Chrome Extension Website Monitor Alternative
Cloud checks keep running after you close the tab.
A Chrome extension website monitor alternative runs in the cloud, so the tab does not have to stay open. That is the failure everyone hits. Distill in the browser is fine until you shut the laptop. Then the watch is theater.
Extensions also inherit your cookies, your blockers, and your sleep schedule. Cloud monitors inherit a datacenter clock. You trade some logged-in page access for a check that survives the commute.
When to keep the extension
If the page only exists after you log in, a cloud tool that only sees public HTML will fail. Keep Distill or a similar extension for those few URLs. The Distill alternative post is the longer split. AyeWatch is for public pages and topics.
If you are maintaining CSS selectors in an extension because the public page keeps restyling, you are paying a tax a meaning monitor does not charge.
The hosted setup
Paste the URL. Write the rule in English. No selector. No "keep Chrome running." Free Preview is six lifetime runs, three topics, Daily or slower, push and in-app. Pro is $9 a month, 50 topics, six-hour checks. Paid adds Slack, email, Discord, and webhooks.
AyeWatch will not install into Chrome. There is no puzzle-piece icon. The check is not tied to your profile. That is the point of the alternative.
Start a monitor in under a minute
Free Preview is six lifetime runs across three topics. No card.
Try AyeWatch freeMove the public watches first
Leave logged-in pages in the extension. Move pricing, TOS, jobs, and docs to AyeWatch. If the first cloud ping is a real change while your laptop was shut, the alternative did its job.
PageCrawl and other hosted visual tools are also cloud. They still sell the overlay. If you wanted the overlay, compare those. If you wanted a sentence on your phone, you wanted this. A Chrome extension website monitor alternative is really a reliability pitch. The check should happen while you sleep. If your current extension already runs on an always-on machine, you may not need to move. If it runs on a laptop, you do. Cloud is the alternative, not another puzzle-piece icon. Close the laptop. The watch should keep running. That is the only reason to leave the extension.