Yep, changedetection.io is a good project. With Site Spy, I wanted to make the browser-first workflow much easier: install the extension, connect it to the dashboard, click the exact part of the page you care about, and then follow changes as diffs, history, or RSS with very little setup. I can definitely see why the open-source / self-hosted route is appealing too.
Yep, urlwatch is a good one too. This category clearly has a strong self-hosted tradition. With Site Spy, what I’m trying to make much easier is the browser-first flow: pick the exact part of a page visually, then follow changes through diffs, history, RSS, and alerts with very little setup
Yep, Site Spy already has push notifications, plus email and Telegram alerts. I see RSS as the open interface for people who want to plug updates into their own reader or workflow. For urgent things like visa slots or stock availability, direct alerts are definitely the main path.
And yeah, element-level tracking isn't a brand new idea by itself. The thing I wanted to improve was making it easy to pick the exact part of a page you care about and then inspect the change via diffs, history, or RSS instead of just getting a generic "page changed" notification
That’s a completely fair concern. Services in this category do need to earn trust over time. I built the backend to handle a fair amount of traffic, so I’m not too worried about growth on that side. My goal is definitely to keep this running for the long term, not treat it like a one-off project
I like https://github.com/dgtlmoon/changedetection.io for this. Open source and free to run locally or use their Saas service.
Yep, changedetection.io is a good project. With Site Spy, I wanted to make the browser-first workflow much easier: install the extension, connect it to the dashboard, click the exact part of the page you care about, and then follow changes as diffs, history, or RSS with very little setup. I can definitely see why the open-source / self-hosted route is appealing too.
There's also https://github.com/thp/urlwatch/ - (not aware of any SaaS offer - self-hosted it is).
Yep, urlwatch is a good one too. This category clearly has a strong self-hosted tradition. With Site Spy, what I’m trying to make much easier is the browser-first flow: pick the exact part of a page visually, then follow changes through diffs, history, RSS, and alerts with very little setup
Looks cool and this can be self hosted and it is for free.
Nice will try this out!
Quick feedback:
1. RSS is just fine for updates. Given the importance of your visa use-case, were you thinking of push notifications?
2. Your competition does element-level tracking. Maybe they choose XPath?
Yep, Site Spy already has push notifications, plus email and Telegram alerts. I see RSS as the open interface for people who want to plug updates into their own reader or workflow. For urgent things like visa slots or stock availability, direct alerts are definitely the main path.
And yeah, element-level tracking isn't a brand new idea by itself. The thing I wanted to improve was making it easy to pick the exact part of a page you care about and then inspect the change via diffs, history, or RSS instead of just getting a generic "page changed" notification
Very good!
This is something that existed in the past and I used successfully, but services like this tend to disappear
That’s a completely fair concern. Services in this category do need to earn trust over time. I built the backend to handle a fair amount of traffic, so I’m not too worried about growth on that side. My goal is definitely to keep this running for the long term, not treat it like a one-off project
Cool stuff. You should make it OSS and ask a one time fee for it. I would run it on my own infra but pay you once(.com)
This is interesting, gonna try it on our next project! thumb up
Interesting... added to bookmarks. Could come in handy in the future