How to Monitor a Website for Changes
Paste the URL, say what counts, and get told in plain words. No selector, no overnight laptop.
How to monitor a website for changes: paste the URL, say what counts, and get told in plain words. That is the short version. The long version is a pile of extensions, cron jobs, and screenshot apps that all leak in different places.
Manual checking is not a method. It is a hope. Calendar reminders fail the week you are busy. Browser extensions fail when the laptop sleeps. Raw HTML diffs fail when the cookie banner rotates.
Pick the job before the tool
If you need a pixel-level exhibit for counsel, use a visual monitor. If you need a self-hosted HTML diff, ChangeDetection.io is fine and free if you can run Docker. If you need a sentence about what changed, plus Slack, plus a topic watch across the web, that is AyeWatch.
The 24/7 monitoring stack piece maps the options. This page is the no-code path.
The AyeWatch setup
1. Paste the HTTPS URL. 2. Write one sentence: "Tell me when the price or the plan names change. Ignore layout." 3. Pick Daily if the page is slow, six-hour on Pro if Friday afternoon edits matter. 4. Choose push, email, or Slack on a paid plan.
Free Preview is six lifetime runs, three topics, Daily or slower, push and in-app. No card. Pro is $9 a month. You can monitor a website without code the same way. There is no selector step.
Start a monitor in under a minute
Free Preview is six lifetime runs across three topics. No card.
Try AyeWatch freeWhat to watch first
Start with the URL you already feel behind on: a competitor price page, a TOS, a jobs index, a listing. One good alert beats a folder of noisy watches. Add pages only after the first one earns the slot.
AyeWatch will not log into a paywall for you. Public HTTPS pages and topics are the product. If the change lives behind a login, you need a different stack. Do not start with a homepage that rotates campaigns. Start with the path that holds the fact: /pricing, /careers, /legal/terms. One clean watch teaches you more than five noisy ones. That is how to monitor a website for changes without building a junk folder. Check the first alert. Then decide whether a second URL earns a slot.