Apify
Scraping and automation at scale. Powers the custom data pulls behind our target lists.
In our stackLast reviewed July 12, 2026
What Apify actually is.
Apify is a cloud platform for web scraping and browser automation, built around small serverless programs it calls Actors. Instead of writing a scraper from scratch, you pick one from a public marketplace of thousands, built for specific targets like LinkedIn, Google Maps, or e-commerce sites, and run it through a dashboard, the API, or a CLI. Each Actor returns structured data, not raw HTML, which is the whole point of using one instead of a general-purpose scraping library.
Not every site has a ready-made Actor. The ones that do still need tuning to return clean data, so don't expect every Actor to work out of the box. Pricing runs on a credit-based, usage-metered model instead of a flat per-scrape fee.
What it does
- Thousands of pre-built Actors for common sites, ready to run.
- Build custom Actors with the Node.js or Python SDK.
- Runs and results are reachable through a REST API or CLI.
- Built-in residential and datacenter proxies to cut down on blocks.
- Schedule Actors to run automatically on a cron expression.
- Ships an MCP server so AI agents can call Actors directly.
- Webhooks fire when a run finishes, so other tools can react.
Where it sits in the pipeline.
- AI & Intelligence
- Data & Enrichment
- Scraping & Custom Data
- Email Infrastructure & Deliverability
- Outreach & Sending
- LinkedIn & Multichannel
- Signals & Intent
- Calls & Meetings
- CRM & Pipeline Ops
Runs well with
The tools we'd run next to Apify, and what each pairing covers.
Pricing, without the fiction.
From the Apify pricing page · verified July 12, 2026
- $5/month included usage credit, $0.2 per Compute Unit thereafter
- Max 16 GB RAM, max 25 concurrent runs
- Datacenter proxy: 5 IPs included
- Rented Actors limited to trial only
- Community support
- $29/month included usage credit, $0.2 per Compute Unit thereafter
- Max 64 GB RAM, max 32 concurrent runs
- Datacenter proxy: 30 IPs included, then $1/IP
- Apify Store discount: Bronze tier
- Chat support
- $199/month included usage credit, $0.16 per Compute Unit thereafter
- Max 256 GB RAM, max 128 concurrent runs
- Datacenter proxy: 200 IPs included, then $0.8/IP
- Apify Store discount: Silver tier
- Priority chat support
- $999/month included usage credit, $0.13 per Compute Unit thereafter
- Max 512 GB RAM, max 256 concurrent runs
- Datacenter proxy: 500 IPs included, then $0.6/IP
- Apify Store discount: Gold tier
- Dedicated account manager
- Custom scraping solutions
- Scalable pricing
- SLAs with guaranteed data
- Dedicated team of experts
The bill is driven by compute units (1 CU = 1 GB RAM for 1 hour), not a flat seat or contact count, so cost tracks how memory-heavy and how long each Actor run is rather than how many scrapes you do. Rates drop as you move up tiers ($0.20/CU on Free and Starter down to $0.13/CU on Business at $999/mo), so heavy users get cheaper unit economics but only by committing to a bigger base subscription. Proxies, data transfer, and storage are billed separately from CU usage, and unused monthly credits don't roll over, so a plan sized for average months still leaves spikes exposed to overage charges. Add-ons for extra concurrency ($5/run) or RAM ($1/GB) can also creep the bill up quietly if a workload needs more parallel runs than the base plan allows.
Choose it, or skip it.
Choose it if
- Teams that need a specific data source scraped (LinkedIn, Google Maps, job boards, e-commerce sites) and want a pre-built "Actor" instead of writing a scraper from scratch. The Apify Store has thousands of these ready to run.
- Technical teams comfortable with usage-based billing (compute units, $0.13-$0.20 per CU depending on plan) who can predict or monitor their scraping volume, since costs scale with RAM-hours and run frequency rather than a flat seat price.
- Builders who want to write custom scrapers (Node.js or Python SDK) and get hosting, scheduling, proxy rotation, and a run dashboard included, rather than self-hosting Puppeteer or Playwright scripts.
- Anyone gluing scraping into an existing workflow via n8n, Make, or Zapier — Apify has native integrations for all three, so non-engineers can wire an Actor's output into a CRM or spreadsheet without touching code.
Skip it if
- Non-technical teams who just want a one-click browser extension for occasional small scrapes. The interface is hybrid (dashboard plus code), and getting real value out of it usually means configuring an Actor's input schema or writing a bit of JS/Python.
- Anyone who needs predictable, flat monthly costs. Compute-unit billing means a heavier or longer-running scrape job can push a bill well past the plan's included credit, and add-ons (extra concurrent runs at $5 each, extra RAM at $1/GB) stack on top.
- Teams scraping a single, simple, unchanging source at low volume. A narrower point tool (or a free open-source scraper run on their own server) will be cheaper than paying Apify's per-CU rate plus proxy and storage charges.
If not Apify, then what.
- FirecrawlFree tier (1,000 credits/mo); paid plans from $16/mo (Hobby), up to $599/mo (Scale); enterprise custom quote.
Choose Firecrawl when you need clean markdown/text extraction from arbitrary websites for LLM ingestion rather than structured, site-specific data via a marketplace of pre-built scrapers.
- PhantomBusterfrom ~$56-69/mo (Starter plan), 14-day free trial, a limited free tier (2h execution, 5 slots, capped credits); annual billing gets ~20% off
Choose PhantomBuster when the job is mainly social/LinkedIn automation (connection requests, profile visits) alongside scraping, with a simpler flat-tier pricing model instead of compute-unit billing.
- Browse AIFree tier (50 credits/mo) + paid plans from $19/mo (annual billing)
Choose Browse AI when the buyer is non-technical and wants a point-and-click way to train a scraper on a webpage without touching an SDK or input schema.
Asked in real client work.
What exactly is a compute unit (CU) and how does it turn into a bill?
1 CU = 1 GB of RAM running for 1 hour. Rates run from $0.20/CU on the Free and Starter plans down to $0.13/CU on the Business plan ($999/mo). A scraper that uses 2 GB RAM and runs for 30 minutes burns 1 CU, so cost depends on how memory-hungry and how long-running your Actors are, not on a flat per-scrape fee.
What happens on the Free plan once I use up the $5 monthly credit?
Access is blocked until the next billing cycle resets the credit. There's no automatic overage on Free; you either wait for reset or upgrade to a paid plan where overage is billed instead of blocked.
Do unused credits roll over if I'm on a paid plan?
No. Apify's pricing page states unused usage credits do not carry over to the next billing cycle, so a quiet month doesn't bank credit for a busy one.
Are proxies and storage included in the plan price?
No, they're billed separately from the base platform usage and compute units. Residential/datacenter proxy usage and data storage add to the bill on top of CU charges, which matters for scrapers targeting sites with anti-bot protection that require paid proxies.
Can I run more than one scrape at a time without upgrading plans?
Concurrency is capped per plan (25 concurrent runs on Free, 32 on Starter, 128 on Scale, 256 on Business), but you can buy an add-on for $5 per additional simultaneous run if you need more throughput without moving to the next tier.