---
title: Apify
slug: apify
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/apify"
homepage: "https://apify.com"
categories: browser-automation-apis
last_verified: 2026-11-07
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Apify

> Actor platform for scraping and agents, with Crawlee as the open-source core

- A compute platform where scrapers run as containerised Actors, billed in compute units, with a marketplace of thousands
- Crawlee, its open-source crawler library, handles browser pooling, session rotation and fingerprinting
- No external CDP endpoint; you deploy code that runs browsers inside the platform

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Apify |
| Company | Apify Technologies |
| One-liner | Actor platform for scraping and agents, with Crawlee as the open-source core |
| Site | https://apify.com |
| Docs | https://docs.apify.com |
| Repo | https://github.com/apify/crawlee |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Funding | Series A |
| Open source | Yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Browser APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis)
Ranked **#11 of 14** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Anti-bot pass rate | - | Unknown | - | - | Panel not yet run. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--antibot_success |
| Stealth mode | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.apify.com | Crawlee's fingerprint suite and session pool, plus stealth-oriented Actors. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--stealth_mode |
| CAPTCHA solving | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Community Actors and third-party integrations rather than a platform primitive. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--captcha_solving |
| Residential proxy | metered-extra | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.apify.com/proxy/residential-proxy | Apify Proxy residential tier billed per GB. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--residential_proxy |
| Cold start | - | Unknown | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--cold_start |
| CDP endpoint | ○ | Inferred | - | - | You deploy code that runs browsers inside Actors; there is no external CDP URL to attach to. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--cdp_endpoint |
| Playwright | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js/docs/guides/playwright-crawler | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--playwright_support |
| Puppeteer | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js/docs/guides/puppeteer-crawler | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--puppeteer_support |
| Session persistence | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Session pool plus key-value stores; you build the persistence yourself. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--session_persistence |
| Live view | ● | Inferred | - | - | Actor runs expose a live view tab while running. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--live_view |
| Session replay | ○ | Inferred | - | - | Logs and datasets, not replays. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--session_replay |
| Max concurrency | 5 sessions | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://apify.com/pricing.md | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--concurrency_ceiling |
| File downloads | ● | Inferred | - | - | Land in the key-value store. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--file_downloads |
| Chrome extensions | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--extension_support |
| Browser regions | us-east, eu-central | Inferred | - | - | US and EU platform regions; no AU. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--regions |
| Agent API | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Agent Actors exist in the store; the platform itself is not an agent loop. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--computer_use_api |
| MCP server | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://github.com/apify/apify-mcp-server | Exposes the Actor store to MCP clients. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--mcp_server |
| Human handoff | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--human_handoff |
| Pricing model | per-credit | Inferred | - | - | Monthly plan floor plus compute units; from roughly US$49/mo on the entry tier. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--pricing_model |
| Per browser-hour | - | Unknown | - | - | Compute units bundle CPU and RAM, so an hourly browser rate depends on your Actor's memory setting. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--price_per_hour |
| Free tier | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://apify.com/pricing | Small monthly usage credit. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--free_tier |
| GitHub stars | 17,000 | Inferred | - | - | Crawlee repo, rounded. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--github_stars |
| Funding stage | series-a | Community-reported | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--funding_stage |
| Open-source core | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Crawlee is Apache-2.0; the platform is not self-hostable. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--open_source_core |
| Positioning | Cloud platform for web scraping and browser automation Actors | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--positioning |
| Launched | 2015 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#apify--launch_year |

**Verdict.** Not really a browser API but a place to run scraping code, with Crawlee excellent and free.

## Alternatives

- [Airtop](https://toolweight.com/tools/airtop), Natural-language browser API, describe the page, skip the selectors
- [Anchor Browser](https://toolweight.com/tools/anchor-browser), Cloud browsers built around authenticated sessions and human takeover
- [Bright Data Browser API](https://toolweight.com/tools/bright-data-browser-api), CDP browsers on a 70M+ residential IP network with challenge handling built in
- [Browser Use](https://toolweight.com/tools/browser-use), The open-source browser agent library, with stealth cloud browsers and a hosted agent API
- [Browserbase](https://toolweight.com/tools/browserbase), Managed headless browsers for AI agents, with Stagehand as the SDK
- [Browserless](https://toolweight.com/tools/browserless), Self-hostable headless Chrome service; BrowserQL for bot-heavy sites
- [Cloudflare Browser Rendering](https://toolweight.com/tools/cloudflare-browser-rendering), Puppeteer and Playwright bindings for Workers, plus REST render endpoints
- [Hyperbrowser](https://toolweight.com/tools/hyperbrowser), Agent-first browsers with hosted scrape, crawl and CUA endpoints
- [Kernel](https://toolweight.com/tools/kernel), Fast-starting browsers plus a runtime for deploying browser agents
- [Self-hosted Playwright](https://toolweight.com/tools/playwright-self-hosted), The baseline: run Chromium in your own container and own everything
- [ScrapingBee](https://toolweight.com/tools/scrapingbee), One-call HTML API with JavaScript rendering and premium proxy tiers
- [Steel.dev](https://toolweight.com/tools/steel-dev), Open-source browser API for AI agents, hosted or self-run

## Logo & brand colours

SVG files: https://toolweight.com/teams/apify/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/apify/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/apify.

| Hex | oklch |
| --- | --- |
| #246dff | oklch(58.2% 0.229 262.1) |
| #f86606 | oklch(68.5% 0.197 44.1) |
| #20a34e | oklch(62.9% 0.164 149.6) |

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/apify
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/apify.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.