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Find the right AI tool in 2 minutes. Independent reviews and honest comparisons of 770+ AI tools.

  1. Home
  2. Tools
  3. Apify
OverviewPricingReviewWorth It?Free vs PaidDiscount
Web & Browser Automation🟡Low Code
A

Apify

Cloud web scraping platform with 1,500+ pre-built scrapers (called Actors) for popular websites. Handles proxy rotation, anti-bot detection, and JavaScript rendering so you don't have to.

Starting atFree
Visit Apify →
💡

In Plain English

Cloud platform for web scraping and data extraction with 20,000+ pre-built scrapers for popular websites and AI-powered data processing.

OverviewFeaturesPricingUse CasesSecurityAlternatives

Overview

Apify's marketplace of 1,500+ pre-built scrapers is what separates it from every other scraping tool. Instead of writing code to extract data from LinkedIn, Google Maps, or Amazon, you pick an Actor from the store and run it.

That Actor marketplace is the core value proposition. Tools like Puppeteer and Playwright give you browser automation libraries, but you write and maintain every scraper yourself. Apify wraps those same libraries (it actually uses Playwright under the hood) with managed infrastructure: proxy rotation, anti-bot handling, JavaScript rendering, scheduled runs, and data storage. You trade control for speed.

How Actors Work

Actors are serverless programs that run on Apify's cloud. Each Actor targets a specific website or use case. The Google Maps Actor extracts business listings with names, addresses, phone numbers, and reviews. The Instagram Actor pulls posts, profiles, and hashtag data. You configure inputs (search query, location, number of results), click run, and download structured JSON or CSV output.

For custom needs, you build your own Actors using JavaScript/TypeScript with the Apify SDK. The platform handles scaling, retries, and proxy management. You can publish custom Actors to the marketplace and earn revenue when others use them.

Pricing

| Plan | Price | Credits | Concurrent Runs | Proxy IPs |
|------|-------|---------|-----------------|----------|
| Free | $0 | $5/mo credits | 25 | 5 datacenter |
| Starter | $29/mo | $29/mo credits + pay-as-you-go | 32 | 30 datacenter |
| Scale | $199/mo | $199/mo credits + pay-as-you-go | 128 | 200 datacenter |
| Business | $999/mo | $999/mo credits + pay-as-you-go | 256 | 500 datacenter |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |

Compute costs $0.20-$0.30 per compute unit depending on plan. Residential proxies cost extra.

Source: apify.com/pricing

Value Comparison

Building a scraping stack from scratch with Playwright, a proxy provider, and cloud hosting costs time and money. A basic proxy plan from a provider like Bright Data starts around $500/month for datacenter proxies. Add server costs ($50-200/month), maintenance time, and anti-bot handling development. Apify's $29/month Starter plan includes 30 proxy IPs, managed infrastructure, and access to the Actor marketplace.

For teams scraping fewer than 10 websites, Apify's free tier ($5/month in credits) may be enough. For high-volume scraping (millions of pages), the per-compute-unit pricing adds up and a self-hosted solution with Playwright may cost less long term.

Integration with AI Pipelines

Apify connects to LangChain and LlamaIndex for feeding scraped data into LLM workflows. The platform added AI-powered content extraction that uses language models to structure scraped data without writing parsing rules. This makes Apify a practical data ingestion layer for RAG pipelines and AI agent systems.

What Real Users Say

Users across review platforms praise the Actor library and ease of use. Developers highlight the "huge library of scrapers" and intuitive interface. The pre-built Actors for popular sites save weeks of development time. The SDK and documentation get positive marks for making custom Actor development straightforward.

The main complaint on Reddit (r/SaaS) is cost at scale. One user noted that "AI doesn't recommend Apify" for production SaaS usage due to reliability and cost concerns, suggesting official APIs instead when available. This is a valid point: if the website you need data from offers an API, using Apify to scrape it is more expensive and fragile. Apify's value shows when no API exists or when you need data from dozens of sources without building separate integrations.

