# Wayback Machine API — $0.0003 per snapshot

> Wayback Machine API: Archived snapshots of a URL or domain from the Internet. $0.0003 per delivered snapshot, nothing delivered means nothing charged.

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# Wayback Machine API

The Wayback Machine's CDX server is the index behind the Internet Archive — a queryable list of every capture it holds for a URL — but it answers in a terse columnar format with no field names and a raw timestamp you have to parse. This endpoint reads that CDX server for a target URL or domain and returns one row per snapshot: the timestamp both raw and as ISO 8601, the archived URL, MIME type, HTTP status, content digest, byte length and the playback link.

[Get my free API key](https://app.quanticdata.io/register) [See the request](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#integration)

$0.0003 per delivered snapshot · $2 free every month · Failed runs never billed

POST /v1/scraper/collectors/wayback_machine/run

```
$ curl $QD/wayback_machine/run \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $QD_API_KEY" \
    -d '{"target": "https: //example.com", "max_results": 50}'
{ "status": "done", "count": 50,
  "results": [
    {
      "timestamp": "…",
      "captured_at": "…",
      "original_url": "…",
      "mimetype": "…" } ],
  "cost": 0.015 }
# 50 snapshots × $0.0003 · nothing delivered, nothing charged
```

**$0.0003 / snapshot**6,666 snapshots on the free $2 every month

**Semantic input**target, match_prefix, from — no URL lists

**Up to 1,000**snapshots per run, pagination handled for you

**No browser**read over HTTP/TLS — cheaper and faster than rendering

On this page: [What it is](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#what) [Output fields](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#output) [Inputs](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#input) [Pricing](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#pricing) [Integration](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#integration) [Use cases](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#use-cases) [Versus the alternatives](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#compare) [FAQ](/collectors/wayback-machine-api/#faq)

## What a Wayback Machine API does

Point it at a single page and you get that page's capture history; set match_prefix and point it at a domain and you get every archived URL beneath it, which is how you reconstruct what a site looked like, or which pages it once had, across years. Near-identical captures are collapsed by their content digest, so a page archived hourly for a decade does not drown you in rows that never changed.

The value over calling CDX yourself is the shape. The raw endpoint returns positional columns whose order you have to remember and a timestamp like 20200114031502 you have to split into a date. Here every capture arrives as named fields with an ISO timestamp alongside the raw one, and a from/to range filters the history server-side so you fetch the window you want, not the whole life of the URL.

Input is meaning, not a URL *target* *match_prefix* *from* *to* *max_results*

## What one snapshot looks like

Every delivered snapshot carries these fields. Nullable means the source did not publish it — the field stays empty instead of being guessed.

| Field | Type | What it holds |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `rank` | integer | 1-based position (oldest first). |
| `timestamp` | string | Capture timestamp (yyyymmddhhmmss). |
| `captured_at` | string · nullable | Capture time (ISO 8601). |
| `original_url` | string · nullable | The URL as archived. |
| `mimetype` | string · nullable | Captured MIME type. |
| `status_code` | string · nullable | HTTP status at capture. |
| `digest` | string · nullable | Content digest. |
| `length` | integer · nullable | Capture size in bytes. |
| `snapshot_url` | string · nullable | Wayback playback URL. |

## Inputs

The whole request. Anything you leave out falls back to the default shown in the catalog.

| Input | Type | Required | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `target` | string | yes | A page URL or a domain to look up snapshots for. |
| `match_prefix` | boolean | no | Match every URL under this path/domain, not just the exact URL. |
| `from` | string | no | Earliest capture, YYYYMMDD (or a longer timestamp). |
| `to` | string | no | Latest capture, YYYYMMDD. |
| `max_results` | integer | no | How many snapshots to deliver at most (1–1000). You pay only for delivered snapshots. |

Pricing

## Wayback Machine API pricing

$0.0003 per delivered snapshot. A run that delivers nothing costs nothing: blocked pages, challenges and retries are on us, and the $2 monthly allowance covers about 6,666 snapshots before you spend anything.

