Compare
OnChange vs changedetection.io
changedetection.io is the leading open-source change monitor and is excellent at what it does. OnChange is the managed cloud platform you'd build on top of it if you didn't want to maintain the stack yourself.
The honest tradeoff is operational. changedetection.io is free and powerful, but you run it; OnChange is paid and managed, with team features, AI summaries, WCAG scans, and a clean REST API on top. If you have ops capacity and prefer open source, the self-hosted project is genuinely great. If your team's time is better spent on product than on chrome pools, OnChange removes the operational tax.
| Feature | OnChange | changedetection.io |
|---|---|---|
Free plan available changedetection.io is open source and free to self-host; OnChange free includes 5 cloud monitors. | ||
No server or Docker required changedetection.io is self-hosted by default; you run and maintain the container yourself. | ||
Managed uptime and on-call OnChange handles infra, scaling, headless browsers, and queue health for you. | ||
Sub-minute check intervals Self-hosters can technically run any interval, but at the cost of running a beefier host and chrome pool. | ||
Visual (screenshot) diffs | ||
Text / content diff detection | ||
CSS selector + XPath targeting | ||
API / JSON endpoint monitoring changedetection.io supports JSON via JSONPath; OnChange has a dedicated JSON diff UI for developers. | ||
AI change summaries on every alert | ||
Causal attribution (Git commit correlation) | ||
WCAG accessibility scans | ||
Slack / Discord alerts | ||
Custom webhooks | ||
REST API | ||
Team collaboration and roles The OSS project is single-user; team features (RBAC, audit log) are part of paid managed offerings. | ||
Source available / open core changedetection.io is fully open source under Apache 2.0. |
Comparison based on publicly available information. changedetection.io's feature set may have changed since publication; please verify on their website.
Pick OnChange if…
- You don't want to run a server, watch a queue, or update Docker images on a schedule
- You need sub-minute checks without provisioning a chrome pool yourself
- Your team needs RBAC, audit logs, and team workspaces out of the box
- You want AI change summaries, WCAG scans, and Git-aware attribution included
- You're an agency billing clients and need a stable SLA you didn't have to build
- You'd rather pay for outcomes than spend engineering hours on monitoring infra
Pick changedetection.io if…
- You strongly prefer open-source tooling and self-hosting on your own infrastructure
- You have spare ops capacity and are happy maintaining Docker, Playwright, and queue health
- Data residency or air-gapped requirements rule out any SaaS provider
- Your monitor count is small enough that one server is overkill yet still cheap to run
Pricing
changedetection.io is free to self-host (you pay for your own server, browser pool, and ops time). The project also offers a paid hosted tier. OnChange Free is $0 with 5 cloud monitors and every feature; Pro is $12/month for 50 monitors with 60-second checks; Business is $39/month for 300 monitors at 30s, with team workspaces and audit logs.
Migrating from changedetection.io
Export your changedetection.io watches (the project supports a JSON export) and recreate them in OnChange. CSS selectors and XPath both transfer; JSONPath-based monitors map to OnChange's API monitor with the same path expression. Notification destinations (Apprise URLs, webhooks) translate to OnChange's Slack, Discord, and webhook integrations. Most teams move 20 to 50 watches in an afternoon.
Try OnChange free
5 monitors, every feature included, no credit card required. Cancelchangedetection.iowhenever you're ready.
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