Lightweight Backend Monitoring Mode

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1

Hello Distill Team,

I would like to suggest a feature that could significantly reduce memory and CPU usage for users monitoring websites such as YouTube.

Currently, Distill appears to rely heavily on browser-based page rendering and monitoring. While this works well, it can consume a noticeable amount of RAM when running many monitors at short intervals.

A colleague of mine has developed a monitoring system that performs most of its work on backend servers. Instead of relying on a browser to continuously load and inspect pages, the system distributes requests across many monitoring agents and rotates browser identities (user agents and request headers). This spreads the workload, reduces the chance of rate limits, and allows monitoring to be performed with very low client-side resource usage.

Potential benefits if Distill offered a similar lightweight monitoring mode:

  • Lower RAM usage.

  • Lower CPU usage.

  • Faster detection of updates.

  • Better scalability for users monitoring many channels or pages.

  • Reduced browser overhead.

Would it be possible for Distill to explore a backend-driven monitoring mode or other optimizations that reduce browser resource consumption while maintaining fast detection times?

Thank you for your time and for building a great monitoring tool.

Best regards,
A Distill User

2

@0021345678sami Thanks for sharing this suggestion.

What you are describing is similar to Distill’s Cloud Monitor option. With cloud monitoring, checks are run on Distill’s servers instead of your local browser or computer. This means your PC does not need to keep loading the monitored pages, and the monitors can continue running even when your browser is closed or your computer is off.

In Distill, monitors added from the web app are set to run on the cloud by default. For monitors created from the browser extension or desktop app, you can change the run device from a local device to the cloud device. Cloud monitors are especially useful when you want to reduce local CPU/RAM usage or run monitors continuously without relying on your browser.

You can read more about Cloud monitor here:
https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/cloud-local-monitors/#cloud-monitor

We also appreciate the feedback around further optimizations for resource usage and scalability. We will keep this in mind as we continue improving Distill.