If you're tired of manually refreshing websites for for things like product drops, sales, news, and more, have no fear: Changedetection.io is here to save the day.
Changedetection.io is an open-source script designed to provide a stupid simple way to monitor websites and very quickly notify you of any changes.
Some frequent use cases include:
- Product restock alerts: Whether it’s sneakers, GPUs, or Pokémon cards, get notified the moment they’re back in stock.
- Pricing changes: Track sales, discounts, or price hikes on e-commerce sites.
- Government updates: Keep tabs on new regulations or policy changes posted on official sites.
- Job postings: Watch for new career opportunities without camping out on job boards.
- JSON-driven content: Monitor API responses, online data feeds, or any site with embedded JSON.
That said, in this article, we’ll explore its features and walk you through how to self-host it. Let's dive in.
Background and key information
Two ways to use Changedetection.io
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Cloud subscription: For $8.99 a month (at the time of publishing), you get instant access to a web-based dashboard and up to 5,000 URL watches. You don’t need to install anything—just sign up, receive your login details, and start monitoring.
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Self-hosting: If you prefer controlling your own environment—or if you have a sensitive list of URLs you don’t want to hand over to a third party—Changedetection.io is open source. Meaning you can easily host it yourself. Self-hosting takes a bit more time, but you’ll have full control over your data and setup. It's also usually cheaper, especially considering you can host more than one app on the same server.
Self-host vs. subscription
| Aspect | Cloud subscription | Self-hosted |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Minimal—just sign up | Manual (Docker, pip, or Windows setup) |
| Maintenance | Automatic updates | You handle updates & security |
| Customization | Preconfigured environment | Full control over config & environment |
| Proxies/browser | 1 real Chrome included, with easy add-ons | You manage your own Chrome/Playwright fetchers |
| Data control | Data stored on provider’s servers | Complete ownership over your data |
| Monthly cost | $8.99 (cancel anytime) | Free (you provide your own hardware) or low cost |
Key features you’ll love
- Visual selector: Pinpoint the exact parts of a page to watch. No more random layout changes triggering false alerts.
- Interactive steps: Log into websites, add items to a cart, or accept cookies before checking for changes. Perfect for behind-login content monitoring.
- Re-stock & price detection: Monitor product availability and pricing, including advanced triggers for upper/lower price limits or percentage changes.
- JSON API monitoring: Use JSONPath or jq to watch structured data in real time, even if it’s embedded inside HTML.
- Notifications: Over 85 supported channels, including email, Slack, Discord, Rocket.Chat, and more. Customize your alerts using Jinja2 templates.
- Scheduling: Limit checks by time zone, day of the week, or specific hours—so you only monitor sites when it matters.
- Chrome extension: Quickly add the current page to your watch list without opening the main dashboard.
How to self-host Changedetection.io with Docker
If you're sold on Changedetection.io and like rolling up your sleeves, self-hosting on a VPS or dedicated server is pretty straightforward. Especially with Docker.
Note: Beginner to self-hosting? If you've never heard of Docker before, take a look at our article on What is Docker and Docker Compose? A Beginner's Guide to Containerization and How to Install Docker and Docker Compose on Debian 12 'Bookworm'. Debian 12 is our recommended Linux distribution for self-hosting Changedetection.io, but Changedetection.io isn't picky. Windows, macOS and more will also work fine (pretty much anything Docker or Python will run on; which is most things).
Also, you can grab an affordable VPS from us here that works well with Changedetection.io, or reach out to us via chat in the bottom right for a personalized solution.
Step-by-step Changedetection.io setup
- Obtain the Docker Compose zip: Head to the official GitHub repository and grab the Docker Compose zip file. It's under the green code button drop down, and "download zip."
- Unzip the files: Extract the contents to a folder on your server. This can be done by running
unzip changedetection.io-master.zip, provided you haveunzipinstalled. - Spin it up: Inside that folder, run
docker compose up -d. Docker will start pulling the necessary images and set up the Changedetection.io container. - Access the dashboard: Open your browser and navigate to
http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:5000. From here, you can tweak settings, add URLs to monitor, set up notifications, and beyond.
- Use the API for the Chrome extension: Once everything’s running, you can connect the Changedetection.io API to the Chrome browser plugin by entering your server details in the extension’s settings.
Note: For extra security, consider installing Fail2Ban to guard against brute force attempts. And if you want your Docker containers to stay updated automatically, check out How to Automatically Update Docker Containers with Watchtower.
Conclusion
Changedetection.io is a clever way to stay on top of any site changes—without wearing out your F5 key. Whether you choose the quick-start cloud subscription or opt for a self-hosted Docker install, you’ll have powerful monitoring, interactive browser steps, and a huge selection of notification options.
And if you’re looking for a reliable infrastructure provider, check out xTom (hi! that's us ;-) for top-notch solutions like dedicated servers, colocation, and IP transit. For a more scalable setup, V.PS offers NVMe-powered KVM VPS options perfect for hosting Docker containers or other self-hosted applications without breaking the bank.
Thanks for reading and happy monitoring!