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Self-Hosting ChangeDetection: Monitor Website Changes

ChangeDetection.io monitors websites for changes. Get notified when prices drop, pages update, or content appears.

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What Is ChangeDetection?


ChangeDetection.io watches web pages and notifies you when they change. Set a URL, and it checks periodically. When something's different, you get an alert.


Use Cases


Price Monitoring

Watch product pages. Get notified when the price drops.


Job Listings

Monitor company career pages. Know immediately when a new position opens.


Government/Legal

Track regulatory pages for policy changes.


Competitor Monitoring

Watch competitor websites for product launches, pricing changes, or new features.


Availability

Monitor "out of stock" pages. Get notified when items become available.


Documentation

Track API documentation or terms of service for changes.


Features


Visual Diff

See exactly what changed with highlighted additions and removals.


CSS/XPath Selectors

Monitor specific parts of a page instead of the entire thing. Watch only the price element, the job listings section, or the inventory status.


Notification Channels

  • Email
  • Discord
  • Slack
  • Telegram
  • Ntfy
  • Webhooks
  • And many more via Apprise

    • Check Intervals

    From every 30 seconds to once a week. Set per-watch.


    JavaScript Rendering

    Some pages need JavaScript to display content. ChangeDetection supports headless Chrome for full page rendering.


    Filters

  • Ignore specific text patterns
  • Trigger only on specific changes
  • Ignore whitespace changes
  • Ignore number changes below a threshold

    • Deployment


    1. Deploy ChangeDetection on TinyPod

    2. Add URLs to watch

    3. Configure check intervals and selectors

    4. Set up notification preferences

    5. Wait for changes


    Resources: 1 CPU, 512 MB RAM (more with JavaScript rendering).


    Tips


  • Use CSS selectors to focus on the relevant part of the page
  • Don't check too frequently — some sites will block you
  • Use the visual diff to verify the change is meaningful
  • Group related watches with tags for organization