A Distill.io alternative for developers
Distill.io shows a person that a watched page changed. Hypeline delivers genuinely new content to your software as deduplicated events, so an agent or a pipeline can act on it directly.
Alerts for a person vs events for your code
| Distill.io | Hypeline | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | A person watching pages from a browser extension and cloud dashboard | Software consuming a normalized event stream |
| What triggers an alert | Any change in a watched selector or text region | Genuinely new content, after extracting the main text |
| Webhook delivery | Paywalled to the Starter tier and above | Included on the $9 Pro tier |
| Chat delivery | No native Slack, Discord, or Teams integration | Slack and Discord on Pro |
| Developer surface | No public REST API, SDK, or MCP server | REST API, TypeScript and Python SDKs, and an MCP server for agents |
| Event stream | Not offered | An SSE event stream at /v1/stream with cursor catch-up |
| Duplicates | Recurring diffs can re-alert on the same change | One event per real change, deduplicated for you |
| Source types | Web pages, local and cloud monitors | Web pages, all feed formats, and live push sources in one stream |
| Recovery | A missed alert is missed | Reconnect with a cursor and replay what you missed |
Distill is the right tool for a person watching pages in a browser with visual and selector diffs. Reach for Hypeline when the reader is your code and you need clean events on a stable schema.
Where webhooks and a stream fit in each plan
| Plan | Price | Limits | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distill Free | $0/mo | 1,000 cloud checks/mo, 6 hour minimum interval | Email and push only, no webhooks |
| Distill Starter | $15/mo | 30,000 cloud checks/mo, 10 minute interval | Webhooks unlock here (2,000/mo) |
| Hypeline Pro | $9/mo | Adaptive scheduling across your sources | Webhooks, Slack, Discord, and an SSE event stream included |
Distill pricing shown as of 2026-07-23. Check distill.io/pricing for current pricing.
Frequently asked questions
When is Distill the better fit?
When a person wants to watch a set of pages from a browser extension or cloud dashboard, see visual and selector-level diffs, and read the alerts themselves. Distill is a mature tool for that job, with local and cloud monitors and push notifications.
When is Hypeline the better fit?
When the consumer is software rather than a person: an agent, a pipeline, or your own product that needs clean deduplicated events on a stable schema, delivered over an SSE event stream or HMAC-signed webhooks.
Does Distill support webhooks on the free tier?
No. As of 2026-07-23, Distill delivers email and push notifications on its free tier and unlocks webhooks on its $15 per month Starter tier. Hypeline includes webhooks, Slack, Discord, and an SSE event stream on its $9 per month Pro tier. Check distill.io/pricing for current pricing.
Can an agent talk to Hypeline directly?
Yes. Hypeline exposes a public REST API, TypeScript and Python SDKs, and an MCP server, so an agent can add sources, define alerts, and read the event stream as tools. Distill has no equivalent developer surface.
How does Hypeline avoid re-alerting on the same change?
It extracts the main content from each source before fingerprinting, so template edits, ads, and timestamp churn never become events. Each genuinely new item is emitted once and deduplicated across sources.
Wire up your first source in minutes
Point Hypeline at any feed, page, or push source and get one clean stream of real changes.
Free to start. No credit card required.