# Sitemap URL Extractor: All Site URLs, Lastmod & Status (`saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor`) Actor

Get every URL a website publishes in its XML sitemaps: auto-discovers sitemaps via robots.txt, follows sitemap indexes and .gz files, returns lastmod, priority, hreflang, image/news data. Optional HTTP status check. $0.40 per 1,000 URLs.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [saad hazz](https://apify.com/saadhazz) (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 $0.40 / 1,000 url extracteds

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

## Sitemap URL Extractor: Get All URLs of a Website from Its Sitemaps

**Paste a domain and get every page URL the site publishes in its XML sitemaps**, as clean JSON, CSV or Excel. The Actor finds the sitemaps for you (robots.txt `Sitemap:` lines, then `/sitemap.xml`, `/sitemap_index.xml`, `/wp-sitemap.xml` and other standard locations), follows sitemap indexes to any depth, opens `.xml.gz` and plain-text sitemaps, and returns each URL with its **lastmod date, changefreq, priority, hreflang alternates, image/video counts and Google News title/date**. Turn on **HTTP status check** to find broken (404) or redirected pages listed in a sitemap. The price is **$0.40 per 1,000 URLs**.

### What you can use it for

- **SEO audits.** Count indexable pages, spot 404s and redirects that should not be in the sitemap, check hreflang coverage.
- **Crawl seeding.** Feed the URL list into a scraper (Website Content Crawler, your own Crawlee code) instead of crawling blind.
- **Content and competitor monitoring.** Use `lastmodAfter` to list only pages published or updated since a date: new products, new blog posts, new docs.
- **Migrations.** Export the full URL inventory before a redesign and build redirect maps.
- **News monitoring.** Google News sitemaps give the headline and publication time for each article.

### Why this sitemap scraper?

- **Reliable by design.** Status-aware retries with backoff and `Retry-After`, a regex fallback for malformed XML, gzip detection by content (not only by file name), and a per-host concurrency limit. Sites that block us or have no sitemap are listed in the `FAILED_SITEMAPS` and `SITES_WITHOUT_SITEMAP` records instead of failing the whole run.
- **Fast and cheap.** It reads only sitemap files, not pages. In our tests 4,800 URLs from crawlee.dev took about 3 seconds.
- **Fair billing.** You pay only for unique URLs saved. Duplicates and URLs removed by your filters are free. The optional status check is billed only for URLs that actually returned a status.
- **Polite.** Status checks respect robots.txt and use few parallel requests per host.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `startUrls` | Domains (`example.com`), homepages, or direct sitemap URLs (`.xml`, `.xml.gz`, `.txt`). |
| `maxUrls` | Total cap across all sites (default 10,000). |
| `maxUrlsPerSite` | Optional cap per site (0 = none). |
| `includePatterns` / `excludePatterns` | Keep or drop URLs by substring, glob (`*/products/*`) or regex (`re:^https://[^/]+/p/\d+`). |
| `lastmodAfter` | ISO date. Only URLs whose `<lastmod>` is on or after it. |
| `checkHttpStatus` | Adds `httpStatus` and `redirectTo` for each URL (HEAD, GET fallback). |
| `sameDomainOnly`, `maxSitemapsPerSite`, `perHostConcurrency` | Advanced controls. |

Example:

```json
{
  "startUrls": ["https://blog.apify.com", "https://wordpress.org/news/"],
  "includePatterns": ["*scrap*"],
  "lastmodAfter": "2026-01-01",
  "maxUrls": 5000
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "url": "https://blog.apify.com/best-price-scraping-tools/",
  "lastmod": "2026-10-07T09:14:00Z",
  "lastmodRaw": "2026-10-07T09:14:00.000Z",
  "changefreq": null,
  "priority": null,
  "imageCount": 1,
  "videoCount": 0,
  "newsTitle": null,
  "newsPublicationDate": null,
  "alternates": [],
  "sitemapUrl": "https://blog.apify.com/sitemap-posts.xml",
  "site": "https://blog.apify.com",
  "discoveredVia": "robots.txt",
  "httpStatus": 200,
  "extractedAt": "2026-10-08T06:10:00Z"
}
```

`httpStatus`, `redirectTo` and `statusNote` appear only when `checkHttpStatus` is on. `alternates` lists hreflang links as `{ "hreflang": "de", "href": "..." }`.

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| URL extracted (unique URL saved) | $0.40 per 1,000 |
| URL status checked (optional) | $1.00 per 1,000 |

Set **Maximum cost per run** in the run options and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached. You are never charged for duplicates, filtered URLs, failed sitemaps or sites without a sitemap.

