Broken Link Checker & Bulk URL Status Checker

Crawl a website and test every internal and external link, or bulk-check a list of URLs. Returns HTTP status, redirect chain, final URL, response time and which pages contain each broken link. Output only broken links to pay only for problems.

Why this actor

• Two modes in one tool, 'foundOn' pages for each broken link, and an onlyBroken switch that makes clean sites nearly free.
• Pay only for results: $1.00 per 1,000 link checkeds, no start fee, failed lookups are free.
• Robust: automatic retries with exponential backoff, respects Retry-After, per-item error rows instead of crashed runs.
• Clean, flat JSON/CSV/Excel output ready for Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Clay, or the Apify API.

Use cases

• SEO site audits and link-rot cleanup
• Monitoring docs/marketing sites on a schedule
• Validating URL lists before email campaigns or migrations
• Checking redirect chains after a domain move

How to use Broken Link Checker & Bulk URL Status Checker

1. Configure urls, mode, maxPages in the Input tab (or leave the prefilled sample values to test immediately).
2. Optionally set maxItems to cap the number of results and control spend.
3. Click Start and export structured results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect directly via API / MCP / n8n / Make.

Input

Field	Type	Description
urls	array	check mode: list of URLs to status-check. crawl mode: website(s) to crawl for broken links.
mode	string	Bulk status check, or crawl a website and test every link on it.
maxPages	integer	Pages crawled per site.
checkExternal	boolean	Also test outbound links.
onlyBroken	boolean	Output only 4xx/5xx/timeouts (you are charged only for output rows).
concurrency	integer	Parallel requests.
maxItems	integer	0 = no limit.

Example input:

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

Output

Each dataset item looks like this (real sample from a test run, long fields trimmed):

{
  "url": "https://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js",
  "statusCode": 404,
  "ok": false,
  "finalUrl": "https://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js",
  "redirectCount": 0,
  "redirectChain": null,
  "contentType": "text/html; charset=UTF-8",
  "responseTimeMs": 339,
  "internal": false,
  "foundOn": [
    "https://books.toscrape.com",
    "https://books.toscrape.com/catalogue/category/books/travel_2/index.html",
    "https://books.toscrape.com/catalogue/category/books_1/index.html",
    "\u2026"
  ],
  "foundOnCount": 4,
  "site": "https://books.toscrape.com",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-14T05:57:17+00:00"
}

Rows that could not be processed contain an error field and are not charged.

Extracted output fields

Every dataset row includes structured fields ready for spreadsheets, CRMs, and AI pipelines:

• Fields: url, statusCode, ok, finalUrl, redirectCount, redirectChain, contentType, responseTimeMs, internal, foundOn, foundOnCount, site, scrapedAt

Comparison: Broken Link Checker & Bulk URL Status Checker vs alternatives

Feature	This Actor (shawndunn/broken-link-checker)	Typical alternatives
Pricing model	$1 / 1,000 results, $0.00 start fee	$20–$49/mo subscription or per-run start fees
Failed / error lookups	$0.00 (never charged)	Often billed by compute time even on failures
API keys / proxies required	None (works out of the box)	Often requires paid third-party keys or residential proxies
AI Agent & MCP ready	Yes (mcp.apify.com compatible, optional defaults)	Strict required schemas that reject agent calls

Pricing

Pay-per-event: $0.001 per link checked (= $1.00 / 1,000). Use Max results to cap spend. Apify's free plan credit covers thousands of results per month.

Integrations & API

Run on a schedule in Apify Console, call via the Apify API / Python & JS clients, or connect to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack and webhooks. Works as a tool for AI agents via Apify MCP.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Broken Link Checker & Bulk URL Status Checker is configured for zero-config AI agent tool use via the Apify MCP Server (no required-field blocking on defaulted inputs).

Streamable HTTP endpoint:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=shawndunn/broken-link-checker

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf mcpServers config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-broken-link-checker": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=shawndunn/broken-link-checker",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Direct synchronous API call:

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/shawndunn~broken-link-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>

FAQ

Is it legal? The actor only reads publicly available data from public endpoints, without logins, and does not bypass paywalls or access controls. You are responsible for using the data in line with applicable laws (e.g. GDPR) and the source sites' terms.

Something broke? Open an issue in the Issues tab; we typically respond within 24 hours and ship fixes fast.

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