**$0.0003**per delivered snapshot*$0.3 per 1,000 delivered snapshots*

**6,666 snapshots**on the free allowance*$2 every month, no card*

**Zero rows**zero charge*blocks, captchas and retries are on us*

**−30%**on volume tiers*the catalog returns your key's price*

### Pay as you go

$0/mo

- $2 free credit / month

- 60 requests / min

- List unit prices

### Starter

$19/mo

- $15 free credit / month

- 300 requests / min

- 10% off unit prices

Most popular

### Growth

$79/mo

- $50 free credit / month

- 600 requests / min

- 20% off unit prices

### Scale

$299/mo

- $250 free credit / month

- 1,200 requests / min

- 30% off unit prices

Same wallet, same key and same $2 monthly allowance as every other [Data API](https://quanticdata.io/web-data-api-for-ai/). Prices are launch pricing read live from the billing config — `GET /v1/scraper/collectors` returns the price your key actually pays.

Integration

## One POST, typed rows

Base URL `https://api.quanticdata.io/v1`, Bearer auth, the same key as every other Data API. Endpoint: `POST /v1/scraper/collectors/wayback_machine/run`.

```
curl -X POST https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/wayback_machine/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"target":"https://example.com","max_results":50}'
```

```
import requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/wayback_machine/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {QD_API_KEY}"},
    json={
        "target": "https://example.com",
        "max_results": 50
    },
    timeout=120,
)
for row in r.json()["payload"]["results"]:
    print(row)
```

```
const res = await fetch(
  "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/wayback_machine/run",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.QD_API_KEY}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({"target":"https://example.com","max_results":50}),
  },
);
const { payload } = await res.json();
console.table(payload.results);
```

```
claude mcp add quantumproxies \
  -e QUANTUMPROXIES_API_KEY=qd_live_your_key_here \
  -- npx -y quantumproxies-mcp

# then, in the chat:
> run the wayback_machine collector with target="https://example.com" and max_results=50
```

## What people build with the Wayback Machine API

Three shapes of work this endpoint was designed around.

### Content change tracking

Pull a page's capture history and diff the snapshots to see when copy, pricing or a claim on a competitor's site changed, with a playback URL to read each version.

### Domain footprint reconstruction

match_prefix over a domain lists the URLs the archive ever saw, surfacing old paths, retired products and pages that no longer exist live.

### Dead-link recovery

For a URL that now 404s, the snapshot rows give you the last good capture and its playback link, so a dataset built on since-deleted pages keeps a source.

## Wayback Machine API versus rolling your own

The differences that actually cost time when you build this in-house.

|  | DIY scraper | This collector |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Response shape | Positional CDX columns, no names | Named fields per snapshot |
| Timestamp | Raw 14-digit string to parse | Raw and ISO 8601, side by side |
| Duplicate captures | Every hourly re-crawl as a row | Collapsed by content digest |

## FAQ

Questions we get about the Wayback Machine API.

[Something else? Ask us →](mailto:hello@quanticdata.io)

### Does this save a page to the archive, or only read what is stored?

Read only. It queries the CDX index for captures the Internet Archive already holds; it does not trigger "Save Page Now". You give it a target and get back the snapshots that exist for it.

### Can I get every archived URL under a domain, not just one page?

Yes — set `match_prefix` and pass the domain as the `target`. Instead of one URL's history you get every captured URL beneath it, which is the query for mapping a site's past footprint.

### How do I limit the captures to a date range?

Pass `from` and `to` as YYYYMMDD. The CDX server filters by capture date on its side, so you retrieve only the window you asked for rather than paging through the entire history.

### Why so few rows for a page I know was archived hundreds of times?

Captures with an identical content digest are collapsed, so a page that did not change between crawls appears once, not once per crawl. You are seeing distinct versions, which is usually what you meant to count.

### Is there a free Wayback Machine API?

Every account gets $2 of credit every month with no card, which is about 6,666 delivered snapshots on this endpoint at $0.0003 each. It renews monthly, and a run that delivers nothing is never billed — so a failed or blocked attempt does not eat the allowance.

### How much does one run cost?

Multiply the rows you actually receive by $0.0003. A run capped at 1,000 snapshots — the maximum for this collector — costs $0.3 if every row comes back, and less when the source has fewer. Volume tiers take up to 30% off, and `GET /v1/scraper/collectors` returns the price your key actually pays.

## Run the Wayback Machine API now

$2 of free credit every month, no card. Your key returns its own prices from `GET /v1/scraper/collectors`.

[Get my free API key](https://app.quanticdata.io/register)

Related: [All 65 collectors](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/) [Certificate transparency API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/certificate-transparency-api/) [Company Data API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/company-data-api/) [Google search results API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/google-search-results-api/) [Documentation](https://quanticdata.io/docs/)

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Source: https://quanticdata.io/collectors/wayback-machine-api/ · Site index for AI: https://quanticdata.io/llms.txt