URL Redirect Auditor | Broken Links & HTTP Status

What does URL Redirect Auditor do?

Check supplied public URLs and export HTTP status plus every observed redirect hop. Useful for validating a site migration, checking a URL list before a crawl, or maintaining links on a schedule.

Quick start

Paste 1-200 URLs into the input and start a run. Download the dataset as JSON or CSV, or retrieve it through Apify's API. Save the input as a task to run the same audit on a schedule.

The Actor sends HEAD requests and falls back to GET when a server explicitly returns 405 or 501. GET response bodies are discarded. It follows HTTP 301, 302, 303, 307 and 308 redirects, resolves relative targets and records each destination. A check is bounded to 15 seconds and at most nine HTTP destinations (eight followed redirects).

Price

$0.002 per completed URL audit ($2 per 1,000). Platform usage is included. An observed 404, 500, 403, 429 or redirect problem is a useful audit result and is charged. Network, DNS, TLS, timeout and prohibited-destination failures are recorded as free errors in OUTPUT. No separate Actor-start or dataset-item fees. The spending limit is checked before the next URL is requested.

Checking 100 URLs once costs $0.20 when every check completes. Repeating it daily for 30 days costs $6.00. All-network-error runs fail with no successful event charges.

Output

Each dataset record contains inputUrl, checkedAt, outcome, finalUrl, finalStatus, redirectCount, durationMs and chain. Chain entries contain url, statusCode, method and the resolved Location target when valid. finalUrl is the last URL to return an HTTP response, including when a redirect cannot be followed.

Outcomes distinguish ok, http_error, access_denied (401/403), rate_limited (429), unexpected_status, redirect_loop, missing_location, invalid_redirect, https_downgrade and redirect_limit. A 403 or 429 does not establish that a link is broken for ordinary visitors. HTTPS-to-HTTP redirects are reported without following them. Private-network targets and credential-bearing URLs are never requested.

OUTPUT lists successfulChecks, errors, stopped and uncheckedUrls. Runs stop before the platform timeout and leave remaining addresses explicit. Input duplicates are checked once per run. There is no retained cross-run history; save outputs in your own pipeline if comparing audits over time.

Limits and interpretation

Only supplied URLs and their HTTP redirects are requested. This is not a site crawler, browser renderer or security scanner. JavaScript redirects, meta refresh, page content and soft 404s are not analyzed. Some servers handle HEAD differently from GET even when they do not return 405/501. Results reflect Apify's network and check time; authentication, geolocation and anti-bot responses may differ from a visitor's browser. The Actor does not bypass access restrictions or automatically retry rate-limited responses.

Use public HTTP(S) URLs on standard ports, without usernames or passwords in the URL. Do not submit secret-bearing links. Use a run timeout of 240 seconds. Large or slow batches may stop early; run the listed uncheckedUrls separately. Report reproducible problems through the Actor's Issues tab without including secrets.

Input example

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

See the Input tab for all supported fields. Results are available through the dataset API and can be downloaded as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Output fields

Field	Meaning
inputUrl	Supplied URL after normalization.
checkedAt	string
outcome	string
finalUrl	Last URL that returned an HTTP response.
finalStatus	integer or null
redirectCount	Redirect responses observed, including a final unresolved redirect.
durationMs	Elapsed request time.
chain	Ordered HTTP destinations and observed redirect targets.

Output example

Illustrative completed check; exact source values vary.

{
  "inputUrl": "https://example.com/",
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-07T12:00:00.000Z",
  "outcome": "ok",
  "finalUrl": "https://example.com/",
  "finalStatus": 200,
  "redirectCount": 0,
  "durationMs": 150,
  "chain": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/",
      "statusCode": 200,
      "method": "HEAD",
      "location": null
    }
  ]
}