Crystal: A Website Archiver
Crystal is a free tool that downloads high-fidelity copies of websites for long-term archival and offline viewing.
It works best on traditional websites made of distinct pages using limited JavaScript — such as blogs, wikis, and other static websites — although it can also download more dynamic sites which have infinitely scrolling feeds of content, such as social media sites.
Crystal saves downloaded websites in an archival-friendly format where pages are stored in their original form (including all HTTP headers) and metadata is kept in a SQLite database, making your archives durable and self-contained.
Download
- 📦 macOS 14 and later
- 📦 Windows 11 and later
- 📦 Linux: Install from source via
pipx install crystal-web(details)
Features
- Download entire websites with a single click, or precisely select which pages to download from complex sites.
- Browse archived sites offline in your regular web browser — navigate downloaded pages just like you would online.
- Archival-quality storage — pages are saved in their original form with all HTTP headers, suitable for long-term digital preservation.
- Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
- Free for noncommercial use.
Getting Started
Crystal makes it easy to download and archive websites. For a step-by-step walkthrough — including video tutorials — see the Tutorial on the project page.
There are many practice websites you can try downloading at https://daarchive.net/.