5 Best Wayback Machine Alternatives

Have you ever wondered how your favourite websites would have looked like in the past and if it’s even possible to visit them now? Yes, it’s possible with the help of Wayback machine an internet archive.

What is Wayback Machine and what does it do exactly? Wayback machine is an internet archiving service that allows you to visit archived version of any website that you would like. Majority of researcher and historians use the Wayback machine to preserve important data and digital artefacts. The site allows you to type in any URL and then you can select the date range to begin surfing on an archived version of that website.

5 best Wayback Machine Alternatives

Millions of people use the Wayback machine everyday which makes it one of the best websites for archiving. Even having some limitations most companies depend on it to create plans accordingly and evaluate their rivals. Here’s are the five best alternatives for Wayback Machine that you should consider in 2020:

1. Stillio

Stillio is one of the best alternatives for Wayback machine that you can get in the market which allows you to capture screenshots of your websites and archive them automatically without spending too much time on it. Everything is automated and that makes it easier for you to archive your important web pages, manage your brand and keep track of your competitors, and it even gives you the insight on how to improve your SEO ranking. You could verify the ads and monitor copyright infringements while tracking the trend of your website without a sweat. Unique features:

• Full height screenshots
• Flexible scheduling
• Automatic archiving
• Multiple IP geolocations
• Dropbox / GoogleDrive
• API and Webhooks

Best for: Stilio is a great option for companies that deal with web archiving, brand management, SEO and competition tracking, compliance, tracking website trend and content verification. Price: Stillio pricing starts at $29.00 per month and they offer a free trial. Website: https://www.stillio.com/

2. Archive.today

Just like Wayback Machine archive.today is an on-demand archive service that helps you to create a copy of your webpage. You’ll be able to browse the archived webpage even if the original page is taken down. It stores snapshots of web pages and retrieves them page by page like WebCite.

It even has a built-in URL finder like the Wayback Machine and also text searching feature is powered by Google and Yandex.

Features:

• Archive.today allows you to archive not only HTML web pages and style sheets, also JavaScript, and digital images.
• Unlike WebCite the archive.today stores the web 2.0 pages better and it supports the zip download for individual webpages and takes a screenshot.
• The robots.txt file causes many websites and huge amount of information to become unavailable which has been disregarded by archive.today and makes it one of the best among others.
• It saves the page’s text as well as graphical copy and tracks the site’s changes.
• The saved pages do not contain any malware or popups and makes it very safe and reliable.

Best for:

It’s best suited if you’re looking to take a snapshot of a webpage that could change very soon. For example, pricing on your website, job offer or any other real estate offering.

Price:

Archive.today is a free website, but you can make donation to keep the site alive.

Website: http://archive.vn/

3.Pagefreezer

The third one on our list is the Pagefreezer tool which is a SaaS application devoloped by a canadian company called Pagefreezer Software Inc. With the help of Pagefreezer one could simplify compliance and litigation by automatically archiving websites, mobile texts and enterprise collaboration platforms through their unique archiving software solutions. Companies of any size can use Pagefreezer to preserve their website and social media content in evidentiary quality, and access them later as if they are still active. Unique features:

• Automated website archiving, retention management and eDiscovery
• Real-time social media archiving
• Keyword Monitoring and Policy Alerts
• Defensible Records & Legal Hold

Best for: Pagefreezer is well suited for financial firms who need to archive for compliance, government agencies who need to provide open records and if you’re a business that wants litigation protection by having authenticated records, then Pagefreezer is for  you. Price: You can avail the Pagefreezer service at $99 per month and they offer a free online demo and training. Website: https://www.pagefreezer.com/

4. Domain Tools

DomainTools is an advance web archiving service which helps you to turn the threat data into insights. You can get all the information on a website, get access to websites’ IP address records and hosting history using the DomainTools and it provides free screenshot-based internet archive service as well. So, if you’re looking for insights on your competitor website then this is the right one for you. DomainTools’ data and products they work together seemlessly to enable security teams to avoid cyber-attacks and threats by getting ahead of attacks, gain context and visibility into potential threats to stay protected. Unique features:

• API integration
• Phishing detection
• Threat intelligence and hunting
• Brand protection
• Personal domain research

Best for: DomainTools has been widely used by financial services, healthcare, energy and utilities and if you’re a government and technology company that needs secure archiving service, then DomainTools is the right one for you. Price: DomainTools offers subscription-based service and you can start with $99 per month or $995 per year for added features, however you can avail the screenshot-based internet archiving service for free. Website: https://www.domaintools.com/

5. iTools

The last one on the list is the iTools which isn’t just a website repository, but it’s also a website analyzer that provides you with specifics of the website like contact information, insights on website traffic, Alexa rating, reputation of any website and more. It helps you to use the power of the Internet by giving you a clean interface to make use of many of the best tools of the Web which includes tools for search, language, media, internet and money. iTools uses the Alexa tool by Amazon effectively in a best possible way to provide information about a website to any degree. So if you use it wisely it can do wonders for you. Unique features:

• Provides a search bar feature to type in and find the tool that you require
• It allows you to archive and analyze any website
• You can access database of Alexa through it.

Best for: iTools is a great choice if you are looking for a site that provides all the webtools at oneplace not just screenshots and their coding structure. Price: iTools is completely free to use Website: http://itools.com/

Ready to try the WayBack Machine Alternatives?

All the Wayback Machine alternatives that I have listed here have their own pros and cons over other. So, the best internet archive website will vary on your specific need.