Domain WHOIS & Website Watch: SSL, DNS, Expiry, Uptime

Use when…

• You need WHOIS/RDAP expiry, SSL, DNS or uptime-style signals for a domain list.
• A brand-protection or ops agent watches domains for expiry or certificate changes.
• You want a watchlist that reports only changes since the previous run.

Try this input

Copy-paste this JSON as the Actor input (it matches a successful run / the default schema):

{
  "domains": [
    "bbc.co.uk",
    "python.org"
  ],
  "watchlistId": "default"
}

Sample output (real run 2026-10-26)

One dataset item, shortened:

{
  "domain": "python.org",
  "baseline": false,
  "changed": false,
  "change_count": 0,
  "changes": [],
  "change_types": [],
  "a": [
    "151.101.0.223",
    "151.101.128.223",
    "… +2 more"
  ],
  "mx": [
    "mail.python.org"
  ],
  "ns": [
    "ns-1134.awsdns-13.org",
    "ns-2046.awsdns-63.co.uk",
    "… +2 more"
  ],
  "ssl_valid": true,
  "ssl_issuer": "GlobalSign nv-sa",
  "ssl_valid_to": "2027-02-14",
  "…": "+10 more keys"
}

Give it domains; schedule it daily. First run saves a baseline; each later run reports changes: A / MX / NS records, SSL certificate replaced or invalid or SSL expiry within 14 days, domain expiry within 30 days (domain_expiring), registrar or domain-expiry-date change (RDAP/WHOIS), site down / back up, homepage redirect change, homepage title change, homepage text change (digits ignored). Use ignoreChanges to mute noisy types.

Quick start

1. Leave the default input (it is prefilled) and click Start:

{"domains": ["bbc.co.uk", "python.org"], "watchlistId": "default"}

2. The first run saves a baseline. Schedule it daily (Apify Schedules) and later runs report only what changed.

Sample output (real run, 26 Oct 2026, default input)

domain	changed	ssl_valid	ssl_issuer	ssl_valid_to	ssl_days_left	registrar	expires	up	http_status	title
python.org	false	true	GlobalSign nv-sa	2027-02-14	111	Gandi SAS	2033-03-28	true	200	Welcome to Python.org
bbc.co.uk	false	true	GlobalSign nv-sa	2027-01-24	89	British Broadcasting Corporation	2034-12-13	true	200	BBC - Home

Each row also has a, mx and ns records, final_url, content_hash, changes (list of what changed, with old and new values), change_types and checked_at.

Use cases

• Get warned before an SSL certificate or domain registration expires.
• Spot DNS (A/MX/NS) or registrar changes on your own or clients' domains.
• Simple daily uptime and redirect check for a portfolio of sites.
• Watch competitor or supplier domains for site changes.

Pricing

• $0.002 per domain checked
• +$0.01 per domain with a detected change. Baseline runs never charge for changes.

FAQ

Do I need an API key? No.

How does it remember the last run? It saves a snapshot in your own named key-value store domain-watch, under the watchlistId. Use a different ID for each list.

Busy sites keep showing content changes. Add content or title to ignoreChanges.

Can I get alerts? Use Apify integrations (email, Slack, webhook) on runs, or filter the dataset on changed = true.

Limits & failure modes

• One check per run: it is not a minute-by-minute uptime monitor. A site down at the moment of the check is reported as down.
• Registrar and expiry dates come from RDAP/WHOIS. Some country-code domains do not publish them, so those fields can be empty.
• Content change only looks at the homepage text (digits ignored), not the whole site.
• Pages that need JavaScript or block cloud servers may show as down or with an empty title.
• WHOIS/RDAP privacy redacts registrant details on many TLDs.
• Some registries rate-limit or return thin data; those fields stay empty rather than guessed.