 60 seconds to match your network conditions.
• 🔁 Redirect control: Choose whether to follow redirects and set a maximum redirect count.
• 🐢 Slow page detection: Define a response time threshold to flag pages that are slow for users.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Broken Link Checker data

🔍 Audit your website for broken links.

SEO specialists run a list of their site's URLs to find 404s and fix them before they hurt rankings.

🛠️ Verify links before a site launch.

Developers check all internal and external links on a staging site to ensure nothing is broken.

📝 Maintain content quality.

Content managers periodically check outbound links in articles to keep resources up to date.

📈 Monitor backlink health.

Marketers check the URLs of their backlinks to identify broken ones and request fixes from webmasters.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Status code	The HTTP status code returned for each URL, such as 200, 404, or 301.
Response time	How long the request took, so you can spot slow pages that hurt user experience.
Error details	Any connection errors, timeouts, or invalid responses, with a clear message.
Redirect info	The final destination URL when redirects are followed, plus the redirect count.

How it compares

Compared to a full SEO audit tool, this Actor focuses specifically on link checking, making it faster and simpler for that single task.

Feature	ParseForge	Complete SEO Audit Tool - Website Crawler with 0-100 Scores
Check a list of URLs	Yes	Not listed
Follow redirects	Yes	Not listed
Custom timeout	Yes	Not listed
Slow page detection	Yes	Not listed
SEO score for each page	Not listed	Yes

Configure the run

Feed the Actor a list of URLs, and it checks each one with a real HTTP request. You control the timeout, redirect behavior, and slow page threshold, so you get exactly the data you need. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "urls": [
    "https://apify.com",
    "https://example.com"
  ]
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.04 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$4.00
1,000 results	$40.00
10,000 results	$400.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Broken Link Checker.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Broken Link Checker through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/broken-link-checker"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Make sure you provided at least one valid URL in the 'urls' field. Also check that the URLs are publicly accessible and not blocked by robots.txt or a firewall.

Why are some URLs timing out?

Increase the 'timeout' value (up to 60000 ms) to allow more time for slow servers to respond. Also check your network connection.

Why are redirects not being followed?

Ensure 'followRedirects' is set to true. If it is, but you still see redirects, check that 'maxRedirects' is high enough.

Why is a page marked as slow?

The response time exceeded your 'slowThreshold'. You can raise the threshold if you consider the page acceptable.

Why do I get a 403 error for some URLs?

The server may be blocking automated requests. Try adding a user agent or using a proxy, but note that this Actor does not support custom headers.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What does the Actor consider a broken link?	A URL is considered broken if it returns a 4xx or 5xx status code, or if the request fails due to a connection error, timeout, or invalid response.
Can I check URLs from a sitemap?	This Actor expects a list of URLs. You can extract URLs from a sitemap using a separate Actor like Sitemap URL Extractor, then feed the list here.
How many URLs can I check in one run?	There is no hard limit, but the run time depends on the number of URLs and the timeout you set. For large lists, consider increasing the timeout or splitting the list.
Does the Actor follow redirects?	By default, yes. You can disable redirect following or set a maximum redirect count to control the behavior.
What does 'slow page' mean?	A page is marked as slow if its response time exceeds the threshold you set, defaulting to 2 seconds.
Can I export the results?	Yes, the dataset can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, or other formats from the Apify platform.
Does it require an API key or login?	No, it uses public HTTP requests and does not require any authentication.
What if a URL is behind a login or firewall?	The Actor will likely get a 401 or 403 status, which will be reported as a broken link. It cannot access protected pages.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apify. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.