Apify review: Dev & Infrastructure, pricing and who it's for
Ready-made scrapers and browser automations for pulling web data into your workflows, with a free plan to start. Best for teams comfortable with a little setup.
Apify is a store of ready-made Actors for web scraping and browser automation, with proxies, storage and scheduling, plus Crawlee when you build your own. An official MCP server and a REST API connect it to other tools. The free plan includes $5 of usage each month and needs no card. Starter is $17 a month when billed annually.
Free plan; paid from $17 per month billed annually ($19 monthly)
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Reviewed · Facts checked · Dev & Infrastructure
Good fit if
- Teams comfortable with a little setup who want ready-made scrapers and browser automations.
Skip if
- you want a no-setup scraper. Firecrawl is simpler for AI pipelines.
Use cases
Pull local business leads from Google Maps into a spreadsheet
Free plan for small runs; Starter for regular volumeFounders and sales teams building a local prospect list without copying listings by hand. 1) Open the Google Maps Scraper Actor in Apify Store and enter search terms (e.g. 'dentist') and a location. 2) Set a maximum number of places so the run stays inside your $5 free monthly usage, then click Start. 3) When the run finishes, export the dataset as CSV or Excel and import it into your CRM or sheet.
Sources: apify.com/compass/crawler-google-places, docs.apify.com/platform/storage/dataset, apify.com/pricing
Re-run a scraper every week and send new rows to Google Sheets
Free plan; costs scale with platform usageOps and growth teams who want a recurring data feed (prices, listings, reviews) without writing code. 1) Save your Actor input as a task and create a schedule for it in Apify Console (e.g. every Monday at 9am). 2) In Make, use the Apify 'Watch Actor Runs' trigger, then 'Get Dataset Items'. 3) Map the items to a Google Sheets Bulk Add Rows module so each run appends fresh data.
Sources: docs.apify.com/platform/schedules, docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make
Let Claude or Cursor run Apify scrapers for you
Free plan; Actor runs use your platform creditPeople who work in an AI assistant and want it to fetch live web data on request. 1) Add https://mcp.apify.com as a remote MCP server in your AI client and sign in to Apify to approve access. 2) Ask the assistant to find a suitable Actor (it can search Apify Store) and run it with your inputs. 3) Limit the tools with the ?tools= URL parameter once you know which Actors you use, so runs stay predictable.
Watch-outs
The free plan includes $5 of platform usage a month and needs no card. Compute units cost $0.20 to $0.13 depending on the plan. Enterprise pricing is custom and stays on the pricing page.
Source: apify.com/pricing · checked
At a glance
Price
Free plan; paid from $17 per month billed annually ($19 monthly)
Source: apify.com/pricing · checked
Free plan
Yes · $5 of platform usage per month
Source: apify.com/pricing · checked
Key integrations
Sources: docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp, mcp.apify.com · checked
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | MonthlyFree | Annual— | What's included$5 of platform usage a month. No card. |
| Starterper month | Monthly$19 | Annual$17 | What's included$17/month billed annually ($204/year). Prepaid usage, then pay as you go. |
| Scaleper month | Monthly$199 | Annual$179 | What's included$179/month billed annually ($2,148/year). Prepaid usage, then pay as you go. |
| Businessper month | Monthly$999 | Annual$899 | What's included$899/month billed annually ($10,788/year). Prepaid usage, then pay as you go. |
Pricing checked on · Apify pricing page
AI & integrations
Official MCP server · 30 requests/sec per user; Actor runs bill usage; full-permission Actors excluded
Server URL:
https://mcp.apify.comSources: docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp, mcp.apify.com · checked
Public API · REST API v2 · API docs
Source: docs.apify.com/api/v2 · checked
Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our verdicts.
FAQs
Apify or Firecrawl: which should I use for scraping?
Apify runs Actors, serverless cloud programs for web scraping and browser automation, which you can pick from Apify Store or build yourself and run manually, via API or on a schedule. Firecrawl is a managed web data API that turns pages into clean Markdown or JSON for AI agents and LLM apps, with no local browser to run.
Sources: docs.apify.com/platform/actors, firecrawl.dev, workstak.co/tools/apify
Can I scrape a site with Apify without writing code?
Often, yes: public Actors in Apify Store take a structured JSON input that you fill in through Apify Console, then run manually, through the API, or on a schedule. If no public Actor fits, you can build and keep your own private Actor.
Sources: docs.apify.com/platform/actors, workstak.co/tools/apify
How much does Apify cost per month?
Apify's free plan includes $5 of platform usage a month with no card. Paid plans are $19, $199 and $999 a month, each including that amount as prepaid usage, with anything beyond billed as you go.
Source: apify.com/pricing
What's the catch with Apify's pricing?
The plan fee is prepaid usage, not a cap, so heavy runs keep billing past it. Compute units cost $0.20 each on Free and Starter, falling to $0.16 on Scale and $0.13 on Business, and proxies and RAM add their own charges.
Source: apify.com/pricing
Can I connect Apify to Claude or my own app?
Yes. Apify runs an official MCP server for AI assistants and a REST API for your own code, so you can trigger Actors and pull results from either.
Sources: mcp.apify.com, docs.apify.com/api/v2
Ready to try Apify?
Ready-made scrapers and browser automations for pulling web data into your workflows, with a free plan to start. Best for teams comfortable with a little setup.
Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our verdicts.
Alternatives to Apify
Firecrawl: Firecrawl is the simpler no-setup scraper for AI pipelines.
Browse AI: Browse AI is another tool for pulling data from the web. Apify is a store of scrapers and browser automations.
Bright Data: Bright Data is another platform for web data. Apify is a store of scrapers and browser automations.
Other Dev & Infrastructure tools
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CloudflareFree DNS, CDN and DDoS protection that almost every founder with a domain should use. The free plan has no SLA; pay for Pro when the site earns money.
GitHubWhere almost every startup keeps its code. The free plan is enough for most small teams; budget separately for Copilot and extra Actions minutes.
Something wrong or out of date?
Private — not published. Every report is read.