# Bulk URL Status, Redirect & SSL Checker (`pipwort/url-status-checker`) Actor

Check thousands of URLs at once: final HTTP status, every redirect hop, response time, canonical and robots tags, and SSL certificate expiry. Built for site migrations, link audits and monitoring.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pipwort/url-status-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Pipwort Data](https://apify.com/pipwort) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 url 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

## Bulk URL Status, Redirect & SSL Checker

Check a list of URLs in one run and see exactly what happens to each one: the final status code, every redirect hop, response time, key SEO tags and when the SSL certificate expires.

It's built for site migrations, broken-link clean-ups, redirect mapping and simple uptime or certificate monitoring on a schedule.

### What you get for each URL

- `statusCode`, `reasonPhrase`, `ok` (true for 2xx)
- `redirectChain`: every hop with its status code and `Location`, plus `redirectCount`, `finalUrl`, `httpsUpgrade` and `crossDomainRedirect`
- `responseTimeMs`, `contentType`, `contentLength`, `server`, `httpVersion`, `lastModified`
- SEO signals: page `title`, `canonical`, `metaRobots`, `metaRefresh`, `xRobotsTag`, `hsts`
- `ssl`: whether the certificate is valid, `validTo`, `daysToExpiry`, issuer and TLS version (checked once per host)
- Clear errors when something fails: `dns`, `timeout`, `ssl`, `connection`, `redirect-loop`, `too-many-redirects` or `invalid-url`, with the full message

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `urls` | The URLs to check (required). Paste a list or upload a file. URLs without `https://` get it added. |
| `method` | `auto` (HEAD, falling back to GET), `GET` or `HEAD` |
| `extractPageInfo` | Read the title, canonical and meta robots (on by default) |
| `checkSsl` | Add certificate details (on by default) |
| `ignoreSslErrors` | Still get a status code for sites with broken certificates |
| `maxRedirects`, `maxConcurrency`, `requestTimeoutSecs`, `maxRetries` | Fine-tuning |
| `useBrowserUserAgent` | See what a regular browser would get |

### Example output (shortened)

```json
{
  "inputUrl": "https://python.org",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "ok": true,
  "redirectCount": 1,
  "redirectChain": [{ "url": "https://python.org", "statusCode": 301, "location": "https://www.python.org/" }],
  "finalUrl": "https://www.python.org/",
  "responseTimeMs": 375,
  "title": "Welcome to Python.org",
  "ssl": { "valid": true, "daysToExpiry": 119, "issuer": "GlobalSign nv-sa", "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3" }
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per result: **US$1.00 per 1,000 URLs checked**, plus a small start fee of US$0.005 per run. Failed checks are charged like any other row, because the failure is the result you asked for. Cap any run with the "Maximum cost per run" setting.

### Good to know

- Please check only sites you own or have permission to test, and keep concurrency reasonable for small sites.
- `ok` reflects the HTTP status. A page can be `ok` and still have an SSL problem when `ignoreSslErrors` is on, so check `ssl.valid` too.
- Some servers answer automated tools differently from browsers, and a few drop the connection entirely (you'll see a `timeout` or `connection` error for a page that opens fine in your browser). Turn on `useBrowserUserAgent` to see what a visitor gets.

# Actor input Schema

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

Add URLs one by one, paste a list, or upload a text/CSV file. URLs without a scheme get https:// added.

## `method` (type: `string`):

When page info is on, GET is used so the title and canonical tag can be read.

## `extractPageInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Reads up to 512 KB of HTML from the final page.

## `checkSsl` (type: `boolean`):

Adds certificate validity, issuer and days until expiry (once per host).

## `ignoreSslErrors` (type: `boolean`):

When on, a broken certificate does not stop the check: you get the status code and the ssl.valid=false finding. When off, these URLs are reported as errorType ssl.

## `maxRedirects` (type: `integer`):

Stop following after this many hops.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Lower this if you are checking many URLs on one small site.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per request.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

DNS failures are not retried.

## `dedupe` (type: `boolean`):

Check each URL once.

## `useBrowserUserAgent` (type: `boolean`):

Some servers answer differently to tools than to browsers. Turn on to see what a visitor sees.

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

Overrides the option above.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    {
      "url": "http://apify.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.canada.ca/en.html"
    }
  ],
  "method": "auto",
  "extractPageInfo": true,
  "checkSsl": true,
  "ignoreSslErrors": false,
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 20,
  "maxRetries": 1,
  "dedupe": true,
  "useBrowserUserAgent": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per URL with status, redirect chain, SEO tags and SSL details.

# 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": [
        {
            "url": "http://apify.com"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://www.canada.ca/en.html"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pipwort/url-status-checker").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": [
        { "url": "http://apify.com" },
        { "url": "https://www.canada.ca/en.html" },
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pipwort/url-status-checker").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": [
    {
      "url": "http://apify.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.canada.ca/en.html"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call pipwort/url-status-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pipwort/url-status-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/hgnXuShi8CkZX0yTn/builds/eQJCr11bqvHUdklS0/openapi.json