How to Discover Every URL on Any Domain (3 Methods Compared)

Discovering all pages on a website involves three main methods: building a custom web crawler, parsing sitemaps, or using an API like Context.dev's Sitemap API. Custom web crawlers provide control but require significant engineering effort and struggle with modern JavaScript sites, crawl traps, and orphaned pages, capturing only 60-80% of URLs. Parsing sitemaps is simpler and faster, offering up to 95% completeness if the sitemap is well-maintained, but many sites lack accurate or up-to-date sitemaps. The Context.dev Sitemap API simplifies the process with a single endpoint that consistently provides 90-99% of publicly accessible URLs by handling edge cases and bypassing anti-bot measures, making it the most reliable and practical option for production use across multiple domains, especially when factoring in maintenance and cost.