Internet Archive / Wayback Machine Lookup: Bulk Snapshots

Check hundreds of URLs against the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine in one run. For every URL you get the first and latest archived snapshot (200 OK only), how many years it has been archived, and optionally the snapshot closest to any date you choose, each with a ready-to-open web.archive.org link. It uses the Archive's public CDX API. Export JSON, CSV or Excel.

Use cases

• Domain and backlink research: see when a domain first appeared and whether it was archived at a certain point in time.
• Link rot repair: find an archived copy for dead links in articles, docs or datasets.
• Evidence and compliance: get the snapshot closest to a given date for a list of pages.
• SEO due diligence: check the age and archive history of sites before buying or partnering.

How it works

1. Each input is queried against the Wayback Machine CDX index, restricted to successful (HTTP 200) captures.
2. The earliest and latest captures are returned with direct web.archive.org links.
3. If you set a target date, the capture closest to it is added.
4. Requests are spaced out and retried with backoff on 429/5xx to stay polite to the Archive.

Input

{
  "urls": [
    "apify.com",
    "https://example.com/page"
  ],
  "targetDate": "2020-01-01"
}

Empty input {} runs a small demo. Other options: targetDate, maxResults, concurrency.

Output (one item per result)

{
  "url": "apify.com",
  "archived": true,
  "firstSnapshotAt": "2007-05-31T10:15:38Z",
  "firstSnapshotUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20070531101538/http://www.apify.com:80/",
  "latestSnapshotAt": "2026-10-08T23:09:24Z",
  "latestSnapshotUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20261008230924/https://apify.com/",
  "closestSnapshotAt": "2019-12-30T05:20:25Z",
  "closestSnapshotUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20191230052025/https://apify.com/",
  "yearsArchived": 19.4,
  "error": null
}

Example output

Real output from a default run (some fields omitted for width):

url	archived	firstSnapshotAt	latestSnapshotAt	yearsArchived
apify.com	true	2007-05-31	2026-10-08	19.4

Every run also produces a ready-made table view in the Output tab, and you can export to JSON, CSV or Excel.

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.0008 per url looked up ($0.80 per 1,000). Duplicates, failed lookups and empty results are not charged.

Limitations

• Returns index metadata and links only. It does not fetch or store archived page content.
• Only captures with HTTP 200 count; redirect, 404 and error captures are excluded, so a URL can show as not archived even though the Archive holds other captures.
• Matches the exact URL you give (no wildcard or whole-domain search). The closest-to-date snapshot is returned only if you set targetDate.
• Makes 2 to 3 calls per URL to the Internet Archive CDX API, 3 URLs in parallel by default (max 20) with a 300 ms pause. The Archive asks API users to stay at modest rates and may return 429 under load.
• Each call times out after 45 s and is retried up to 4 times with backoff on 429, 5xx or network errors; persistent failures return an error row (not charged). Up to 1,000 URLs per run by default.

FAQ

Is this legal? It's designed to be. It queries the Internet Archive's public, documented CDX API at a low request rate and returns only index metadata and links. It does not download or republish archived page content. Content you reach through the links stays subject to the original owners' copyright and the Archive's terms of use. You are responsible for how you use it.

Why is a URL marked not archived? The Wayback Machine has no successful (HTTP 200) capture for that exact URL. Try the bare domain or a different path.

Are exact URLs or whole domains matched? The exact URL you give (domains are matched as the root page). Redirect-only captures are excluded.

Are failures charged? No. Errors and not-archived results that returned no data due to errors are not charged; a successful lookup of a URL with no archive is returned as archived=false and charged as a lookup.

Use from code and AI agents

Call it from any language with the Apify API, or let an AI agent find and run it through the Apify MCP server.

from apify_client import ApifyClient
run = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>").actor("wintersworks/wayback-snapshot-lookup").call(run_input={"urls": ["apify.com", "example.com"]})
items = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>").dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

Results land in the run's dataset (JSON, CSV, Excel). Set a maximum charge per run in the run options to cap spend.

About

Built and maintained by Winters Works. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Internet Archive. Questions or feature requests: open an issue on the Actor page or email wintersworks.shop@gmail.com.