The short version
Pick it if
- Someone who doesn’t write code needs scheduled exports
- You need data the one-key APIs skip, such as Instagram or X follower lists
- You want every platform on one account and will check each scraper first
Skip it if
- You want instant lookups inside an app
- You want one schema and one price across platforms
- You need predictable costs at scale
Apify is a Prague-based platform where developers publish scrapers, called Actors, and you run them through one account and API. For social data the popular ones come from Apify itself on Instagram, from a third-party author called Clockworks on TikTok, from Streamers on YouTube, and from API Dojo and kaitoeasyapi on X. Between them they reach almost every data type on the four platforms, and everything plugs into scheduling, webhooks, Make, Zapier and n8n.
The catch is that you’re choosing an author as much as a vendor. Prices, schemas, add-on fees and upkeep differ from Actor to Actor, and some popular ones are weak. Runs are jobs rather than instant calls. That’s why Apify ranks second for YouTube, third across platforms, fourth on TikTok and X, and fifth on Instagram: first for flexibility and no-code work, behind ScrapeCreators for straightforward lookups from your own code.
Apify at a glance
- Headquarters
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Founded
- 2015, by Jan Čurn and Jakub Balada
- Product type
- Scraper marketplace (102,836 Actors listed on 29 October 2026)
- Pricing model
- Monthly plan credit, then per result or event, set by each Actor
- Free tier
- $5 of usage a month
- Plans from
- $19 a month (Starter); 10% off annually
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X and almost any other site, by Actor
- SDKs
- JavaScript/TypeScript and Python clients, CLI, MCP server
- Integrations
- Make, Zapier, n8n, webhooks, scheduling
- Exports
- JSON, CSV, Excel, XML
Pricing
Each plan’s fee comes back as prepaid usage, which Actors draw on per result. Bigger plans unlock lower Actor prices; the rate column shows Apify’s own Instagram Scraper per 1,000 results. Many Actors add fees for run starts, transcripts, downloads or filters, so the real cost per useful record is higher than the headline. Unused credit doesn’t roll over.
100,000 Instagram profiles a month, compared
At each provider’s entry rate, before volume discounts, from our Instagram ranking.
Using Apify
Signing up
The free plan gives you $5 of usage a month and 5 concurrent runs, enough to try most Actors. Some cap the free plan hard: Apify’s Instagram Scraper stops at about 15 comments per post, and API Dojo’s Tweet Scraper V2 runs in demo mode only. On the free plan, going over your credit blocks you until the next cycle.
Making a request
You run an Actor by name with your API token and a JSON input. For short runs, the REST API’s synchronous “run and get dataset items” call returns the results in one request; longer runs go asynchronous and can call a webhook when they finish. Results land in a dataset you read through the API or export. Because each run starts a container, a single profile lookup can be slow.
Documentation
Apify’s platform docs are solid, and there are JavaScript and Python clients, a CLI and an MCP server. Each Actor has its own README and input schema written by its author, so quality varies, and output shapes differ from one Actor to the next.
Support
Support depends on your plan, and no plan comes with a guaranteed response time. Apify says customers without an SLA usually hear back within three business days, though it depends on capacity; paid SLAs bring that down to as little as two business hours. Problems with a specific Actor go to that Actor’s Issues tab and are handled by its author, not by Apify. Apify’s status page is at status.apify.com.
Verdict
Apify is the most capable platform here and the least consistent. If you need follower lists, scheduled exports or a job nobody else covers, it’s the answer, and on YouTube Streamers’ well-rated scraper makes it our runner-up. For plain profile and post lookups from your own code, ScrapeCreators is simpler, faster to call and usually cheaper. Name the Actor before you commit, check its rating and recent run success, and budget for add-on fees.
Visit ApifyAlternatives
Questions
How much does Apify cost for Instagram scraping?
Apify’s own Instagram Scraper costs $2.30 per 1,000 results on the $19 Starter plan and $1.50 on the $999 Business plan. API Dojo’s third-party Instagram scraper costs about $0.49 per 1,000 on Starter. Add-on events can raise the real cost.
Is Apify free?
There’s a free plan with $5 of usage a month and 5 concurrent runs. Some Actors limit what they do on it: Apify’s Instagram Scraper stops at about 15 comments per post, and Tweet Scraper V2 runs in demo mode only.
Who builds Apify’s scrapers?
Some are built by Apify, many by third-party developers. On our platforms, Apify builds the main Instagram Actors, while the most used TikTok, YouTube and X Actors come from other authors. Each author sets the price and handles fixes.
Can Apify get Instagram or X follower lists?
Yes, through third-party Actors: Scraping Solutions’ Instagram followers Actor at $0.70 per 1,000 on Starter, and API Dojo’s Twitter User Scraper, which charges $16 per 1,000 follower or following events.
Are Apify’s Trustpilot reviews reliable?
It scores 4.8 from 817 reviews, but Trustpilot notes Apify hasn’t invited customers recently, and at least two October 2026 reviews disclose a reward from Apify. We read the praise and the complaints, about cost at scale and uneven Actor quality, rather than the score.
Apify or ScrapeCreators?
ScrapeCreators for lookups from your own code: one key, synchronous calls, and credits that never expire. Apify for no-code workflows, scheduling, and data types ScrapeCreators lacks, such as Instagram follower lists.