Apify alternatives for web scraping
Compare Apify alternatives by extraction workflow, output, hosting model and operating costs.
Quick answer
Compare Firecrawl for AI-oriented scrape/crawl output, Diffbot for schema-oriented extraction, and ScrapingBee, Scrapfly or Zyte API for API-based fetching. These services do not automatically replace an Actor marketplace or your custom Actor logic.
Apify alternatives
API-driven crawling for Markdown and structured output
- Pricing
- Compare managed credits and feature-specific consumption separately from the operating cost and AGPL obligations of a source deployment.
- Licensing
- Source code: AGPL-3.0-or-later. Hosted service terms are separate.
- Features
- Managed scrape/crawl workflows with Markdown and structured output, plus a separately licensed source-code project.
- Tradeoff
- Firecrawl emphasizes scrape/crawl output for AI workflows. Replacing an Apify Actor means rebuilding any Actor-specific integrations, schedules, storage conventions and custom business logic.
Structured page extraction and Knowledge Graph workflows
- Pricing
- Compare the selected commercial API/data product, included usage and contract terms. Knowledge Graph access and page extraction are different workloads.
- Licensing
- Diffbot is a hosted service governed by vendor terms; no product code license is asserted here.
- Features
- Extraction, crawling, natural-language processing and Knowledge Graph products; a web-search offering is also listed separately.
- Tradeoff
- Diffbot offers extraction and knowledge-data products with their own schemas. Validate the specific extraction endpoint and whether its entity model matches the fields your current workflow consumes.
Managed rendering, proxies and extraction through an API
- Pricing
- Compare subscription API credits, feature multipliers, concurrency and custom-plan terms rather than assuming one credit per rendered page.
- Licensing
- ScrapingBee is a hosted service governed by vendor terms. Its SDK/client code is licensed separately: MIT.
- Features
- A managed scraping API with JavaScript rendering, proxy options, screenshots and extraction outputs; browser interactions are configured through API parameters.
- Tradeoff
- ScrapingBee exposes request and extraction options through an API. Your application owns any multi-step orchestration, repeated runs and downstream storage that were handled by an Actor or crawl workflow.
Combined scraping, browser and extraction APIs
- Pricing
- Plans share an API-credit balance. Feature choices change credit cost; Free/Discovery cap usage while Pro and above can incur pay-as-you-go overflow.
- Licensing
- Scrapfly is a hosted service governed by vendor terms; no product code license is asserted here.
- Features
- Scraping, cloud browser, crawling and extraction APIs sharing managed proxy/browser infrastructure.
- Tradeoff
- Scrapfly API options affect credits and response handling. Verify the extraction/crawl endpoint, rendering settings and output schema rather than assuming one request replaces an existing workflow.
Managed retrieval and extraction in Scrapy-oriented workflows
- Pricing
- Compare successful HTTP versus browser responses by website complexity tier and monthly commitment; extraction extras and rendering affect the workload cost.
- Licensing
- Zyte API is a hosted service governed by vendor terms; no product code license is asserted here.
- Features
- HTTP/browser retrieval, automatic ban handling, sessions and structured extraction, with a Scrapy integration.
- Tradeoff
- Zyte API handles fetching and selected extraction workflows. Validate automatic-extraction fields and request options, then provide any job orchestration or storage your application needs.
Where the alternatives differ
Pricing
Compare Actor-specific charges with platform compute, storage, proxies and data transfer. A plan allowance is not an unlimited Actor license. Compare that total with each alternative's billing unit, rendering/proxy options, included capacity and orchestration you must build.
Licensing
Apify is a hosted service governed by vendor terms. Its SDK/client code is licensed separately: Apache-2.0.
Features
An Apify Actor can contain arbitrary workflow logic and integrations. Firecrawl emphasizes scrape/crawl output, Diffbot has its own extraction/entity schemas, and the other APIs handle fetching or extraction requests. Compare scheduling, queues, persistent storage, custom code and output contracts independently.
When to stay with Apify
- Keep Apify when your workflow depends on existing Actors, their custom code, schedules, datasets or request queues.
- Stay when rebuilding marketplace integrations and Actor-specific output would cost more than the operational benefit.
- Compare alternatives on a representative workload before replacing orchestration and storage contracts.
Comparison review recorded Oct 16, 2026. FAQ sources are dated separately. Pricing and feature details are compiled from public sources and may be out of date. Confirm current details on each vendor's site.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Firecrawl or Apify?
Firecrawl offers APIs for retrieving web content and structured data. Apify provides a platform for running configurable Actors, including many task-specific scrapers and automation programs. Compare the output, target coverage, integration and pricing of the actual Firecrawl workflow or Apify Actor you intend to use.
Sources (checked ): Firecrawl API scope; Apify Actors
How expensive is Apify?
Compare the selected Actor’s charges with Apify platform usage, including compute, storage and proxies. The Free plan includes $5 of monthly usage, but Actors and larger workloads can require additional spend. Compare total workflow cost with the alternative’s own credit or resource model.
Sources (checked ): Apify rate card; Firecrawl rate card