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Distill.io

Distill.io is a website change monitoring tool that allows users to track changes on web pages.

URL

https://distill.io/ (last revised Aug 31., 2025)

Description

Distill Web Monitor tracks changes to webpages and documents and alerts you via push, email, SMS, webhooks, or Slack/Discord/Teams when a change is detected; monitors can run locally in your browser or on Distill’s cloud. Typical inputs are a URL or feed; outputs are diffs and a change history with optional AI change summaries. Supported source types include web pages, PDFs, JSON, XML, RSS/Atom feeds and simple uptime checks; a crawler‑based sitemap monitor helps discover new URLs on a site. Advanced workflows use conditions, proxies, macros and webhooks to reduce noise, handle logins, and route alerts into other systems. What is Distill?; Using Conditions; Macro & Automated Actions; Feed; Uptime

Practical Applications for Open Source Researchers

For Open Source Researchers, Distill.io can be an invaluable tool for:

  • Monitoring Target Websites: Keep track of updates on websites related to investigations, including changes in content, new postings, and removals.

  • Tracking Social Media Profiles: Monitor public social media pages or profiles for updates without needing to log in to the platform.

  • Alerting on Keyword Changes: Set up alerts for specific keywords or phrases that appear or disappear from web pages, which can signal significant events.

  • Watching Dynamic Content: Use advanced selection tools to monitor content that changes dynamically, such as JavaScript-rendered pages.

  • Archiving Web Page Changes: Maintaining a history of changes to a web page is useful for documenting the evolution of information over time.

  • Monitoring Hidden Elements: Detect changes in hidden HTML elements or metadata that might not be immediately visible on the page.

Key Features Beneficial for Open Source Researchers

  • Visual Selector Tool:

    • Allows users to select specific parts of a web page to monitor.

    • Useful for focusing on relevant sections and ignoring irrelevant content.

  • Regular Expressions (Regex):

    • Enable advanced pattern matching to monitor specific text patterns.

    • Helpful for filtering and extracting specific data from complex pages.

    • Regex in Visual Selector – apply regular expressions from the Text filter panel to include or exclude specific patterns at selection time

  • Content Extraction:

    • Ability to extract and export data from monitored pages.

    • Supports formats like CSV or JSON for integration with other analysis tools.

  • Change Highlighting:

    • Visual representation of the changes made to the page.

    • Simplifies the process of identifying significant alterations.

  • Scheduling and Frequency:

    • Customizable check intervals, with paid plans offering more frequent monitoring.

    • Free 6 h · Starter 10 min · Professional 5 min · Flexi 2 min for cloud monitors; local checks can run as fast as 5 s.

    • Potentially useful for time-sensitive investigations where prompt alerts are crucial.

Using Distill.io

First, you can register with your own email, or use a dedicated email address or alias. You can see all running monitors on your watchlist. You can monitor websites, feeds, JSONs, PDFs, Word documents, uptime and whole sitemaps (alpha, may be buggy).

Click on Add Monitor to configure a new monitor

When you add a new monitor, you make the following choices:

  • Source: Whether to monitor the whole page or only a part of it. Select the Visual Selector if you want to monitor only certain parts (recommended).

  • Device: Where the service runs - Distill.io can run locally or in the cloud. This determines whether it only checks while your computer is running (local) or 24/7 (cloud). In the free plan, you can run only a limited number of trackers in one account, but more locally than in the cloud (25 local vs 5 cloud monitors on Free). Consequently, you can check cloud-based monitors in the web-app, while local monitors live in the browser extension.

  • Name: Pick a name for your Monitor that's easy to recognize for you and informative. You may want to configure several monitors for one website, so consider the purpose as well when picking a name.

  • Actions: The free service allows you to send yourself an email, or if you're running a local monitor, open the website, get a notification, or play a sound. Starter unlocks webhooks & SMS; Professional adds unlimited emails/push & higher SMS caps; Flexi raises all limits. Noteworthy among those are push notifications if you're using the phone app (be mindful of possible tracking), SMS, notifications on Discord, Teams and Slack, webhooks (which allow developers to integrate it into 3rd party services)

  • Schedule Checks: How often do you need your source to be checked for changes?

Add a monitor for your website and configure source, schedule checks, and define alerts when changes occur.

When you add a monitor, you can use the Visual Selector Tool, to select only those parts of the website that you want to be alerted about if they change. These could be release versions, GitHub issue submissions, or parts of a text that contain information about a person or entity.

