The web does not stand still, and neither should your data. The new BuiltWith Live Feed API gives you real-time technology detection notifications over WebSocket, so you can see websites adopting technologies as they happen instead of waiting for scheduled exports or delayed snapshots.
⚡ What it does
The Live Feed API lets you connect to a WebSocket endpoint, subscribe to technology channels such as Shopify or WordPress, and receive instant messages when BuiltWith detects those technologies on websites. There is also a new channel for entirely new websites entering the pipeline, plus rule-based channels including new-historical and premium.
⏱️ Why real-time matters
For sales teams, investors, researchers, and product builders, timing is often the difference between seeing an opportunity and missing it. A live stream of technology adoption means you can trigger alerts, feed CRMs, enrich lead pipelines, monitor competitive shifts, or power internal dashboards the moment a relevant detection appears.
🧑💻 Built for developers
The Live Feed API is designed for fast integration. You authenticate with your BuiltWith API key, connect to the WebSocket endpoint, and then send simple JSON commands to subscribe, unsubscribe, or list your subscriptions. BuiltWith also supports connecting directly to a technology-specific channel, making it easy to get started with a single stream such as Shopify from the first connection.
🎯 Flexible subscription options
You can subscribe to specific technology names, or use rule channels that surface broader patterns. The new rule is for domains newly created in the pipeline with recently first-detected technologies, while premium focuses on new domains that include at least one higher-priority technology. That makes the feed useful both for precise monitoring and broader discovery.
👀 Preview before you commit
Trial and preview users can still experience the feed, with domain names redacted for evaluation purposes. Paid subscribers receive full domain visibility, while trial or expired accounts see obfuscated domain values. This makes it easy to test the workflow before using the Live Feed API in production.
💡 Typical use cases
Some teams will use the Live Feed API to detect new Shopify stores, new WordPress sites, or fresh activity in specific technology categories. Others will plug the feed into sales automation, lead scoring, prospecting workflows, internal analytics, or AI agents that react to web technology changes in real time. Because delivery happens over WebSocket, the feed fits naturally into event-driven systems and modern data pipelines.
📦 Simple message format
Each detection message includes the channel name, website domain, and epoch timestamp for when the detection was queued. The API also returns connection, subscription, status change, and error messages, giving developers a clean structure for building reliable listeners and automation around the stream.
🌐 A new way to use BuiltWith data
BuiltWith has long helped teams understand what technologies websites are using. The Live Feed API extends that value from lookup and analysis into live monitoring. Instead of only asking what a site uses now, you can watch the web change in front of you.
👉 Get started
You can explore the full documentation for the BuiltWith Live Feed API at api.builtwith.com/live-feed-api. If you are building products, lead workflows, monitoring systems, or AI-driven automations that benefit from technology changes as they happen, this is the fastest way to plug directly into the live web.
