Apify Review 2026 - Web Scraping Platform

Apify is a unique web scraping and automation platform built around the concept of "Actors", reusable scraping and automation scripts that run in the cloud. With a marketplace of thousands of pre-built Actors, it is a versatile choice for many data collection tasks.

Key Features

• Actor marketplace with 2,000+ pre-built scrapers
• Apify SDK for building custom actors in JavaScript/TypeScript or Python
• Cloud infrastructure for running and scheduling scraping jobs
• Built-in proxy management with residential and datacenter options
• Dataset storage and export in multiple formats
• Webhook integrations for automation pipelines

Pricing

Apify offers a free tier with $5 of monthly platform credits. Paid plans start at $49/month. Costs scale based on compute and proxy usage. While the platform is flexible, costs can be unpredictable for large jobs. For straightforward API-based scraping, ScraperAPI or ScrapingAnt offer more predictable pricing.

Code Example

Running an Apify Actor from Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("apify/web-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "startUrls": [{"url": "https://example.com"}],
        "pageFunction": """
            async function pageFunction(context) {
                const { request, page } = context;
                const title = await page.title();
                return { url: request.url, title };
            }
        """
    }
)

dataset = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in dataset.iterate_items():
    print(item)

Performance

Apify's performance depends heavily on the Actor you use and your configuration. Well-optimized Actors achieve 95-98% success rates. The platform's auto-scaling handles traffic spikes well, though cold starts can add latency.

Verdict

Apify is excellent for teams that want pre-built scrapers or need a platform for complex automation workflows. The Actor marketplace saves significant development time. However, if you simply need an API to fetch rendered pages, ScraperAPI or ScrapingAnt provide a more streamlined and cost-effective solution.