# Bulk URL Status & Redirect Checker (`vex_workflow/url-status-checker`) Actor

Check thousands of URLs for HTTP status codes, broken links (404, 410, 5xx), timeouts and full redirect chains (301, 302, 307, 308). Finds redirect loops, HTTP to HTTPS upgrades, final URLs, response times, titles and canonicals. Ideal for SEO migrations and link audits.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/vex_workflow/url-status-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Ian McCann](https://apify.com/vex_workflow) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools, Automation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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

### What does Bulk URL Status & Redirect Checker do?

Give it a list of URLs and it returns, for each one:

- **Status code** of the first response and of the final page (200, 301, 302, 404, 410, 500 and so on)
- **Full redirect chain**: every hop with its status code and Location header
- **Redirect loops**, too-long chains and **HTTP to HTTPS** upgrades
- **Final URL**, **response time**, content type and server
- **Page title**, **canonical URL** and **X-Robots-Tag**, so you can spot pages that redirect or canonicalize somewhere unexpected
- A simple **isBroken** flag you can filter on

### Who is it for?

- **SEO migrations**: confirm every old URL 301s to the right new page in one hop
- **Broken link audits**: check outbound links, backlinks, product feeds or ad landing pages for 404s and 5xx errors
- **Affiliate and ad managers**: make sure tracking links still land where they should
- **Developers**: monitor uptime and redirects for lists of endpoints on a schedule

### How to use it

1. Paste URLs into **URLs**, one per line (bare domains work too).
2. Adjust **Maximum redirects** or **Timeout** if needed.
3. Run, then filter by `isBroken`, `statusCode` or `redirectCount`.

Tip: schedule the Actor daily or weekly to monitor important URLs.

#### Input example

```json
{ "urls": ["http://apify.com", "https://apify.com/this-page-does-not-exist", "https://docs.apify.com"] }
```

#### Output example

```json
{
  "url": "http://apify.com/",
  "statusCode": 301,
  "finalStatusCode": 200,
  "finalUrl": "https://apify.com/",
  "redirectCount": 1,
  "redirectChain": [{ "url": "http://apify.com/", "statusCode": 301, "location": "https://apify.com/" }],
  "httpsUpgrade": true,
  "isBroken": false,
  "responseTimeMs": 412
}
```

### How much does it cost?

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Actor start | $0.001 per run |
| URL checked | **$0.001** per URL |

10,000 URLs cost about **$10**. Invalid URLs are free. You can cap the cost of any run.

### Notes

- Every hop is a real GET request, because some servers answer HEAD requests differently. Only the first 150 KB of HTML pages is read for the title.
- Some sites block automated requests and return 403 or 429. Those codes are reported as they are; no blocking is bypassed.
- Turn on **Respect robots.txt** to skip URLs that a site's robots.txt disallows.

# Actor input Schema

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

URLs to check, one per line. Domains without http(s):// are treated as https.

## `maxRedirects` (type: `integer`):

Stop following a redirect chain after this many hops.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Give up on a URL that does not answer within this time.

## `extractTitle` (type: `boolean`):

Also read the HTML title and canonical URL of working pages.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many URLs to check at the same time.

## `respectRobotsTxt` (type: `boolean`):

Skip URLs that the site's robots.txt disallows for crawlers. Skipped URLs are not charged.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "http://apify.com",
    "https://apify.com/this-page-does-not-exist",
    "https://docs.apify.com"
  ],
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "timeoutSecs": 20,
  "extractTitle": true,
  "concurrency": 20,
  "respectRobotsTxt": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

One row per URL with status codes, redirect chain, final URL and page details.

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

Counts of OK, redirected and broken URLs.

# 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": [
        "http://apify.com",
        "https://apify.com/this-page-does-not-exist",
        "https://docs.apify.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("vex_workflow/url-status-checker").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": [
        "http://apify.com",
        "https://apify.com/this-page-does-not-exist",
        "https://docs.apify.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("vex_workflow/url-status-checker").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": [
    "http://apify.com",
    "https://apify.com/this-page-does-not-exist",
    "https://docs.apify.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call vex_workflow/url-status-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,vex_workflow/url-status-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/GMjDllUWaDD37TlBB/builds/vHBEO5dtmrvSAaFpY/openapi.json