How we compared them
We looked at the things that decide whether you'll keep using a tool: whether there's a free way to try it, what the cheapest paid plan really includes, whether alerts explain the change or just highlight it, how much noise you have to filter yourself, and what each tool is unusually good at. We didn't rank them by a single score, because the best choice depends on the job.
Visualping: the best-known all-rounder
Visualping is the name most people have heard of, and it's easy to use if you're not technical. AI summaries are included, and there's a free plan for a few pages. Slack and Teams alerts need a Business plan. A good default if you want something familiar. See our Visualping alternative page for a closer comparison.
Distill: best for tinkerers and very fast checks
Distill's browser extension can check pages every few seconds while your computer is on, and it has powerful selectors and macros, including for pages behind a login. The cloud plans are good value. It suits people who enjoy setting things up exactly the way they want.
PageCrawl: most pages for the money with AI
PageCrawl includes AI summaries even on its free plan and gives you a lot of pages and fast checks per dollar, with many integrations for technical users. A strong choice if you watch a lot of pages.
Wachete: the cheapest way to watch many pages
Wachete's prices per page are the lowest here, it has a free plan, apps for every device, and long change history with charts. It doesn't advertise AI summaries, so you read the raw change yourself.
ChangeTower: built for compliance teams
ChangeTower focuses on audit trails, archiving and team features like single sign-on, with AI noise filtering. Its cheapest plan checks daily, so it suits records and compliance more than fast alerts.
changedetection.io: free and open source
If you're comfortable running software yourself, changedetection.io is free, open source and very flexible, with more alert channels than anyone else. There's also a cheap hosted version. AI summaries need your own AI key.
ChangeGist: best when you want the change explained
ChangeGist costs more per page than most tools here and has a trial rather than a free plan. What you get for that: every change written up in plain English, noise ignored without setup, rules in your own words, deadlines added to your calendar with reminders, and alerts when a competitor undercuts your price. It suits people watching a smaller number of pages that really matter: competitors, suppliers, tenders, careers pages and policies.
Which should you choose?
- Lots of pages on a small budget: Wachete or PageCrawl.
- Self-hosting and full control: changedetection.io.
- Very fast checks, or pages behind a login, as a technical user: Distill.
- Compliance records and single sign-on for a team: ChangeTower.
- A familiar, easy all-rounder: Visualping.
- Readable alerts, deadlines in your calendar and price undercut alerts: ChangeGist.