A website change monitor Chrome extension stops when your browser does

A website change monitor Chrome extension is handy for a few pages you already visit, but it only checks while your browser is running, so for anything you cannot afford to miss a cloud monitor such as AyeWatch is the better choice. That is the short answer; the rest of this piece explains the trade-off so you can pick per page.

Developers live in the browser, so the extension route feels natural. Install, click the page, pick an element, done. The catch shows up the first time the change happens at 3am, or while your laptop is closed in a bag.

How the two models differ

Some tools, such as Distill and Visualping, offer both: an extension for setup or local checks and a cloud service that keeps running. Distill's own pages note that local monitors need the browser open.

Where an extension still wins

Be honest about the cases where local makes sense:

• Pages behind your login. An extension sees what you see, including dashboards your session can reach.
• Short, casual watches. A forum thread you will close next week does not need a server.
• Keeping it on your machine. If you would rather a page's contents never pass through a third party, local checks do that.

Where a cloud monitor wins

For most developer use, the page that matters is public and the change is time-sensitive: a dependency's changelog, an API deprecation notice, a provider's pricing page, a status page. Here an always-on service is what you want, and the alert quality matters as much as the uptime.

AyeWatch runs in the cloud and has no extension to install. You add a URL in the web app or the iOS or Android app and write a rule in plain English, such as "alert me when the docs mark an endpoint as deprecated". It checks the new version of the page against that sentence and sends an alert with a short summary only when it matches. That avoids the classic extension problem of an element selector catching every timestamp and badge update.

Practical details for developers:

• Push alerts and the feed on every plan; Slack, Discord, email, signed webhooks and a REST API on paid plans.
• Auto mode sets the check interval for you, or choose your own; ASAP mode is on the higher plans.
• A free preview with no card, then paid plans from $9 a month, billed in monitoring credits.

A sensible split

You do not have to choose one model for everything:

• Keep an extension for pages that only make sense behind your login.
• Put public, high-stakes pages on a cloud monitor with a clear rule.
• Send cloud alerts to the place you already look, whether that is your phone, a team channel or a webhook into your own tooling.

Bottom line

A Chrome extension is a convenient way to watch a page you are already looking at. A monitor that works while you are not looking is a different job, and that is where AyeWatch fits. Try it on one public page you currently track with an extension and compare which alert reaches you first. The AyeWatch guide to watching any URL has a setup walk-through.