Common Questions

Q: Do I need to code to use Apify?

No. Pre-built Actors have point-and-click interfaces. You set inputs, run the Actor, and download results. Custom Actors require JavaScript/TypeScript knowledge.

Q: Is web scraping legal?

Legality depends on the website's terms of service, the data being collected, and your jurisdiction. Apify provides the tool; compliance is your responsibility. Scraping publicly available data is generally accepted, but scraping behind logins or collecting personal data raises legal issues.

Q: How does Apify handle anti-bot protection?

The platform rotates IP addresses, manages browser fingerprints, and uses residential proxies to avoid detection. Some heavily protected sites (like LinkedIn) may still block scrapers periodically.

Q: Can I schedule scraping jobs?

Yes. All plans support scheduled runs with monitoring and notifications. You can set Actors to run hourly, daily, or on custom schedules.

🎨

Vibe Coding Friendly?

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Difficulty:intermediate

Suitability for vibe coding depends on your experience level and the specific use case.

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Editorial Review

Apify turns web scraping from a development project into a managed service. The 1,500+ Actor marketplace covers most popular websites out of the box, and the pricing starts low enough to test before committing. High-volume users should calculate compute unit costs carefully.

Key Features

Feature information is available on the official website.

View Features →

Pricing Plans

Free

Free

month

  • ✓$5 monthly platform credits
  • ✓$500 worth of free usage for new creators
  • ✓25 max concurrent runs
  • ✓8 GB Actor RAM
  • ✓5 datacenter proxy IPs included
  • ✓Community support

Starter

$29.00/month

month

  • ✓$29 monthly platform credits + pay-as-you-go
  • ✓32 max concurrent runs
  • ✓32 GB Actor RAM
  • ✓30 datacenter proxy IPs included
  • ✓Chat support

Scale

$199.00/month

month

  • ✓$199 monthly platform credits + pay-as-you-go
  • ✓128 max concurrent runs
  • ✓128 GB Actor RAM
  • ✓200 datacenter proxy IPs included
  • ✓Priority chat support
  • ✓1 hour quarterly personal training

Business

$999.00/month

month

  • ✓$999 monthly platform credits + pay-as-you-go
  • ✓256 max concurrent runs
  • ✓256 GB Actor RAM
  • ✓500 datacenter proxy IPs included
  • ✓Account manager
  • ✓1 hour monthly personal training
See Full Pricing →Free vs Paid →Is it worth it? →

Ready to get started with Apify?

View Pricing Options →

Best Use Cases

🎯

AI training data collection

Gathering clean, structured web data to train AI models, populate vector databases, or build RAG systems with automated content extraction

⚡

Social media monitoring

Tracking mentions, sentiment, and engagement metrics across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms

🔧

Competitive intelligence

Monitoring competitor pricing, product listings, reviews, and marketing strategies across e-commerce and business websites

🚀

Lead generation at scale

Extracting contact information, business details, and prospects from directories, social platforms, and industry websites

Pros & Cons

✓ Pros

  • ✓1,500+ pre-built scrapers for popular websites
  • ✓Free tier with $5/month in credits for small projects
  • ✓Managed proxy rotation and anti-bot handling
  • ✓Custom Actor SDK for building and monetizing scrapers
  • ✓Direct integration with LangChain and LlamaIndex for AI pipelines

✗ Cons

  • ✗Compute unit costs add up for high-volume scraping
  • ✗Pre-built Actors can break when target websites change layouts
  • ✗Residential proxies cost extra on top of plan pricing
  • ✗Official APIs are cheaper and more reliable when available
  • ✗Free tier ($5 credits) runs out quickly for real workloads
🦞

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What's New in 2026

Apify launched AI-powered content extraction and new Actors including a Reddit Pulse AI Scraper. The platform published a State of Web Scraping 2026 report and introduced a Creator plan with prorated billing for plan upgrades.

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Quick Info

Category

Web & Browser Automation

Website

apify.com
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