HTTP Redirect Chain & Status Checker

Bulk-check HTTP status codes and the full redirect chain for any list of URLs. For every URL you get each hop (status + Location), the final URL, hop count, timing, and clear broken / dead flags for 4xx, 5xx, timeouts and network errors.

Paste a URL list, a CSV-like dump, or point at an XML sitemap — no browser, no login, monitor-friendly flat JSON. Schedule it to catch new 404s after deploys or track whether marketing short-links still resolve.

What does this Actor do?

• ✅ Status check every URL (HEAD by default, auto-falls back to GET when servers reject HEAD)
• 🔗 Full redirect chain: every hop records url, statusCode, location, elapsedMs
• 🏁 Final URL + hop count + total time for monitoring and SEO audits
• 💀 Broken / dead detection: 4xx, 5xx, timeouts, SSL and network errors (isBroken, errorType)
• 📦 Batch inputs: URL list, CSV-like paste, or XML sitemap / sitemap index
• 🎯 Filters: only broken, only redirects, include/exclude regex
• 🛡️ Retries with backoff on 429/5xx; concurrency capped for Free-plan friendliness
• 🤖 AI-agent friendly: simple input, flat JSON, usable via Apify API and MCP

Why use a redirect-chain checker?

A single final status code hides the story. Marketing links, HTTP→HTTPS upgrades, trailing-slash rules and CDN hops all rewrite the URL. This Actor keeps the hop-by-hop trail so SEO, QA and monitoring tools can see exactly where a chain breaks or loops — not just that it ended on a 404.

What data can it extract?

Field	Description
url	Original input URL
finalUrl	URL after following redirects
finalStatusCode	Final HTTP status
ok	true when final status is 2xx
isRedirect	At least one hop / URL changed
isBroken	4xx/5xx, timeout, or network/SSL error
hopCount	Number of redirect hops
redirectChain	Array of hops: url, statusCode, location, elapsedMs
totalTimeMs	Wall-clock time for the whole chain
errorType	timeout / network / ssl / too_many_redirects / other
contentType, server, …	Optional final-response headers

How to check redirects and broken links

1. Open the Input tab and paste URLs (defaults already include a few public examples).
2. Optionally add a sitemap URL and set Max URLs.
3. Click Start. Results appear in the Dataset within seconds.
4. For monitoring: create an Apify Schedule and filter on isBroken=true (or enable Only output broken / dead URLs).

How much does it cost?

Pay per event: you are charged for each URL row written to the dataset. Sitemap discovery and filtered-out rows are not charged. Platform usage is covered by the Actor — customers do not pay compute on top. Set a maximum cost per run in the run options; the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Typical smoke tests of a handful of URLs finish in well under a minute on 256 MB.

Input

urls and/or sitemapUrls — at least one is required. Example:

{
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com",
    "https://httpbin.org/redirect/2",
    "https://httpbin.org/redirect-to?url=https://example.com&status_code=301",
    "https://httpbin.org/status/404"
  ],
  "maxUrls": 20,
  "requestMethod": "HEAD",
  "maxRedirects": 15,
  "onlyBroken": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}

Field	Description
urls	URL list / CSV-like paste.
sitemapUrls	Optional XML sitemaps to expand into page URLs.
maxUrls	Cap after de-duplication (default 100).
requestMethod	HEAD (default) or GET.
maxRedirects	Hop limit / loop protection (default 15).
onlyBroken / onlyRedirects	Output filters.
includeUrlPatterns / excludeUrlPatterns	Regex filters on input URLs.
Advanced	maxConcurrency, requestTimeoutSecs, maxRetries, proxyConfiguration.

See the Input tab for the full form.

Output example

{
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/redirect-to?url=https://example.com&status_code=301",
  "finalUrl": "https://example.com",
  "finalStatusCode": 200,
  "ok": true,
  "isRedirect": true,
  "isBroken": false,
  "hopCount": 1,
  "redirectChain": [
    {
      "url": "https://httpbin.org/redirect-to?url=https://example.com&status_code=301",
      "statusCode": 301,
      "location": "https://example.com",
      "elapsedMs": 48.2
    },
    {
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "statusCode": 200,
      "location": null,
      "elapsedMs": 95.0
    }
  ],
  "totalTimeMs": 145.1,
  "method": "HEAD",
  "source": "list"
}

A SUMMARY record in the key-value store holds aggregate counts (okCount, redirectCount, brokenCount, timeoutCount).

Tips for large batches

• Start with maxUrls small, then raise it once the sample looks right.
• Keep maxConcurrency around 5–10 on the Free plan.
• Prefer HEAD unless a site blocks it.
• Leave Apify Proxy off unless targets block datacenter IPs — proxies spend credits.

FAQ

Does it execute JavaScript / open a browser?
No. It uses plain HTTP requests, so it is fast and cheap. Client-side redirects are not followed.

Will it follow meta-refresh or JavaScript redirects?
Only HTTP 3xx Location redirects. Meta-refresh and JS navigations are out of scope.

How are redirect loops handled?
The Actor stops when a URL repeats in the chain or maxRedirects is hit, and sets errorType to too_many_redirects.

Can I feed a sitemap?
Yes — put sitemap or sitemap-index URLs in sitemapUrls. Nested indexes are walked (depth-limited).

Support

Built by thomson-digital. Open an issue on the Actor page if something looks wrong — include a sample URL and the run ID.