Apify review
Best prebuilt scraper library
Apify is a marketplace rather than a single API. Thousands of prebuilt scrapers, called Actors, cover Google Search, Maps, Business Profile, marketplaces and social platforms, and each one is callable over a REST API with scheduling, storage and webhooks handled by the platform.
The value is not any single dataset, it is not having to build or maintain the scraper. When a niche source matters and no one sells a clean API for it, there is usually an Actor that already works.
Who Apify is for
Agencies and small teams with a long tail of odd data needs, particularly local SEO work involving Maps and Business Profile data. Less compelling if your requirement is a high volume of one thing, where a specialist provider wins on cost.
Strengths and limits
What it does well
- An enormous library of working scrapers, including local and Business Profile sources that are awkward to get elsewhere.
- Scheduling, storage and webhooks are part of the platform, so a scraper becomes a pipeline without extra infrastructure.
- You can run your own code alongside marketplace Actors on the same account.
- A real free tier at $5 of monthly usage, which covers meaningful experimentation.
Where it falls short
- Compute-unit billing is harder to predict than per-request pricing, and heavy Actors cost far more than light ones.
- Actor quality varies because many are community-built. Check maintenance history before depending on one.
- For high-volume Google SERPs it is more expensive than a dedicated provider.
Apify pricing
Paid plans start at $29 a month on Starter and $199 on Scale, each including prepaid usage with additional consumption billed in compute units. A free tier provides $5 of usage a month.
Actor cost varies enormously. Lightweight scrapers run roughly $0.001 to $0.002 per page, while JavaScript-heavy ones using headless Chrome cost five to ten times that. Check the specific Actor's own pricing rather than reasoning from the plan.
Verdict
The right answer for the long tail, and particularly for local SEO data that is otherwise painful to collect. Not the right answer for bulk Google SERPs, where a specialist is cheaper and more predictable. Check an Actor's maintenance history before building on it.
Apify FAQ
How much does Apify cost?
Paid plans start at $29 a month with prepaid usage included, and there is a $5 monthly free tier. Beyond the included usage you are billed in compute units, which vary by how heavy the Actor is.What is an Actor?
Apify's name for a prebuilt, callable scraper. Thousands exist covering Google Search, Maps, Business Profile, marketplaces and social platforms, each with its own documentation and pricing.Is Apify good for local SEO data?
It is one of the better options. Google Maps and Business Profile actors cover data that most SEO APIs either omit or charge heavily for, which makes it a practical pick for local work.How predictable is Apify billing?
Less predictable than per-request pricing. Compute-unit consumption depends on the Actor's weight, so a JavaScript-heavy scraper can cost ten times a lightweight one for the same page count. Test at small volume first.
Other providers worth a look
This is an independent review. We have no affiliate relationship with Apify, earn nothing if you sign up, and no provider pays for placement in the directory. Prices were read from the vendor's own pages in August 2026 and change without notice.