# Bulk URL Redirect, Status & SSL Health Checker (`reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-checker`) Actor

Check hundreds of URLs at once: HTTP status, the full redirect chain (301/302, http to https, www), security headers and SSL certificate expiry. One health verdict and issue list per URL. No login, no proxy.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Owais Khan](https://apify.com/reaperoak) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.55 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 Redirect, Status & SSL Health Checker

Check hundreds of URLs at once for **HTTP status, the full redirect chain, security headers and SSL certificate expiry**. Every URL gets a health verdict (OK, WARNING or ERROR) and a list of findings, so you can fix broken links, redirect chains and expiring certificates before visitors or search engines notice.

### What is the Bulk URL Health Checker?

It is an Apify Actor that follows each URL the way a browser would, records every hop, and reports what it finds: the final status code, whether the chain is long or looping, whether http upgrades to https, which security headers the final page sends, and when its certificate expires. It never downloads page bodies, so it is fast and cheap.

### What makes it different?

- **The whole redirect chain, hop by hop.** Each hop shows its status, whether it is permanent or temporary, and what changed: protocol, www, trailing slash or path.
- **Certificate expiry in the same run.** Issuer, expiry date, days left and whether the certificate is trusted, with one handshake per host.
- **Security headers at a glance.** HSTS, Content-Type-Options, frame protection, CSP, Referrer-Policy and Permissions-Policy.
- **Monitoring mode.** Return only URLs with warnings or errors; healthy ones are neither returned nor charged.
- **Safe by design.** Private and internal addresses are blocked.

### What data does the URL checker return?

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `url, finalUrl, status` | `http://github.com`, `https://github.com/`, `200` |
| `health, issues` | `WARNING`, `[{ code: 'LONG_REDIRECT_CHAIN', … }]` |
| `redirects, permanentRedirects, temporaryRedirects` | `1`, `1`, `0` |
| `chain` | every hop: step, url, status, type, location, changes |
| `upgradedToHttps, redirectLoop` | `true`, `false` |
| `securityHeaders` | `{ hsts: true, csp: true, … , count: 4, total: 6 }` |
| `certificate` | `{ issuer, validTo, daysLeft: 42, trusted: true }` |
| `contentType, server, cacheControl, totalMs` | headers and timing |

A `SUMMARY` record shows how many URLs were checked and how many are OK, WARNING and ERROR.

### What it flags

| Finding | Severity | When |
|---|---|---|
| `CLIENT_ERROR`, `SERVER_ERROR` | error | the final page answers 4xx or 5xx |
| `FETCH_FAILED` | error | the URL could not be reached |
| `REDIRECT_LOOP` | error | a URL repeats, or the chain exceeds 10 hops |
| `CERT_EXPIRED`, `CERT_NOT_TRUSTED` | error | the certificate is expired or not trusted |
| `LONG_REDIRECT_CHAIN` | warning | more than 2 redirects |
| `NOT_HTTPS` | warning | the final URL is http |
| `CERT_EXPIRING_SOON` | warning | 14 days or fewer left |
| `SLOW` | warning | the chain took over 3 seconds |
| `CERT_EXPIRING`, `NO_HSTS` | info | 30 days or fewer left; no HSTS header |

Info-level findings do not change the health verdict.

### How to check redirects, status codes and SSL expiry in bulk

1. Paste your URLs, one per line.
2. Leave *Check SSL certificates* on to get expiry dates.
3. Click **Start**, then sort by health to see the ERRORs and WARNINGs first.
4. Schedule it daily with *Only return URLs with warnings or errors* for a cheap monitor, and send the results to Slack, email, Make, n8n or Zapier.

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

- **urls**: any public web addresses. Redirects are followed up to 10 hops.
- **checkTls**: adds the certificate details. Turn it off to skip the TLS handshake.
- **onlyProblems**: returns, and charges for, only the URLs with a warning or an error.

### How much does bulk URL checking cost?

You pay per URL checked returned plus a very small start fee. There is no subscription.

| URLs | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 | $0.30 |
| 1,000 | $3 |
| 5,000 | $15 |
| 10,000 | $30 |

Paid Apify plans get tiered discounts, and you can set a maximum cost per run. You can try it on Apify's free plan without a card.

### Who is it for?

- **SEO teams** auditing redirects after a migration.
- **Web developers and DevOps** monitoring status codes and certificate expiry.
- **Agencies** checking many client sites at once.
- **Marketers** validating campaign and link-in-bio URLs before sending.

### Frequently asked questions

**Does it download the pages?** No. It reads the response headers only and stops, which keeps it quick and cheap.

**Is a 302 always wrong?** No. Temporary redirects are normal for things like login or geo routing. The Actor reports the type of each hop so you can judge; it only flags long chains and loops.

**Why does it say my site is slow?** Timing is measured from the data centre running the Actor, so it includes that distance. Compare URLs with each other rather than treating it as an absolute figure.

**Can it check certificates for any port?** It checks the standard HTTPS port 443 of each final URL's host.

**Does it respect robots.txt?** It follows redirects and reads headers for URLs you list, like a link checker. Only check sites you are allowed to.

### Notes and limits

- Private, loopback and cloud-metadata addresses are refused.
- Findings are factual checks, not a security audit. A site can pass every check and still be vulnerable.

# Actor input Schema

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

Web addresses to check, one per line. The <code>https://</code> is optional.

## `checkTls` (type: `boolean`):

Reads each HTTPS site's certificate: issuer, expiry date, days left and whether it is trusted.

## `onlyProblems` (type: `boolean`):

Healthy URLs are not returned and not charged. Handy for scheduled monitoring.

## `maxUrls` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap. URLs beyond this are skipped.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many URLs to check at once.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "http://github.com",
    "https://example.com/",
    "https://www.python.org/this-page-does-not-exist-zzq"
  ],
  "checkTls": true,
  "onlyProblems": false,
  "maxUrls": 2000,
  "concurrency": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per URL: health verdict, status, redirect chain, security headers and certificate details.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

How many URLs were checked and returned, and how many are OK, WARNING or ERROR.

# 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": [
        "http://github.com",
        "https://example.com/",
        "https://www.python.org/this-page-does-not-exist-zzq"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-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": [
        "http://github.com",
        "https://example.com/",
        "https://www.python.org/this-page-does-not-exist-zzq",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-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": [
    "http://github.com",
    "https://example.com/",
    "https://www.python.org/this-page-does-not-exist-zzq"
  ]
}' |
apify call reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,reaperoak/bulk-url-redirect-status-ssl-health-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/nPbdg8S0AwY0OsvOQ/builds/bgcdL6BOXjiouqYdg/openapi.json