Townbrief Monitor · Beta, free through December 31, 2026
Monitor reads town meetings, agendas, packets and minutes across Massachusetts, joins them with state records, and sends you the decisions that matter to your work. Every alert carries its evidence from the record, and more than eight in ten passages quoted from a meeting link to the meeting video, most at the second it was said.
Free during the beta, through December 31, 2026. Join the beta. Then $299 a month for all of Massachusetts if you order. See a sample. Free for newsrooms through Townbrief Desk.
351
Massachusetts cities and towns in Monitor's scope. What we process for each board is published, gaps included.
350
Massachusetts towns with agendas, packets or minutes collected.
6
State record sets joined to Massachusetts towns: environmental permits and enforcement, Open Meeting Law rulings, ethics cases, municipal finance, schools, property sales.
19.5 hours
Median from a town posting its meeting video to a checked story, in the four towns where we can see when the video was posted, meetings of October 13 to 26. Our target is 24 hours for 90 percent; the measurements are published.
The same checked record of Massachusetts town government, delivered the way your work needs it.
Self-service
Watch any issue, place, organization or board across Massachusetts, and get alerts when something changes.
Done for you, now open to a few organizations
Tell us who you serve and where. Each week we send the decisions, renewals, plans and expected projects that fit, each with its evidence.
Free for newsrooms
A research workspace for local newsrooms. Ask how towns handled an issue and get the answer with its sources.
1
Meeting video, agendas, packets and minutes from each town, joined with state records for that town.
2
Each story is checked against the transcript or the official minutes and the board's roster. What the record does not support is held, not sent.
3
Alerts, a weekly digest, or our research API, each item carrying its evidence from the record.
Zoning decisions, variances and conditions, with the hearing record behind each.
Where projects like yours are moving, stalling or meeting opposition.
Capital plans, feasibility studies and projects before they go out to bid.
How each town is handling the policies you follow, and who voted how.
Contract renewals, budget discussions and dissatisfaction with current vendors.
Housing, environment and school decisions compared across the region.
Anyone can claim coverage and accuracy. Here is what we have measured, with the dates, including where we fall short of our targets, and what is still being scored.
$299 a month
All of Massachusetts.
Get three signals firstFree during the beta, through December 31, 2026.
Join the betaFree
For any local newsroom, with a fair-use limit and the credit “Research: Townbrief”. White label $99 a month.
Sign up freeMonitor's scope is every Massachusetts city and town. What we actually receive and process differs by town and board, so we publish it, board by board, with the gaps named.
Software reads the record and drafts each item. An automated check compares it with the meeting transcript or the official minutes and the board's roster, and anything the record does not support is held. A person does not read every alert, which is why each one carries its evidence.
It depends on when a town posts its video and documents. For meetings of October 13 to 26, the median from the meeting day to a checked story was 4.3 days in our eight most-read towns, and longer elsewhere in Massachusetts. Our target is 24 hours for 90 percent of changes. The story then reaches you in your next daily email. The measurements are on our proof page.
Tell us your work and the towns you care about. We send three recent decisions or developments that fit, each with its evidence. No card, no commitment.
Yes. The same record is available through our research API, including for AI assistants that connect by MCP, under written licensing terms.
Townbrief is an independent local news publisher in Massachusetts. It publishes town news sites and a daily email brief, and is starting a printed monthly paper in Natick and Sudbury.
Tell us your work and your towns. We send three real signals with their evidence. No card needed.
Prefer to talk? Book a 20-minute call or see our tools for developers.
