What kinds of pages and content can Distill.io track?
Distill.io can track regular webpages, specific parts of a page, password-protected pages, private pages, and PDFs. It works for any content that changes over time and is reachable from your browser or its cloud service — such as product restocks, price changes, and announcement updates. If a page requires a login, you can still monitor it, but the setup differs between local and cloud monitors.
Page types Distill.io can monitor
| Page or content type | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard public webpages | Yes | Monitored from the browser extension or the cloud |
| Selected parts of a page | Yes | You choose the specific element or region to watch |
| Password-protected pages | Yes | Listed as a supported feature |
| Private pages | Yes | Listed alongside PDFs as supported content |
| PDF documents | Yes | Track changes inside PDFs, not just HTML pages |
The homepage states you can "monitor password protected pages as well" and "track changes in PDFs and private pages too," so these aren't edge cases — they're part of the standard feature set.
Choosing what to watch on a page
Distill.io doesn't force you to monitor an entire page. The first step in its workflow is to "select the parts of the page you want to track." This matters when a page has rotating ads, timestamps, or comment sections that change constantly and would otherwise trigger false alerts. By selecting only the relevant element — a price, a stock status, a table row — you get alerts tied to the change you actually care about.
Common use cases
- Product restocks — one user review describes using it to "locate a hard to find out item that is always sold out."
- Price changes — a user credits Distill.io with helping them save money by catching price movements.
- Service and policy updates — a developer cites monitoring AWS Service Limits as a favorite use.
- General page-change tracking — the core pitch is monitoring webpages "w/o constantly refreshing."
What to check before relying on it
- Login-protected pages: confirm whether your monitor runs locally (browser extension) or on the cloud, since cloud monitors can't use your browser session the same way. The distinction between local and cloud monitors affects what's reachable.
- Dynamic content: pages that load content via JavaScript after the initial load may need the browser-based monitor rather than a simple fetch.
- Alert delivery: changes can be sent via notification, email, SMS, or apps, so pick the channel that fits how quickly you need to react.
The free tier includes 25 local monitors, 5 cloud monitors, and 1,000 checks per month, which is enough to test whether your specific page type works before committing to a paid plan.