Website Changes Detector

This actor uses Apify’s Website Content Crawler (WCC) to track website changes. It compares different crawl results and alerts to any changes set by the user.

What is Website Changes Detector?

Website Changes Detector uses Website Content Crawler to perform website crawls and then compares the latest results against any previous run. It identifies pages that are new, updated, removed, or unchanged. This lets you focus on only the pages that have changed, saving you time and resources.

You can also restrict searches to specific criteria, further reducing the amount of unnecessary data you may collect.

Key features:

• Works with WCC: Automatically triggers runs of WCC with your specified configuration.
• Efficient Change Detection: Finds differences between pages according to your specs.
• Identifies Change Types: Classifies each change as new, updated, removed, or same.
• Schedule comparison runs: Set the Website Changes Detector to run at specific intervals.
• Set and forget: Website Changes Detector can run automatically, alerting you only when changes have been found.
• Keyword Filtering: Detect changes on pages filtered by specific keywords.
• Multiple formats: Compare changes using HTML snapshots or in JSON.

How do I use Website Changes Detector?

1. Go to the Website Changes Detector Actor on Apify Store.
2. Click Try for free.
3. First, under “Website Content Crawler settings”, enter one or multiple URLs that you want to check for changes.
4. For more specific changes, we recommend that you go to WCC, enter your requirements there, and then copy and paste that JSON file into the input for the Website Changes Detector.
5. Under “Website Changes Detector settings,” you can add keywords by which you can filter.
6. Add which type of changes you want to detect: “new,” “updated,” “removed,” or “same.” Note that you can select multiple.
7. Start the Actor and wait for it to analyze changes.
8. Download the results, or set up an integration or webhook to export them automatically.

⬇️ Input

This Actor expects:

• Start URLs (one or more pages to monitor)
• Optional checking frequency
• Page element selectors to watch or ignore

The actor requires the following input configuration:

Field	Type	Description	Default	Required
wccInput	Object	The full JSON input configuration for the Website Content Crawler actor. Paste your WCC settings here.	(Prefilled WCC default input)	Yes
websiteContentDatasetNamePrefix	String	A prefix used for naming the datasets created by WCC runs (e.g., myproject-prod). Format: <prefix>-WCC-<timestamp>. If empty, only WCC-<timestamp> is used.	wcc-output	No
returnChangeTypes	Array	Select which types of changes (NEW, UPDATED, REMOVED, SAME) should be included in the output dataset.	["NEW", "UPDATED", "REMOVED", "SAME"]	Yes
filterKeywords	Array	Optional array of keywords. If provided, only output items whose text content contains at least one keyword (case-insensitive) will be included. Leave empty to disable.	[]	No
skipCrawl	Boolean	If true, skip running a new WCC crawl and compare the two most recent existing datasets with the matching prefix. Requires at least two previous datasets.	false	No
websiteContentDatasetMaxCount	Integer	Maximum number of historical WCC datasets (with the matching prefix) to keep. Older datasets will be deleted. Minimum value is 2.	5	Yes

Example Input:

{
  "wccInput": {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "<https://www.example.com/>" }],
    "maxPages": 500,
    "crawlerType": "cheerio"
    // ... other WCC settings ...
  },
  "websiteContentDatasetNamePrefix": "example-monitor",
  "returnChangeTypes": ["NEW", "UPDATED", "REMOVED"],
  "filterKeywords": ["high frequency", "spectrum auction"],
  "skipCrawl": false,
  "websiteContentDatasetMaxCount": 10
}

⬆️ Output

The results will be stored in a dataset and include:

• Time of change detection
• A JSON diff summary
• An overview of previous and updated WCC datasets

Example Output:

{
    "change": {
        "kind": "SAME",
        "matchedKeywords": [
            "scraping"
        ],
        "createdAt": "2025-04-07T18:12:04.021Z",
        "textDiff": null
    },
    "currentPage": {
        // WCC output record, or null object if REMOVED
    },
    "previousPage": {
        // WCC output record, or null object if NEW
    }
}

How much does it cost to scrape Website content data?

Website Changes Detector is free to use; you only pay for platform usage, which is calculated per computing unit. Check our pricing page for how this works.

❓ FAQ

Can I export data using API?

Yes, you can access Website Changes Detector using your own applications through our API. Click on the API tab for code examples or check out the Apify API reference docs for full detail.

Can I use Website Changes Detector Scraper through an MCP Server?

Website Changes Detector will, like all Apify Actors, work using the Apify MCP server. For more information and instructions, read our article on the Apify MCP server.

Can I integrate data from Website Changes Detector Scraper with other apps?

Yes. Website Changes Detector Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app. Read more about the possibilities on our page on integrations on the Apify platform.

Is it legal to scrape data using Website Changes Detector?

Our Website Changes Detector scrapers are ethical and do not extract any private user data. They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so.

If you're unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers. You can also read our blog post on the legality of web scraping and ethical scraping.

Your feedback

We’re always working on improving the performance of our Actors. So if you’ve got any technical feedback for Website Changes Detector Scraper or simply found a bug, please create an issue on the Actor’s Issues tab.