Apps like Distill, judged in one line each

Every few months someone posts the same question: what are the apps like Distill that keep watching a page after you close the laptop? Distill is a fine tool. It just asks you to keep a browser open for its fastest checks, and to keep a CSS selector alive through every redesign. Here are the alternatives, each with a one-line verdict and no padding.

The short list

1. AyeWatch Runs in the cloud, takes a plain-English rule instead of a selector, and sends a short written summary when the change you described happens. Verdict: the pick if you want alerts without babysitting the monitor. Paid plans start at $9 a month.

2. Visualping Compares pages visually, as text or by element, with AI summaries. Free plan covers 5 pages and 150 checks a month. Verdict: the friendly option for people who want screenshots, priced by checks from $14 a month.

3. changedetection.io Open source, free to self-host, or $8.99 a month hosted. CSS and XPath targeting, browser steps for logins, 85+ notification channels. Verdict: for people who consider "maintain a server" a hobby.

4. PageCrawl.io Free forever plan with 6 pages and 220 checks; paid from $13.33 a month billed yearly. Verdict: a lot of checks for the money if you plan to watch many pages.

5. OnWebChange Free for 3 trackers, then from €0.89 a month. CSS-based selection, PDF tracking, email and callback alerts. Verdict: the cheapest way to keep doing exactly what you did in Distill.

6. Page Monitor A free Chrome extension: pick an element, set an interval. Verdict: Distill's biggest limit, in a smaller package. The browser still has to stay open.

Why AyeWatch sits at the top

The thread usually lands on three complaints, and AyeWatch answers two of them directly.

• "It only works while my laptop is on." AyeWatch checks run on its servers. Close the lid, alerts keep coming.
• "The site changed its layout and my monitor died." There is no selector to break. You write something like "alert me when the price drops below $200, ignore the review count" and AyeWatch reads the page against that.
• "Too many alerts." Distill users solve this by narrowing the selection. AyeWatch users solve it by writing what to ignore.

It also does something Distill does not: monitor topics across the web and social media, including X, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. If you were watching a product page, you can watch the conversation about that product too.

The numbers, side by side

Prices from each vendor's site, October 2026.

Switching in ten minutes

There is no import button, so do it by hand. List your Distill monitors and write next to each one why it exists: a price, a stock label, a release note. Pages that share a reason can share one AyeWatch monitor. Then turn each condition into a sentence, such as "alert me when the price drops below $50 or the item is back in stock". Run both for a week before you uninstall anything.

When to stay on Distill

If you want one number on one page checked every few seconds, and your browser is open anyway, Distill's local monitors do that for free and with more precision than anything here. Its free plan is also one of the largest in the category. Nobody needs to switch for the sake of switching.

The takeaway

If your Distill setup keeps breaking or keeps sleeping, try a rule in AyeWatch first. The Free Preview gives three runs with no card, and AyeWatch's own Distill comparison covers seven alternatives in more depth.