# Website Change Monitor & Diff Tracker - Page Change Alerts (`sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff`) Actor

Monitor web pages for content changes (pricing pages, terms, docs, competitor sites). Compares the main text with the last run and returns added and removed lines, ignoring menus and noise. Schedule it and alert on changes. $0.0005 per page check. Built with AI assistance.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff.md
- **Developed by:** [HUG0 S](https://apify.com/sophisticated_occasion) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.50 / 1,000 page checked for changes

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

## Website Change Monitor & Diff Tracker - Page Change Alerts

Watch **pricing pages, terms and policies, documentation, product pages or competitor sites** for content changes. Each run compares the page text with the previous run and returns a clear **added / removed lines** diff.

**$0.0005 per page check.** No change fee and no start fee: checking one page every day costs about $0.015 a month. Pages that fail are free, and their stored snapshot is kept.

### Quick start: example input, output and cost

Track changes on competitor, pricing and policy pages: clean added/removed text diffs, main-content mode, schedule and alert. $0.50 per 1,000 page checks.

**Example input**

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html"
  ]
}
```

**Cost example:** 20 pages checked daily for 30 days = 600 checks x $0.0005 = **$0.30/month**.

### How to use

1. Add your URLs and pick a `monitorName`.
2. The first run stores a baseline (`status: "baseline"`).
3. Schedule the actor (hourly, daily...). Every later run returns `status: "changed"` or `"unchanged"` per page.
4. Alert on changes: Apify integrations (Slack, email, webhook) or filter the dataset on `status = changed`.

### Fewer false alerts

- **Main-content mode** ignores navigation, footers, cookie banners and sidebars.
- **Ignore patterns** strip dates, counters or rotating text before comparing.
- `minChangedChars` suppresses tiny edits.

### Output

`url, status (baseline/changed/unchanged), added[], removed[], addedCount, removedCount, changedChars, changeRatio, textHash, previousCheckAt, checkedAt`.

### Responsible use

We follow **robots.txt** (RFC 9309), fetch each page once per run at about one request per second per site, use an honest User-Agent (`ChangeMonitor/1.0`), and never log in or bypass bot protection. Emails and phone numbers are redacted before storing. Social networks and profile sites are not monitored. Pages that need JavaScript to render their text are out of scope.

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Page checked | $0.0005 |

*Built with AI assistance and maintained by DigiVibeTech. Questions or bugs: use the Issues tab; we reply within 2 working days.*

# Actor input Schema

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

Pricing pages, terms, docs, product or competitor pages (up to 2000).

## `monitorName` (type: `string`):

Snapshots are kept per monitor name in your account (letters, digits, '-'). Use one name per watch list.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Main content gives far fewer false alerts.

## `ignorePatterns` (type: `array`):

Text matching these regular expressions is removed before comparing, e.g. dates or visitor counters: \d{1,2} \w+ 20\d\d

## `minChangedChars` (type: `integer`):

Smaller differences are reported as unchanged.

## `maxDiffLines` (type: `integer`):

Cap for added/removed lines in the output.

## `redactContactDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Emails and phone numbers are replaced by \[redacted] before comparing and storing.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html"
  ],
  "monitorName": "default",
  "mode": "mainContent",
  "minChangedChars": 1,
  "maxDiffLines": 200,
  "redactContactDetails": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All result items (overview view)

## `errors` (type: `string`):

Inputs that could not be processed, with the reason

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

Counts of processed, billed and failed items

# 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": [
        "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff").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": ["https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff").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": [
    "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html"
  ]
}' |
apify call sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,sophisticated_occasion/website-change-monitor-diff"
        }
    }
}
```

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/IAKkivTpvORpPkeIa/builds/QyUmMT5DCHCJx625O/openapi.json