What is Apify used for?

Apify is a cloud platform and marketplace of ready-to-run web scraping and automation tools called Actors, plus the open-source Crawlee library. It is a good fit for collecting web data for AI, lead generation scraping and competitor tracking.

Yes. Apify has a free plan, and paid plans start at $19 per month.

Is Apify open source?

No. Apify is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Apify include Maxun, Anakin and Skyvern.

What are some alternatives to Apify?

Apify competes with Octoparse, Browse AI and PhantomBuster. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Apify alternatives.

Apify: features, pricing and alternatives

About Apify

Apify is a platform for web scraping and browser automation built around Actors, which are serverless programs that run in its cloud. Its Apify Store is a marketplace of ready-to-run Actors for jobs such as getting real-time web data, tracking competitors and generating leads.

Developers can build and run their own Actors in Python, JavaScript or TypeScript, use proxies and anti-blocking features, integrate with other apps, and connect AI assistants through MCP. Apify also maintains Crawlee, an open-source web scraping and crawling library, and it lets developers publish and monetize Actors. Solutions are described for enterprises, startups, universities and nonprofits, with use cases in data for AI, lead generation and market research.

Apify is a commercial hosted platform with a pricing section and sales contact. The platform itself is not self-hosted, though Crawlee can be used on your own infrastructure. Users should respect site terms and data protection rules when scraping.

Key features

Marketplace of ready-to-run Actors
Serverless Actors in Python, JavaScript and TypeScript
Proxy rotation and anti-blocking
MCP access for AI agents
Integrations with apps and services
Open-source Crawlee library

Good fit for

→Collecting web data for AI
→Lead generation scraping
→Competitor tracking

Tags: web-scraping; browser-automation; actors; crawlee; proxies; mcp; data-extraction; marketplace

Apify: questions and answers

What is Apify used for?: Apify is a cloud platform and marketplace of ready-to-run web scraping and automation tools called Actors, plus the open-source Crawlee library. It is a good fit for collecting web data for AI, lead generation scraping and competitor tracking.
Is Apify free?: Yes. Apify has a free plan, and paid plans start at $19 per month.
Is Apify open source?: No. Apify is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Apify include Maxun, Anakin and Skyvern.
What are some alternatives to Apify?: Apify competes with Octoparse, Browse AI and PhantomBuster. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Apify alternatives.