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Apify is a cloud platform for building, running and sharing web scrapers, called Actors. It combines a serverless-style execution environment with a public store of pre-built scrapers for common sites and use cases, making it approachable for both developers and less technical users who just need a specific dataset extracted.
Because Actors are built and shared by a community of developers, Apify tends to have fast coverage of new or niche sources, though quality and maintenance vary by Actor author.
Best for and not ideal for
Best for
- Developers who want to build or customize scrapers quickly
- Teams that need a specific, common data source scraped without building infrastructure
- Startups prototyping data collection workflows
Not ideal for
- Teams needing guaranteed enterprise SLAs on every data source
- Fully no-code users with zero technical support
Key features
What it offers
- Apify Store with thousands of pre-built Actors
- Serverless scraper hosting and scheduling
- Proxy and residential IP integration
- SDKs for Node.js and Python
Data types
- Public web data
- Ecommerce data
- Social media data
- Business listings
Delivery methods
- API
- Dataset export
- Scheduled runs
- Webhooks
Pricing
Usage-based platform credits plus a free tier. Pricing varies by plan and usage.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Huge marketplace of ready-made scrapers
- Fast to prototype with
- Active developer community
Cons
- Actor quality depends on the individual author
- Less suited to teams that want a single accountable enterprise vendor
BuyDataHub Editorial Score
4.4/5 overallIndependent editorial assessment for Apify — not a user-submitted rating. See our methodology.
Scores and rankings reflect independent editorial research, not paid placement. Affiliate relationships, where they exist, do not affect how a provider is scored. Read our full methodology.
Alternatives to Apify
Bright Data
4.6/5A large web data platform combining proxy networks, scraping infrastructure and ready-made datasets for enterprise data collection.
Oxylabs
4.5/5An enterprise-focused web data platform providing proxy networks, scraper APIs and curated datasets with strong compliance positioning.
Zyte
4.3/5A web scraping API and extraction platform built on the team behind the Scrapy framework, focused on reliable structured data extraction.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Apify Actor?
An Actor is a packaged scraper or automation that runs on Apify's cloud platform. Actors can be built in-house or used from the public Apify Store.
Do I need to code to use Apify?
Many Store Actors can be run with configuration only, but building custom Actors or modifying existing ones requires development skills.