diff --git a/app/models/agents/website_agent.rb b/app/models/agents/website_agent.rb
index 1918186e..e8b97686 100644
--- a/app/models/agents/website_agent.rb
+++ b/app/models/agents/website_agent.rb
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ module Agents
 
       * `_response_`: A response object with the following keys:
 
-          * `status`: HTTP status as integer. (Almost always 200)  When parsing `data_from_event`, this is set to the value of the `status` key in the incoming Event.
+          * `status`: HTTP status as integer. (Almost always 200)  When parsing `data_from_event`, this is set to the value of the `status` key in the incoming Event, if it is a number or a string convertible to an integer.
 
           * `headers`: Response headers; for example, `{{ _response_.headers.Content-Type }}` expands to the value of the Content-Type header.  Keys are insensitive to cases and -/_.  When parsing `data_from_event`, this is constructed from the value of the `headers` key in the incoming Event.
 
@@ -694,7 +694,7 @@ module Agents
 
       # Integer value of HTTP status
       def status
-        @object.payload[:status]
+        Integer(@object.payload[:status]) rescue nil
       end
 
       # The URL
diff --git a/spec/models/agents/website_agent_spec.rb b/spec/models/agents/website_agent_spec.rb
index d943ca77..556f9c33 100644
--- a/spec/models/agents/website_agent_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/agents/website_agent_spec.rb
@@ -1198,7 +1198,7 @@ fire: hot
                 'value' => '{{ value }}',
                 'url' => '{{ url | to_uri: _response_.url }}',
                 'type' => '{{ _response_.headers.content_type }}',
-                'status' => '{{ _response_.status }}'
+                'status' => '{{ _response_.status | as_object }}'
               }
             )
           end
@@ -1207,7 +1207,7 @@ fire: hot
             expect {
               @checker.receive([@event])
             }.to change { Event.count }.by(1)
-            expect(@checker.events.last.payload).to eq({ 'value' => 'world', 'url' => 'http://example.com/world', 'type' => 'application/json', 'status' => '200' })
+            expect(@checker.events.last.payload).to eq({ 'value' => 'world', 'url' => 'http://example.com/world', 'type' => 'application/json', 'status' => 200 })
           end
 
           it "should support merge mode" do
@@ -1216,7 +1216,7 @@ fire: hot
             expect {
               @checker.receive([@event])
             }.to change { Event.count }.by(1)
-            expect(@checker.events.last.payload).to eq(@event.payload.merge('value' => 'world', 'url' => 'http://example.com/world', 'type' => 'application/json', 'status' => '200'))
+            expect(@checker.events.last.payload).to eq(@event.payload.merge('value' => 'world', 'url' => 'http://example.com/world', 'type' => 'application/json', 'status' => 200))
           end
 
           it "should output an error when nothing can be found at the path" do