How to see what changed on a rival's website

See what changed on a rival's website without guessing. What to have ready, the steps to follow, tools to choose, and mistakes to avoid.

By Uncommon Comforts · 2026-10-18

Uncommon Comforts is published by the team behind Connections, whose products are compared here alongside other tools.

To see what changed on a rival's website, save a baseline copy of the pages that matter before any change happens, then check those pages again on a set schedule and compare the fresh copy with the older one. Watch the pages that affect a buying decision, such as pricing, a main product page, and the homepage, and note what changed next to the date you saw it. This can be done by hand or with a change-tracking service.

Option	Fee	Card fee	Competitor report runs per month
Check pages by hand	No fee needed	not published	not published
Connections Rivals	Included with the Connections Pass ^[1]	not published	Free 0, Pro 4, Business 30, Business Plus 60, Enterprise 120 ^[1]

What you need before you start

Before looking at a rival's website, decide which rivals and which pages matter. The page that lists prices, the page for a main product, and the homepage usually show the changes that matter to a buyer. Keep the list short so it stays easy to keep up with.

Have a baseline saved first. A change is only visible when there is a saved copy of the page from before, with the date it was saved. A screenshot or a saved copy of the page works. Without a baseline, there is nothing to compare the new page against.

Decide how often to look. Some changes show up in days, others over weeks. A regular schedule, such as once a week, keeps the task manageable.

Have a place to write down what changed and what it might mean. A note about a new price or a new offer is only useful when it is recorded next to the date it appeared.

Decide whether to check by hand or with a tool. Checking by hand is free and needs nothing extra. A change-tracking service can watch chosen pages and report the differences, which saves time when several pages matter.

These few things make the check repeatable and useful, instead of a one-time look.

Step by step

Write down the rival sites and the pages to watch. Keep the list to pages that affect a buying decision, such as the price page, the main product page, and the homepage.
Save a copy of each page now, before any change happens, and note the date next to each saved copy. This is the baseline everything later is compared against.
Set a schedule to check again, such as once a week, and put it somewhere you will see it so the check does not get forgotten.
When the time comes, open each page in the list and save a fresh copy, keeping the older copies rather than replacing them.
Compare the fresh copy with the older one and note anything that differs: text, prices, offers, links, and any pages that were added or removed.
Write down each change, the date you saw it, and what it might mean for someone deciding to buy, for example a new price or a new offer.
Keep every old copy so changes over time stay visible, not just the latest two. A single new copy only shows the last change.
If a change-tracking service is used, point it at the chosen pages and review its reports on the same schedule.
Act only after a change is confirmed against a saved copy, not on a guess about what might have changed.

The same steps work whether the check is done by hand or with a tool. What matters is saving the baseline, checking on a schedule, and comparing a fresh copy with an older one.

Tools that can do it

One option is to do the check by hand. Save a copy of each watched page and compare it with the older copy on the set schedule. This costs nothing and needs no setup, but it only works when a baseline was saved before the change.

A change-tracking service can do the watching. Connections Rivals is made by the team that publishes this site. The owner chooses one of their own websites, the same ones used in Connections Analytics, and sees the rivals for that site. ^[1] The service suggests who the site competes with, and the owner keeps the ones that matter. ^[1] A removed rival can be brought back from Trash. ^[1] A list or CSV of websites can be pasted in, and the status of every row is previewed before it is applied. ^[1]

The service compares a rival's own pages with the last saved snapshot. ^[1] A check of a rival's pages can be asked for at any time. ^[1] New Google ads a rival has started running are added, taken from Google's Ads Transparency Center. ^[1] For each ad it shows the headline, body text, call to action, the page the ad links to, and any offer. ^[1] It also gives links to a rival's Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok ads. ^[1] It runs in the browser as a web app, using the same Connections login as the other Connections apps. ^[1] ^[1] The Rivals front door has a Watch a rival button. ^[1] Rivals is not sold separately; it comes with the Connections Pass. ^[1]

When comparing change-tracking tools, ask what each one shows and what its plan includes, since offers differ from one service to the next.

Common mistakes to avoid

Forgetting to save a baseline before anything changes is an easy mistake to make. Without the older copy there is nothing to compare the new page against, so the change is easy to miss.

Watching too many pages at once spreads attention thin and makes changes easy to overlook. A short list of pages that affect a buying decision is easier to keep up with.

Replacing the old copy with the new one hides the rest of the history. Keep every copy so changes over time stay visible.

Checking too rarely can mean a change is found weeks after it appeared, when its effect has already happened. A regular schedule keeps the discovery timely.

Acting on a single change without a saved copy to confirm it can lead to a wrong conclusion. Confirm the change against the older version before acting.

Frequently asked questions

How can someone check when a rival changed their website?

Save a copy of the pages that matter now, before any change, with the date. Then check those same pages again on a set schedule, such as once a week, and compare the fresh copy with the older one. Any difference in text, prices, offers, or pages is a change. Keeping every old copy makes the history of changes visible over time.

Which pages should someone watch on a rival's site?

Watch the pages that affect a buying decision, such as the page that lists prices, the page for a main product, and the homepage. These usually show the changes that matter to a buyer. Keep the list short so it stays easy to review on schedule. Pages that rarely change can be checked less often or left out.

Does someone need a tool to see what changed on a rival's website?

No. A change can be seen by hand by saving a copy of each page and comparing it with an older copy on a set schedule. A change-tracking service can do the watching instead and report the differences, which saves time when several pages matter. The choice depends on how many pages are watched and how often.

What counts as a change worth acting on?

A change worth acting on is one that affects a buying decision, such as a new price, a new offer, a new feature, or a new Google ad a rival has started running. Record each change with the date it appeared and what it might mean for a buyer. Confirm the change against a saved copy before acting on it.

How often should someone check a rival's website?

A regular schedule keeps the check manageable, such as once a week for the pages that affect a buying decision. Some changes show up in days, others over weeks. A schedule that is too rare can mean a change is found weeks after it appeared, when its effect has already happened. Adjust the schedule to how often the pages tend to change.

The Free plan includes no competitor report runs. ^[1] Connections Free costs $0, and going over a limit stops the feature rather than billing you. ^[1]

Try Connections Rivals

Sources

Connections Rivals' own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)