How to Archive a Web Page Permanently (Before It Changes or Disappears)

Bookmarks only remember an address. If the page behind it is edited or deleted, the bookmark points at something different — or at nothing. Archiving a page stores a public copy with a timestamp, so the version you saw is preserved and anyone can check it later. It takes a few seconds and costs nothing.

When you should archive a page

• You are citing it in a paper, an article, a Wikipedia edit or a report.
• It contains a claim, price or policy that might change — terms of service, a product spec, an announcement.
• It's ephemeral: a social post, a news live blog, a job listing, an event page.
• You might need to prove later what it said: a dispute, a complaint, a takedown.
• It's yours and you're about to redesign or migrate it.

Option 1: Wayback Machine — Save Page Now

1. 1

   Open the save page

   Go to web.archive.org/save or type web.archive.org/save/ followed by the URL into the address bar.

2. 2

   Start the capture

   Press Save page. Signed-in users with an archive.org account get extra options, such as saving outlinks and a screenshot.

3. 3

   Copy the result URL

   When it finishes, you're redirected to the new capture. Its URL contains the 14-digit timestamp — that's your permanent link.

Save Page Now is the best default: the Wayback Machine is the archive most people and tools check first, and captures are kept for the long term. It struggles with pages that need JavaScript to show their content, and very busy sites sometimes block its crawler.

Option 2: Archive.today

Paste the URL into archive.ph and press save. Archive.today loads the page in a real browser, stores the rendered result and a screenshot, and gives you a short link. It handles JavaScript-heavy pages and soft paywalls far better than most crawlers, which makes it the right second copy for news and social media.

Option 3: Ghostarchive

Ghostarchive is a free on-demand archive with strong support for video pages and social posts. If what matters is a video page as it appeared, add a Ghostarchive copy.

Which one should you use?

Archive in one click from your browser

Copying URLs into three sites gets old quickly. Web Archive Viewer adds an Archive now tool to your toolbar. Open it on the page you're reading and choose the Wayback Machine, Archive.today or Ghostarchive — or Save on all to request a capture from all three at once. Each archive opens in its own tab so you can watch the capture finish and copy the permanent link.

There's a shortcut too: hover any archive card in the Search tool and a ⚡ Archive now button appears for that archive. And when a lookup finds no captures at all, the extension offers to archive the page right there.

Keep your captures organised

Archived links are only useful if you can find them again. Save each capture to the extension's Library with a note and tags — a free account keeps a collection of 25 items on your device, and Pro syncs unlimited collections to your account and to the Library page on the website. From the Library you can copy a ready-made citation for any item; see how to cite an archived web page.

What archiving can't do

• Pages behind a login can't be captured by public archives; they only see what a logged-out visitor sees.
• Robots rules and exclusions: site owners can ask archives not to show their pages. A capture may exist but not be publicly viewable.
• Interactive features such as search boxes, maps and checkout flows won't work inside a capture.
• Captures are not signed proofs. They are strong, independent evidence of what a page said, but for legal use keep the full archive URL and seek professional advice.

FAQ