Much of the web is ephemeral.
Web pages exist until they don’t. The content on it is there until it’s updated – and then it’s gone.
Unless you go to search in the archives.
Web archiving is important for cultural and anthropological research. It is also useful for business reasons, such as competitive analysis. It can even help document or monitor political processes.
Your reason for searching for archived content may determine which service is best.
the Wayback Machine It is the most popular archive.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization, and the Wayback Machine is the web version of their archive, and it contains a huge amount of data.
You can ask it to save a web page in its current state, as well as make use of tools, such as an API.
As large as the Wayback Machine archive is, it probably isn’t 100% complete. If you’re having trouble finding something specific or wondering if there are alternatives with more features, these alternatives might help.
I wouldn’t go over paid SaaS subscriptions, because I don’t consider the paid service a true replacement for a free service provided by a non-profit organization.
Let’s go!
1. Souvenir Project
souvenir It is an exceptional alternative to the Wayback Machine because it bundles several different sources, including the Wayback Machine itself.
On the website, you can access archives from several sources using the time travel a tool.
Screenshot, http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/, January 2023.This is the first distinction that makes Memento so great, and it also includes some of the other archivers on this list. This means that it is a customizable experience and is likely to be the most complete.
Another distinguishing feature of Memento is the Chrome extension that allows you to select the date you want your current page to display. This takes the tool to where you’re browsing instead of making you put the URL into a form.
You can also create a snapshot of a page and create an unbreakable link. This is particularly useful for quoting.
If you’re worried that a page might go missing, or update the content, but you want to use the information, creating one of these links ensures that people can see your original source.
2. Archive. today
Archives. today is another “snapshot” tool. Allows you to save a link to a page as it currently exists.
Following the link will send users to an uneditable version of the page.
Screenshot, https://archive.ph/, January 2023.It also features some relatively advanced search queries that you can perform on domains and URLs to find snapshots that have been saved with the tool.
This tool also features a Chrome extension as well as an Android app.
Searches on Memento can include results from Archive.today.
3. WebCite
WebCite It has powerful applications for authors, journalists, academics, and publishers.
Offers a variety of ways to build and serve archived pages and URLs.
Screenshot, https://webcitation.org/, January 2023.Unfortunately, at the time of publication, it doesn’t appear to be taking new requests. But you can still access already archived pages. When you start accepting orders again, it’s a very useful tool for that.
The strongest feature for authors and publishers is the ability to upload a manuscript directly to the site.
The tool will scan each link in the uploaded manuscript and automatically create archives for each of the linked pages as they currently exist. This saves a lot of time if you have used a lot of website citations.
If you create content that you want people to be able to make screenshots of, you can add a specific website link to your page that users can click on. This embeds archive functionality into your page, saving users time if they decide to use your work as a quote.
4. GitHub
github It is a development and collaboration platform that also prioritizes public projects and open source code.
It documents and archives open source code and software, and is searchable by other archives such as the Wayback Machine.
Screenshot, https://github.com/explore, Jan 2023.But, if you’re looking for something related to code or software development, it might be easier to go directly to GitHub than to use another archiving service.
Although it has paid business plans, GitHub is free for the average user. It even offers 15GB of storage and some computing power in its cloud developer environment for free for your personal use.
5. Country-specific web archives
Many countries run their own web archives.
These can be particularly useful alternatives to the Wayback Machine if you’re looking for a website closely related to a specific location or country’s culture.
More focused archives may contain more complete information if you’re having trouble finding it elsewhere, though again, I’d like to mention that the first alternative on this list, Memento, pulls from several different country-specific archives.
I should also note that many archives of a country, region, educational institution or individual library are shared with it archivea service provider created by The Internet Archive (the makers of the Wayback Machine).
They curate specific collections based on relevance, but all Archive-it partners benefit from the same resource: the Internet Archive.
Here are a few country-specific web archives:
Conclusion
When you’re looking for alternatives to the Wayback Machine, you may not realize that a large number of them are, in part or in whole, backed up by the same archive.
But there are other services that you can use. Some of them have more useful features, depending on your goals.
This is not an exhaustive list of alternative tools, but they are most accessible to the average user.
Others require monthly payments, and some are free for academic and legal institutions, but not for individual users.
I chose to focus on the best tools you can and use them now without any fuss.
More resources:
- Try these tools and methods to export Google search results to Excel
- 20 great search engines you can use instead of Google
- How search engines work
Featured image: Studio Romantic/Shutterstock
