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A Distill.io alternative — fully hosted, no extension needed

DiffHook is a Distill.io alternative that runs entirely in the cloud — no browser extension to install, no desktop client to keep running, no machine that needs to stay awake. Every change is delivered straight to Slack, email, Zapier, n8n, or your own systems.

Distill.io is a power-user tool with excellent selector control inside its browser extension. DiffHook takes the same core idea and makes it a fully hosted service: monitors always run, alerts flow directly into the tools your team uses, and you never have to worry about a laptop going to sleep.

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At a glance

DiffHook vs Distill.io — feature comparison

FeatureDiffHookDistill.io
Free plan?What you get without paying — useful to know if the free plan is enough for your needs.3 monitors · hourly checks · free forever, no credit card25 monitors, but run locally in a browser extension
Starter paid plan?The lowest-priced paid plan and what it includes.From $12/mo · every alert destination includedFrom $15/mo (cloud plan)
Team / enterprise plan?Plans for teams that need multiple users, shared monitors, or higher volumes.Flat monthly rate · no sales callTeam plans via sales
How often pages are checked?The shortest time between two checks of the same page. A shorter interval means you get alerted faster when something changes.As often as every 1 minuteEvery 5–15 minutes (cloud plans)
Send alerts to other apps?The ability to automatically forward change alerts into other tools — Slack, email, Zapier, n8n, or your own systems — instead of only reading them in a dashboard or inbox.Included on every plan, including freeAvailable, depends on tier
Secure signed alerts?Each alert carries a security stamp proving it really came from the service. Useful if you pipe alerts into sensitive systems and want to block fakes.Yes — every alert is signedNot documented
Works on modern JavaScript sites?Many modern sites (SPAs, dashboards, e-commerce catalogues) load content through JavaScript. The tool needs to render them like a real browser, otherwise it sees an empty page.Yes — renders pages like a real browserYes — via extension or cloud plan
Monitor JSON APIs?Watching an API response directly, not just a web page — useful for pricing endpoints, stock availability, or any structured data.Yes — watch a specific value in any API responsePartial (via web-request monitors)
Monitor RSS feeds & sitemaps?Automatically pick up new articles, releases, job posts, or catalog entries the moment they appear in a feed or sitemap.Yes — both included out of the boxLimited
AI-powered change filtering?Describe what a 'meaningful change' is in plain English (for example, 'alert only when the price changes') to filter out cosmetic noise.Yes — describe meaningful changes in plain EnglishAI summaries (paid tiers only)
Where alerts can be sent?Where alerts can be delivered — email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, your own server, or any automation platform.Email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, automations, your own serverEmail, SMS, Slack, custom alerts
Hosting?Whether you can install the tool on your own infrastructure, which some teams need for compliance or data-residency reasons.Hosted onlyHosted + local browser extension
Developer API?A programmable interface to create, edit, and manage monitors automatically — useful when you outgrow clicking around a dashboard.Full API included on every paid planAvailable, limited in scope

Why teams switch

Why teams switch from Distill.io to DiffHook

The common pattern: teams love Distill.io's selector interface, then realise they need monitors that keep running when a laptop restarts — and alerts that flow directly into Slack or an automation tool.

  • Monitors are hosted in the cloud — nothing to install, no browser extension that breaks when Chrome updates or a laptop sleeps.
  • Alerts flow directly into Slack, Discord, email, Zapier, n8n, or your own apps — on every plan, including the free one.
  • JSON APIs, RSS feeds, and sitemaps are all supported natively, not worked around through a generic web-request monitor.
  • A developer API is included on every paid plan, so you can create dozens of monitors in one go if you need to.
  • Flat-rate team pricing — no sales call to unlock shared monitors.

Use cases

What teams use DiffHook for

💲

Price tracking

Keep an eye on any pricing page and get notified the moment a plan, tier, or currency changes — in Slack, email, a dashboard, or any tool you already use.

📦

Stock & availability

Monitor product pages, status pages, and availability widgets. Catch restocks, sell-outs, and quota changes in real time.

🆕

New-item detection

Get alerted on every new article, release, job post, advisory, or catalog entry — from pages, RSS feeds, or sitemaps.

Alert example

What an alert looks like

Every change produces a clean, structured alert that can be forwarded to Slack, email, Zapier, n8n, a dashboard, or your own app — no custom integration needed to get started.

example alert
{
  "event": "page.changed",
  "url": "https://example.com/pricing",
  "detected_at": "2026-04-20T09:14:22Z",
  "change": {
    "before": "$29/mo",
    "after":  "$39/mo"
  }
}

Where this alert can go

  • 💬Slack or Discord — post the change to a channel
  • ✉️Email — notify a teammate or mailing list
  • ⚡Zapier, n8n, Make — trigger any automation
  • 🛠️Your own app — send it anywhere via a URL

Honest comparison

Where Distill.io is still the better pick

Distill.io's browser extension is genuinely great for power users who want to build a selector by clicking elements inside the live page. If your workflow is 'open the site, configure a watch in 30 seconds, see the diff in the extension', that experience is hard to beat. DiffHook does not ship a browser extension — if the interactive selector builder is the reason you use Distill.io, keep using Distill.io.

FAQ

DiffHook vs Distill.io — common questions

How are DiffHook alerts different from Distill.io's?
DiffHook sends every change as a structured alert that can be forwarded to any tool — Slack, email, Zapier, n8n, a dashboard — on every plan, including the free one. You don't need to upgrade or run anything locally.
How does pricing compare to Distill.io?
DiffHook's free plan covers 3 hosted monitors at hourly checks with no expiry. The $12/month plan adds per-minute checks, every alert destination, and the full API. Distill.io's free tier is mostly focused on its browser extension; its cloud plan starts at $15/month with fewer check-frequency options.
Can I migrate my Distill.io watches?
Yes. Distill.io supports a JSON export from its extension. You can then recreate each watch in the DiffHook dashboard or (for bulk migration) push them through the API with a small script. The docs include a ready-to-run import example.
Does DiffHook work on modern JavaScript sites?
Yes. DiffHook renders each page like a real browser for every HTML monitor, so SPAs, dashboards, and pages with lazy-loaded content are captured correctly. You can also set a wait-for-selector or network-idle condition per monitor when needed.
Can DiffHook watch JSON APIs?
Yes, as a native source type. You point DiffHook at a JSON endpoint, specify which value you want to watch (for example, a price or stock count), and it sends an alert the moment that value changes. You don't have to wrap it in a generic web-request monitor.
Do I need to install anything?
No. DiffHook is fully hosted — monitors run in the cloud, not on your laptop. You configure everything through the dashboard or the developer API. Nothing runs in your browser.

Keep comparing

Other tools in this category

Visualping

DiffHook is a Visualping alternative that sends every detected change straight to the tools your team already uses — Slack, email, Zapier, n8n, a dashboard, or your own systems. Same change detection, but without the email-only flow.

Changedetection.io

DiffHook is the changedetection.io alternative you reach for when you don't want to maintain a server, run Docker updates, or keep a self-hosted watcher alive. You get the same core capability — watch any page, feed, or API and get alerted on change — as a fully managed service.

See all alternatives →·RSS to alerts·API endpoint monitoring·Monitor competitor websites

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