How to monitor a website for changes
The short answer: use a website change monitor. Paste the page's link, choose the part you care about, and the service checks it on a schedule and tells you when it changes. Hosted monitors such as ChangePing run on a server, so they keep checking when your computer is off, and most have a free plan for a few pages.
That isn't the only way. Below are five methods, what each is good at, and how to avoid the most common problem with all of them: alerts for changes you don't care about.
Five ways to get notified when a page changes
1. A hosted website change monitor
You give a service the link. It checks the page on its own servers on a schedule and emails you when something changes. ChangePing, Visualping, Distill (cloud checks) and ChangeTower work this way.
Good for
- Runs when your computer is off
- Alerts by email, Slack, Discord or webhook
- Free plans cover a handful of pages
Watch out for
- Can't see pages behind your login
- Some sites block automated visits
- Free plans limit how many pages and how often
2. A browser extension
An extension reloads the page in your own browser in the background and shows a notification when it changes. Distill and Page Monitor are common choices.
Good for
- Free for many pages
- Works on pages you are signed in to
Watch out for
- Only checks while your browser is open
- Alerts reach you on that computer only, unless you pay for sync
3. The site's own RSS feed or newsletter
Blogs, changelogs, GitHub releases and many news pages publish a feed. Add it to a feed reader and new entries show up there.
Good for
- Free and reliable
- No scraping, so nothing to break
Watch out for
- Most pricing, careers, stock and notice pages have no feed
- Tells you about new posts, not edits to an existing page
4. A script on a schedule
Fetch the page on a schedule (cron, or a free GitHub Actions workflow), compare it with the last copy, and send yourself a message when it differs.
Good for
- Free and fully under your control
- Can do anything you can code
Watch out for
- Pages built with JavaScript need a headless browser
- You maintain it, and timestamps and ads make it noisy
# Runs every hour from cron: 0 * * * * /home/me/watch.sh
curl -s https://example.com/pricing | sed 's/<[^>]*>//g' > /tmp/new.txt
if ! cmp -s /tmp/new.txt /tmp/old.txt; then
diff /tmp/old.txt /tmp/new.txt | mail -s "Pricing page changed" [email protected]
fi
mv /tmp/new.txt /tmp/old.txt5. Checking by hand
A bookmark and a reminder. It works for one page you check once a week.
Good for
- Nothing to set up
Watch out for
- Easy to miss a change, and you can't see what was there before
Google Alerts is often suggested, but it does something different: it tells you about new pages that mention a search term. It doesn't watch a page you already know for edits.
How to avoid alerts that don't matter
Most pages change on almost every visit for reasons nobody cares about: dates, view counters, rotating ads, "5 min read". Three habits fix most of it.
- Watch one part of the page. The price table, the list of jobs, the availability message. Everything else is ignored.
- Ignore numbers when only the words matter, such as on a page with a live counter.
- Ignore lines containing a phrase like "Last updated" or "Posted".
Compare what you can read, not the HTML. Two copies of a page can differ in their code while saying exactly the same thing.
Doing it with ChangePing
- Paste the page's link. You see it within seconds, exactly as ChangePing reads it.
- Click the part you care about, or keep the whole page.
- Pick how often to check: every hour, every 6 hours or once a day.
- When it changes, you get a short summary of what changed. The exact words, struck out and highlighted, and a saved copy of the page are one click away.
It's free for 5 pages. For common jobs, see competitor pricing, new job postings, back in stock and appointment slots. To have Claude or ChatGPT do it for you, use the MCP server.
Questions
What is the easiest free way to monitor a website for changes?
Use a hosted website change monitor such as ChangePing: paste the link, pick the part of the page you care about, and get an email when it changes. It runs on a server, so your computer can be off.
Can Google Alerts tell me when a page changes?
No. Google Alerts tells you about new pages that mention a search term. It does not watch a specific page for edits.
How do I monitor only part of a web page?
Pick the section with a CSS selector, or in ChangePing click the part on a picture of the page. Then changes elsewhere on the page are ignored.
How do I stop getting alerts for changes that don’t matter?
Watch a smaller part of the page, ignore numbers such as counters and dates, or ignore lines that contain a phrase like "Last updated".
Can I monitor a page that needs a login?
Not with ChangePing. It can only see public pages. Some browser extensions can, because they run in your own signed-in browser.