This monitor will check for updates on the author's bio in the toolkit guardian section.
This monitor shows will check a github repository for new issues, changes, and new releases.
This monitor will check whether a chrome extrension was updated recently. (It was!)

After you click save, your monitor will be active.

Additional Tips for OSINT Researchers

  • is critical because uptime is crucialCombine with Other Tools:

    • You can use Distill.io with other open-source research tools to integrate data from Distill.io with databases or visualization tools.

  • Use Cloud Monitors for Reliability:

    • One option is to run monitors on Distill.io's servers, ensuring continuous monitoring even when your device is offline. For monitoring tasks where information can change quickly, this can be critical because uptime is constant.

  • API (Enterprise only)

    • Request programmatic access to watchlists and change data for full automation.

  • Monitor Authentication-Protected Pages:

    • Distill.io supports monitoring pages that require a login. This can ensure compliance with the terms of service and legal considerations when monitoring such content.

    • Proxy & Macros – cloud monitors can route through residential/geo‑proxies and execute multi‑step macros; loops and the new “doesn’t match any previous text” condition (Feb 2025) reduce false positives.

Cost

  • Free plan: up to 25 local monitors; 5 cloud monitors; 1,000 checks per month; 30 email alerts; cloud minimum interval 6 hours.

  • Paid plans: Starter USD 15 per month; Professional USD 35 per month; Flexi from USD 80 per month; see pricing tables for per‑plan resources and limits.

  • Pricing

Level of difficulty

Requirements

  • Account Creation:

    • Required for synchronization across devices and accessing cloud monitoring features

  • Browser Extension:

    • Available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge

    • Local Monitoring: Runs checks when the browser is open

  • Mobile App:

    • Available on iOS and Android

    • Features: Receive push notifications and manage monitors

  • Desktop App:

    • Desktop App for Windows & macOS (public alpha – install links in Docs).

    • Advantage: Allows local monitoring without keeping the browser open

Limitations

  • Free plan constraints - cloud checks no faster than every 6 hours; 1,000 checks and 30 email alerts per month; local monitors must have the browser or app running for checks to execute.

  • Firefox and Opera extensions have older public versions at time of writing; Firefox 3.6.12 released 2023‑08‑01; Opera 3.3.12 updated 2023‑11‑22; feature parity may lag behind Chrome. AMO versions; Opera listing.

  • Dynamic or login‑gated pages may require Macros or Dedicated Cloud Devices; sessions can expire and must be refreshed. Macros; Dedicated Cloud Devices.

  • Sitemap monitor is marked “alpha” and available only on Professional+; behavior and UI may change. Sitemap guide.

  • Legal/ToS - Distill’s ToS requires lawful use; do not use the service to violate site terms or access controls. Providers may request suspension if their sites object to scraping. Distill ToS.

  • Local Checks:

    • Require the browser or desktop app to be running

    • Less reliable if the device is turned off or disconnected from the internet

  • Dynamic Content:

    • Monitoring JavaScript-rendered content may require advanced configuration

    • Some dynamic elements may not be captured without using cloud monitors or by running a macro with loop support (added in 2024) to pre-load dynamic sections.

Ethical Considerations

  • Privacy and Legal Compliance:

    • Use Distill only on sources for which you are legally authorized to monitor; avoid circumventing technical access controls; minimize the collection of personal data; and retain only what is necessary. When working with sensitive material, consider recognized guidance like the Berkeley Protocol on Open Source Investigations for documentation and verification practices.

  • Responsible Use:

    • Avoid overloading target websites with excessive requests

    • Use appropriate check intervals to minimize impact

  • Data Validation:

    • Verify the accuracy of monitored changes before acting on them

    • Be cautious of false positives or changes that may not be relevant

Guides and articles

What is Distill? | Distill. (2023). Retrieved August 1, 2024, from https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/what-is-distill/

Local Monitor vs. Cloud Monitor | Distill. (2023). Retrieved August 1, 2024, from https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/cloud-local-monitors/

Distill (Director). (2023, May 26). How to Use the Visual Selector in Distill [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY1DjyHqy_o

Tool provider

Distill.io by Neemb LLC / Neemb Web Services Pvt Ltd (Delaware), U.S.

Advertising Trackers

Page maintainer

Martin Sona

Last updated

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