# Switching to a Distill.io alternative: turning selectors into sentences

> How to rebuild each Distill monitor in AyeWatch as one plain-English rule, and which monitors to leave in Distill.

URL: https://claudegpt.si/news/distill-io-alternative-switching-guide  
Published: 2026-10-25T18:15:44.499Z  
Updated: 2026-10-26T07:18:41.444Z  
Author: ClaudeGPT Si Newsroom  
Section: Guides  
Topics: Distill, Website change monitoring, Migration  
Publisher: ClaudeGPT Si

## Key takeaways

- AyeWatch has no import from Distill, so each monitor is recreated with the same URL and its condition written as one sentence.
- AyeWatch checks run in the cloud, so monitors keep working when the browser or laptop is closed.
- Monitors that need one exact value checked every few seconds are better left in Distill.

Most people who search for a Distill io alternative already know what they want to watch. They have a list of monitors in the Distill extension, each tied to a selected element and a condition, and they want the same coverage without a browser that has to stay open. This guide walks through the move to AyeWatch one monitor at a time, and says which monitors are better left where they are.

## Why people leave Distill

Distill is good at what it was built for: you highlight part of a page, set a condition, and get told when it is met. Three things tend to push users elsewhere.

- **Local monitors stop when the device sleeps.** Checks run in the browser extension or desktop app are unlimited, but they only run while that device is on.
- **Free cloud checks are slow.** The free plan has 25 monitors, but only 5 of them run in Distill's cloud, and those check every 6 hours at best.
- **Selectors break.** When a site is redesigned, the element you picked can move or disappear, and the monitor goes quiet or starts firing on the wrong thing.

AyeWatch removes the first and third problems by design. Checks run on AyeWatch's servers, and a monitor is defined by a sentence instead of a CSS path.

## Step 1: export your list by hand

There is no import file from Distill into AyeWatch, so start by writing down what you have. For each Distill monitor, note three things:

1. The URL.
2. What the selected element was for (a price, a stock label, a job list, a version number).
3. The condition you set, if any, such as "less than 200" or "contains In stock".

Most lists shrink at this stage. Several Distill monitors often point at different parts of the same site for one reason.

## Step 2: write each condition as a rule

In AyeWatch you paste the URL and describe the change you care about in plain English. The condition from Distill becomes part of that sentence, and anything you used to filter out goes in too.

| Distill setup | AyeWatch rule |
| --- | --- |
| Price element, condition "less than 200" | "Alert me when the price drops below $200." |
| Stock label, condition "contains In stock" | "Tell me when this item is back in stock." |
| Changelog list, any change | "Alert me when a new version is published. Ignore edits to older entries." |
| Product page, ignore reviews block | "Alert on price or availability changes. Ignore changes to the review count." |

The last row matters most. In Distill you avoid noise by narrowing the selection. In AyeWatch you avoid it by saying what to ignore, and the alert arrives as a short written summary of what changed.

## Step 3: group related pages

One AyeWatch monitor can hold several URLs under a single rule. If you had separate Distill monitors for a competitor's pricing page, changelog and careers page, you can put them in one monitor with a rule like "alert me when plans, prices or open roles change". That keeps the alert feed shorter and the monitor count lower.

You can also add things Distill does not cover. AyeWatch can follow a topic across the web, and accounts or searches on X, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok, so news about the same product can sit beside the page monitor.

## Step 4: test the rule, then pick a plan

Start on the Free Preview: three runs with no card, enough to test a rule on a real page. Read the first alerts as a test of your sentence. If something irrelevant got through, add it to the "ignore" part; if a change you cared about was missed, name it. A fix is one edit, not a new selector.

Paid plans start at $9 a month, against $15 for Distill's first paid tier, and add email, Slack, Discord, webhooks and the REST API. Prices are from each vendor's site, checked October 2026.

## Step 5: route the alerts

Push notifications and the in-app feed come with every AyeWatch plan, on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. Paid plans add email, Slack, Discord, signed webhooks and the REST API, and you choose channels per monitor, so a price alert can go to your phone while a competitor alert goes to a team channel.

## What to keep in Distill

Be honest about the monitors that fit Distill better. If a monitor depends on one exact number crossing a threshold every few seconds, Distill's local checks are faster and more precise, and they cost nothing while your browser is open. AyeWatch does not do element-level selection. If that describes most of your list, stay put. If most of your monitors are "tell me when something meaningful changes on this page", they will be easier to keep running in AyeWatch.

## Start with one monitor

Pick the Distill monitor that breaks most often, recreate it as a sentence, and compare the alerts for a week. You can [start the Free Preview without a card](https://ayewatch.ai/?signup=true), and the full [AyeWatch vs Distill feature table](https://ayewatch.ai/vs/distill) is on AyeWatch's site.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I import my Distill monitors into AyeWatch?

No. There is no import file. Create a monitor for each URL and write its condition as a sentence, such as "alert me when the price drops below $50".

### Does AyeWatch need a browser extension?

No. AyeWatch runs on its own servers and alerts you by push on every plan, and by email, Slack, Discord or webhook on paid plans.

### Can AyeWatch select one element on a page like Distill?

No. AyeWatch works from a written rule, not a selected element. For exact element-level conditions, Distill is the more precise tool.

## Sources

- [AyeWatch vs Distill.io](https://ayewatch.ai/vs/distill), AyeWatch
- [7 Best Distill.io Alternatives in 2026](https://ayewatch.ai/blog/distill-io-alternative), AyeWatch
- [AyeWatch plans and features](https://ayewatch.ai/), AyeWatch
- [Distill pricing](https://distill.io/pricing/), Distill