What is Apify pricing in 2026?

Apify pricing in 2026: Free plan includes $5 in compute credits. Starter plan is $29/month for approximately 20 Actor compute units. Scale and Business plans run $99–$599/month. All plans use compute unit billing — costs vary by Actor, memory allocation, and runtime. Compare: AlterLab charges a flat $0.0002/request with no monthly subscription, and balance never expires.

What is the best Apify alternative in 2026?

AlterLab is the best Apify alternative for web scraping in 2026. One API endpoint handles any website — no Actors to configure. Pay-as-you-go from $0.0002/request, no vendor SDK lock-in, and balance never expires.

Is AlterLab cheaper than Apify?

Yes, for web scraping use cases. Apify charges per compute unit with costs varying by Actor. AlterLab starts at $0.0002 per request with pay-as-you-go pricing and no monthly minimum. Depending on your use case, savings can be significant.

Can AlterLab replace Apify Actors?

For web scraping Actors (which simply fetch and parse URLs), yes — AlterLab handles this natively with one endpoint. For specialized Actors like social media APIs or CRM integrations, AlterLab may not be a direct replacement. For general web scraping, our single endpoint covers 90%+ of use cases.

How do I switch from Apify to AlterLab?

Migration is straightforward since AlterLab uses a standard REST API — no vendor SDK required. Replace Apify SDK calls with HTTP POST requests to AlterLab's endpoint. Most migrations take under 15 minutes. Try free with 5,000 requests.

Does AlterLab have vendor lock-in like Apify?

No. AlterLab uses a standard REST API with JSON — no proprietary SDK, no platform-specific configuration. Your code works with any HTTP client in any language. Switch away anytime with zero code changes to your core logic.

Is there a free Apify alternative?

AlterLab offers 5,000 free requests to get started — no credit card required. After that, pay-as-you-go pricing starts at $0.0002 per request with no monthly minimum. This makes it the most affordable Apify alternative available.

Apify Alternative

The Simple Apify Alternative: One Endpoint, Zero Complexity

One endpoint, zero configuration. No Actors to choose from, no platform lock-in.

94%

Cheaper than Apify

Based on average usage across all tiers

99.9% uptime

195+ countries

No credit card

One API endpoint vs 45,000+ Actors

No monthly subscriptions

Balance never expires

No platform lock-in or vendor SDK

Built-in protected site handling across all tiers

Start with $10 instead of $29/month

See Pricing Comparison

Common frustrations

Why developers leave Apify

Real pain points from developers who switched to AlterLab

45,000+ Actors to manage

Finding and configuring the right Actor from a marketplace of 45,000+ is time-consuming. Many are outdated or broken.

Developer-only platform

Apify requires coding skills to build and maintain Actors. No simple API-first approach.

Unpredictable costs

Compute unit pricing is opaque. Hard to estimate costs before running a scraping job.

Interactive Calculator

See How Much You Save

Drag the slider to calculate your exact savings vs Apify

pricing-calculator

Scraping Mode

Monthly Volume

100K

Best Price

AlterLab

$20.00

$0.0002 per request

Apify

$350.00

$0.0035 per request

Your Monthly Savings

$330.00

94% less every month with AlterLab

That's $4.0k back in your budget annually

No credit card

5,000 free requests

2-min setup

Feature-by-Feature

Every feature, side by side

See exactly how AlterLab compares to Apify across all key features

Feature	AlterLab Winner	Apify
Getting started Time to first scrape	2 minutes (POST a URL)	15+ minutes (find Actor, configure, run)
API complexity Integration approach	1 REST endpoint	45,000+ Actors with different configs
SDK dependency Required client libraries	Any HTTP client (curl, fetch, requests)	Apify SDK required for full features
Vendor lock-in Can you switch easily	Standard REST API	Actor ecosystem lock-in

Save 94% vs Apify

Same features, 94% less

Get the same capabilities at a fraction of the cost. Start with 5,000 free scrapes — no credit card required.

View Detailed Pricing

Live API Preview

See AlterLab in action

One endpoint. Any website. Results in under 2 seconds. No Apify complexity.

AlterLab API Playground

Click Run to see the response

// Response will appear here...

Try it yourself with 5,000 free requests

No credit card required. Get your API key in 30 seconds.

Migration Time: 10 minutes

Switch from Apify in 10 minutes

Simple easy migration process. No downtime, no complex setup.

Migration Steps

Code Migration Example

Before (Apify)

Python

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

// Find the right Actor, read its docs, configure inputs...
const run = await client.actor('apify/web-scraper').call({
  startUrls: [{ url: 'https://example.com' }],
  pageFunction: async function pageFunction(context) {
    return { title: document.title };
  }
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

After (AlterLab)

Python

// AlterLab — one endpoint, zero configuration
const response = await fetch('https://api.alterlab.io/v1/scrape', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_ALTERLAB_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://example.com',
    render_js: true
  })
});
const data = await response.json();

Compatibility Notes

•AlterLab handles web scraping use cases with a single API endpoint — no Actors to configure
•No SDK needed — any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests, etc.)
•Actor-specific features (scheduling, storage) have different solutions in AlterLab
•For complex workflows, use AlterLab's batch API for parallel requests