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

  1. Home
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  3. Apify
OverviewPricingReviewWorth It?Free vs PaidDiscountComparePros & ConsIntegrationsTutorialChangelogSecurityAPI
Web Scraping
T

Apify

Web scraping platform with 21,000+ pre-built Actors for extracting data from websites without coding scrapers from scratch.

Starting at$0/month
Visit Apify →
💡

In Plain English

Web scraping platform where you pick from 21,000+ pre-built Actors instead of coding scrapers. Handles JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHAs, and anti-bot detection automatically.

OverviewFeaturesPricingUse CasesLimitationsFAQSecurityAlternatives

Overview

The Web Scraping Problem

Apify solves a specific problem: you need data from websites but don't want to build and maintain scrapers. Instead of fighting with Puppeteer, Scrapy, Beautiful Soup, or Selenium, you browse their marketplace of 21,000+ ready-made Actors, click run, and get structured data back.

How Apify Actors Work

Each Actor handles a specific site or task. Need Instagram profile data? There's an Actor. Amazon product listings? A different one. Google Maps businesses? Another. The platform handles JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHA solving, and anti-bot detection, which are the parts that break most DIY scrapers within weeks.

Pricing Structure

Pricing runs on compute units (CUs). Simple scraping costs roughly $0.20-0.30 per CU. The free tier includes $5/month in credits, enough to test a few Actors on small datasets. Starter at $29/month includes $50 in credits. Scale at $199/month gives $500 in credits. Business at $999/month gets $2,500 in credits plus dedicated support and SLAs.

Cost Comparison

The cost math matters here. If you're scraping 10,000 pages monthly from a JavaScript-heavy site, expect to burn through $30-50 in compute. That's cheaper than hiring a developer to build and maintain a custom scraper, but more expensive than a self-hosted Scrapy or Beautiful Soup setup for simple sites. Compared to Octoparse or ParseHub, Apify offers more flexibility but with steeper learning curves for custom solutions.

Maintenance and Reliability

Actors break when target websites change their HTML structure. Popular Actors for major sites get fixed quickly by the community. Niche Actors sometimes go months without updates. You can build custom Actors using their SDK with Puppeteer or Playwright, but the learning curve is steeper than using pre-built ones.

Best Use Cases

For teams doing regular data extraction (price monitoring, lead generation, market research), Apify removes the maintenance burden that kills most scraping projects. For one-off scrapes of simple sites, it's overkill compared to simpler tools like Beautiful Soup or basic Selenium scripts.

🎨

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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Key Features

Actor Marketplace+

21,000+ pre-built scrapers covering major websites and common extraction tasks

Use Case:

Extract data without writing code

JavaScript Rendering+

Full browser automation handles dynamic content and single-page applications

Use Case:

Scrape modern websites that load content via JavaScript

Anti-Bot Protection+

Built-in CAPTCHA solving and detection evasion with proxy rotation

Use Case:

Scrape protected sites without getting blocked

Residential Proxy Networks+

Datacenter and residential proxy pools with automatic IP rotation

Use Case:

Scale scraping operations without IP bans

Pricing Plans

Free

$0/month

  • ✓$5/month compute credits
  • ✓Public Actors only
  • ✓Basic support

Starter

$29/month

  • ✓$50/month included credits
  • ✓Private Actors
  • ✓Scheduled runs
  • ✓API access

Scale

$199/month

  • ✓$500/month included credits
  • ✓Priority support
  • ✓Team collaboration
  • ✓Advanced monitoring

Business

$999/month

  • ✓$2,500/month included credits
  • ✓Dedicated support
  • ✓SLA guarantees
  • ✓Custom integrations
See Full Pricing →Free vs Paid →Is it worth it? →

Ready to get started with Apify?

View Pricing Options →

Best Use Cases

🎯

E-commerce Price Monitoring

Track competitor pricing across Amazon, Shopify stores, and marketplaces without building scrapers

⚡

Lead Generation

Extract business contact data from Google Maps, LinkedIn, and industry directories

🔧

Market Research

Gather product reviews, social media posts, and industry data at scale for analysis

Limitations & What It Can't Do

We believe in transparent reviews. Here's what Apify doesn't handle well:

  • ⚠Compute costs scale with usage, no flat-rate unlimited plan
  • ⚠Pre-built Actors can break when target sites update their HTML
  • ⚠Free tier credits limited to small test runs only
  • ⚠Custom Actor development has a steeper learning curve than the marketplace suggests

Pros & Cons

✓ Pros

  • ✓Skip building scrapers with 21,000+ ready-made Actors for major sites
  • ✓Handles JavaScript, CAPTCHAs, and anti-bot detection out of the box
  • ✓Pay-per-use pricing avoids paying for idle capacity
  • ✓Active community contributes and maintains popular Actors
  • ✓Residential proxy networks included, no separate proxy subscription needed

✗ Cons

  • ✗Costs scale with volume and site complexity, no unlimited plan
  • ✗Actors break when target sites change, especially niche ones
  • ✗Custom Actor development requires JavaScript/Node.js skills
  • ✗More expensive than self-hosted Scrapy for high-volume simple sites

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does scraping 10,000 pages cost on Apify?+

Roughly $30-50 depending on site complexity. JavaScript-heavy sites cost more compute units than simple HTML pages. The free tier's $5/month credits cover small test runs.

What happens when a website changes and an Actor breaks?+

Popular Actors for major sites get community fixes quickly. Niche Actors may stay broken for weeks or months. You can build custom Actors using their SDK if reliability matters.

Can I build custom scrapers on Apify?+

Yes, using Puppeteer, Playwright, or their Crawlee SDK. But most users find existing Actors sufficient and never write custom code.

How does Apify compare to self-hosted Scrapy?+

Apify costs more per page but eliminates maintenance. Scrapy is free but requires developer time for proxy management, CAPTCHA solving, and infrastructure. Apify wins on convenience, Scrapy wins on cost at scale.

🦞

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Quick Info

Category

Web Scraping

Website

apify.com
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