Website Change Monitor and Hash Checker

Use this website change monitor to check public webpages for normalized visible-text changes. It records a SHA-256 content hash per URL and reports whether the current content differs from the preceding successful snapshot.

Quick start

1. Add one or more public HTTP or HTTPS URLs.
2. Run once to establish a baseline.
3. Run again manually or on an Apify schedule.
4. Inspect changed, content_hash, content_bytes, and diagnostics.

{
  "urls": ["https://www.w3.org/standards/"],
  "selector": "main",
  "ignore_patterns": ["Updated \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}"]
}

Webpage change checker controls

• selector accepts one simple HTML tag, .class, or #id selector.
• ignore_patterns removes matching text with regular expressions before the hash is calculated.
• Up to 100 URLs can be checked in one bounded run.

How repeat runs work

The Actor stores an Actor-owned snapshot for each URL. The first successful run sets the baseline and reports no change. Later runs compare normalized visible text against the preceding hash. A failed fetch does not fabricate a change.

Limitations

• This is an HTTP text and hash checker, not a screenshot or visual-diff tool.
• It does not render client-side JavaScript.
• It reports whether content changed but does not output line-level text diffs.
• Selectors are intentionally limited to a tag, one class, or one ID.
• Pages requiring authentication or bypassing access controls are unsupported.

Responsible use

Monitor only pages you are permitted to access. Respect site terms, robots guidance, rate limits, and reasonable scheduling intervals.

Trial and support

Start with the W3C URL above. Expect one row with url, content_hash, content_bytes, and changed. The first observation reports changed: false; repeat later to compare. A false value is a useful result when the page has not changed. Baselines are shared by URL across this Actor's runs in your account. Check the Pricing tab and run cost estimate before starting. Charges may apply even when the page is unchanged. Use the Issues tab for questions or unexpected results; include your input URL and expected vs. observed output.

Result billing

The new pricing contract is $0.0005 per start at 256 MB plus $1 per 1,000 successful page checks, on every Apify plan. Check the Pricing tab for the currently effective contract and any scheduled change. Platform usage is included in event prices.

Diagnostics and unchanged job/comment summaries have no result charge; the startup fee still applies. A successful website check is billable even when the page is unchanged. If the run budget cannot cover the result batch, no result rows are delivered or billed and the baseline is not advanced. Increase the run limit and retry. RUN_REPORT in the run's key-value store records diagnostics and delivery status. Failed or interrupted deliveries may be repeated on a later run; use record IDs to deduplicate.