### Run it from code: API, Python, JavaScript or cURL

Every Apify Actor is also a REST API. Get your token in Apify Console under **Settings → API & Integrations**, then:

**cURL** (runs the Actor and returns the URLs in one call):

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/saadhazz~sitemap-url-extractor/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls": ["https://crawlee.dev"], "maxUrls": 1000}'
```

**Python** (`pip install apify-client`):

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor").call(run_input={"startUrls": ["https://crawlee.dev"], "maxUrls": 1000})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

**JavaScript / Node.js** (`npm i apify-client`):

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor').call({"startUrls": ["https://crawlee.dev"], "maxUrls": 1000});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

### Use it with AI agents (MCP), Make, Zapier, n8n and Google Sheets

- **AI agents and LLM apps:** connect Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client to `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor` and the agent can call this Actor as a tool.
- **No-code:** use the official Apify integrations for Make, Zapier and n8n, or export the dataset straight to Google Sheets, CSV, Excel or JSON.
- **Scheduling and webhooks:** create a Schedule in Apify Console (e.g. every morning) and add a webhook or Slack/email integration to get notified when new data is ready.

### FAQ

**The site has no sitemap. What happens?** It is listed in the `SITES_WITHOUT_SITEMAP` record and costs nothing. This Actor does not crawl pages to discover links.

**Does it handle huge sites?** Yes. Sitemap indexes are followed to any depth (up to `maxSitemapsPerSite` files per site, default 500, each up to 50 MB uncompressed).

**Why are some URLs missing a lastmod?** The site did not publish one. With `lastmodAfter` set, such URLs are dropped.

**Some sitemaps return 403.** A few sites block automated clients for their sitemaps. Those files are listed in `FAILED_SITEMAPS`.

### Legal note

The Actor reads only sitemap files and robots.txt, which websites publish specifically for automated clients, and (optionally) the HTTP status of listed URLs while respecting robots.txt. It collects no personal data. You are responsible for how you use the URLs and for complying with each website's terms.

### Changelog

- **1.0** (2026-10-08): first release.

### More data APIs from the same developer

- [Job Search API: Career Site Jobs](https://apify.com/saadhazz/career-site-job-search): search 400k+ jobs from 13,000+ company career sites (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable…) by title, country and remote, with new-job alerts. $2 / 1,000 jobs.
- [ATS Jobs API](https://apify.com/saadhazz/ats-jobs-api): every open job from a list of companies on Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, SmartRecruiters or Recruitee, in one schema. $1 / 1,000 jobs.
- [Remote Jobs API](https://apify.com/saadhazz/remote-jobs-aggregator): remote and work-from-home jobs from Remote OK, Himalayas, Jobicy and Arbeitnow, deduplicated. $1 / 1,000 jobs.
- [Bulk WHOIS & RDAP Lookup](https://apify.com/saadhazz/domain-whois-rdap): domain expiry dates, registrar, age, status, nameservers, MX/SPF/DMARC for thousands of domains. $1 / 1,000 domains.
- [PDF Text Extractor](https://apify.com/saadhazz/pdf-text-extractor): PDF URLs to clean page-by-page text, Markdown tables and metadata for RAG/LLM pipelines.
- [SEC EDGAR Filings Monitor](https://apify.com/saadhazz/sec-filings-monitor): new 8-K, 10-Q, 10-K and Form 4 filings for a list of tickers from the official SEC API.

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on the Issues tab; Issues are checked daily.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

A domain (example.com), a homepage URL, or a direct sitemap URL (…/sitemap.xml, …/sitemap_index.xml, .xml.gz, .txt). For domains we read robots.txt `Sitemap:` lines, then try standard locations (/sitemap.xml, /sitemap_index.xml, /wp-sitemap.xml …).

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

Stop after this many unique URLs across all websites. You pay only for URLs saved.

## `maxUrlsPerSite` (type: `integer`):

Optional cap per website (0 = no per-site cap). Useful when you list many sites and want a sample from each.

## `includePatterns` (type: `array`):

Keep only URLs that contain one of these strings or match a glob (e.g. `/blog/`, `*/products/*`). Prefix with `re:` for a regular expression. Leave empty to keep all.

## `excludePatterns` (type: `array`):

Drop URLs that contain one of these strings or match a glob/`re:` regex (e.g. `/tag/`, `?page=`).

## `lastmodAfter` (type: `string`):

ISO date like 2026-01-01. Keeps only URLs whose sitemap <lastmod> is on/after this date (URLs without lastmod are dropped when this is set). Great for finding new or updated pages.

## `checkHttpStatus` (type: `boolean`):

Sends a HEAD request (GET fallback) to each URL and adds `httpStatus` and `redirectTo`: find broken (404) or redirected pages listed in your sitemap. Respects robots.txt. Billed per checked URL.

## `sameDomainOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Skip URLs in the sitemaps that point to other domains.

## `maxSitemapsPerSite` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on the number of sitemap files (including children of sitemap indexes) read per website.

## `perHostConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Keep this low to be polite to the website (we also honour Retry-After).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://crawlee.dev"
  ],
  "maxUrls": 10000,
  "maxUrlsPerSite": 0,
  "includePatterns": [],
  "excludePatterns": [],
  "checkHttpStatus": false,
  "sameDomainOnly": true,
  "maxSitemapsPerSite": 500,
  "perHostConcurrency": 4
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One unique page URL per item with lastmod, changefreq, priority, hreflang alternates and optional HTTP status.

## `runStats` (type: `string`):

Counters for sitemaps read, URLs saved, duplicates and errors.

## `allRecords` (type: `string`):

Auxiliary records (failed sitemaps, sites without a sitemap).

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://crawlee.dev"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor").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 = { "startUrls": ["https://crawlee.dev"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://crawlee.dev"
  ]
}' |
apify call saadhazz/sitemap-url-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/FbNy7xin6Yg3NpspA/builds/dMEFyQX74Z24q4edO/openapi.json