Many developers have established their web scraping operations using Apify, a data collection platform that offers automation capabilities, a library of pre-built “Actors,” and robust scaling infrastructure.
However, this solution introduces operational complexity. Development teams must manage Actor configurations, monitor Compute Unit consumption, troubleshoot containerized environments, and navigate a substantial learning curve that can impede rapid deployment for straightforward scraping requirements.
Apify’s alternative Crawlbase employs a fundamentally different architecture that delivers data through streamlined API endpoints. Our solution focuses on core functionality: reliable page retrieval in both raw and JavaScript-rendered formats through simple API calls, eliminating infrastructure management overhead.
This article provides an in-depth comparison between Crawlbase and Apify across pricing, scalability, performance, and operational reliability.
Table of Contents
- Quick Overview: Apify vs. Crawlbase
- Pricing: CUs vs. Simple Per-Request Billing
- Ease of Use: Setup & Integration
- Performance & Reliability
- Final Verdict: Which Solution is Apify Alternative in 2025?
Quick Overview: Apify vs. Crawlbase
At first glance, both Apify and Crawlbase help you scrape the web at scale, but they come from very different angles.
- Apify is like a toolbox for builders. You get workflow automation, a marketplace of pre-built Actors, scheduling, storage, and the flexibility to build custom scraping pipelines. It’s powerful but can be overwhelming, especially if all you need is the data itself.
- Crawlbase focuses on core web scraping functionality through a streamlined approach. Rather than managing containers or configuring complex workflows, users submit API requests and receive HTML or fully rendered page content. The platform eliminates infrastructure management requirements while delivering consistent performance. Its primary advantages include straightforward implementation, transparent pricing models, and seamless integration capabilities with existing applications and development workflows.
Think of it this way:
- Apify offers a comprehensive workshop with every tool, which is ideal if you need the entire setup.
- Crawlbase is a precision solution designed for reliability, ideal for users requiring quick and consistent results without operational complexity.
Head-to-Head Feature Comparison
| Feature | Crawlbase | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Core Model | API-first (REST + async crawler) | Actor-based (serverless functions) |
| Complexity | Simple cURL/SDK calls | Requires actor design, dataset management, triggers |
| Scale | Auto-retries + Enterprise Crawler (handles millions) | Scales actors, but dev must manage concurrency |
| Data Handling | Direct HTML or JSON via webhook | Datasets, key-value stores, request queues |
| Proxy Management | Built-in proxy rotation & CAPTCHA handling | Separate proxy setup needed |
| Setup | One-line API request | Coding actors and managing deployments |
| Pricing | Pay per successful request, fully transparent | Pay for compute + storage + proxy usage |
Pricing: CUs vs. Simple Per-Request Billing
The primary difference between Apify and Crawlbase lies in their pricing models for usage.
Apify runs on Compute Units (CUs). You’re basically renting chunks of machine time. Run something light and quick? Hardly costs you anything. Kick off a heavier crawl that chews up resources? Suddenly, you’ve burned through a good chunk of credits. It works, but it can be tricky to know how much credit you’ll consume until after the fact.
Crawlbase doesn’t bother with that. It’s as simple as charging per successful request. One request equals one page delivered, plain HTML or rendered, doesn’t matter. The bandwidth or job size doesn’t affect the price, which makes it easier to figure out how much you’ll spend if you’re running thousands of crawls.
Put simply:
- Apify → you pay for the resources your jobs need.
- Crawlbase → you pay per extracted page, no surprises.
Pricing Comparison at 100k Amazon product pages/month
| Item | Crawlbase (your rate) | Apify (estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go, per successful request only. No cost for failed/blocked requests. | Subscription + per Compute Unit (CU). You pay for compute time even if the request fails. |
| Example Cost (100k req) | $114.60 (Moderate complexity: $1.15 per 1,000 requests × 100,000) | Depends on Actor efficiency. At 0.4 CU per 1k requests = ~$40 + subscription fee (Starter $39, Scale $199, etc.) |
| CU cost | Included | $0.40/CU → $60.00 |
| Storage/infra overhead | Save first 10k documents for free | $10–20 |
| Predictability | High - only pay when you get valid results. | Low - Consumes Compute Units (CUs) even if an Actor run fails |
The CU system isn’t bad, as it’s flexible and fits more complex workflows. However, if predictability is a concern, Crawlbase’s flat approach typically prevails. You’re only charged for successful requests, so failed attempts don’t eat into your budget.
Ease of Use: Setup & Integration
When you’re trying out a new scraping tool, the first thing you notice is how much effort it takes to get from nothing to actual data.
Getting started with Crawlbase is simple. You don’t need to set up complex projects, build datasets, or learn a new framework to fetch HTML. If your goal is to grab the source of a page, all it takes is a single API call with your token and the target URL:
1 | curl 'https://api.crawlbase.com/?token=YOUR_TOKEN&url=YOUR_ENCODED_URL_TO_CRAWL' |
For example, if you want the repositories page from Crawlbase’s GitHub profile, you can run:
1 | curl 'https://api.crawlbase.com/?token=YOUR_TOKEN&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fcrawlbase%3Ftab%3Drepositories' |
When dealing with larger workloads or sending many requests at once, the Crawlbase Crawler is the better option. It allows you to queue asynchronous, high-volume jobs more efficiently:
1 | curl 'https://api.crawlbase.com/?token=YOUR_TOKEN&url=YOUR_ENCODED_URL_TO_CRAWL&callback=true&crawler=YOUR_CRAWLER_NAME' |
You can find more details on setting up and managing crawlers in our documentation.
That’s basically it. With Crawlbase, getting the HTML you need is fast, simple, and reliable. No complicated setup required. Your requested pages are delivered straight to your system, ready for processing.
Apify, in contrast, works around an “actor” model. It’s more flexible, but it does mean setting up a bit more before you see results. A typical flow is:
- Create or pick an actor (written in JavaScript).
- Configure it with the target site.
- Run the actor to scrape the data.
- Pull your results from a dataset or storage.
This structure is great if you want fine-grained control or plan to reuse your scrapers as components. But if your priority is speed and simplicity, Crawlbase tends to feel much lighter to start with.
Performance & Reliability
Once setup is handled, the real question is how the platform performs as you scale.
Crawlbase focuses on speed, stability, and clarity. Out of the box, you can push 20 requests per second with close to 99% success on major sites. If your workload grows, those limits can be raised. System uptime is published openly on their status page, which usually shows near-perfect availability. And if something does go wrong, their 24/7 support team is there to step in.
Apify takes a different route with its containerized Actor model. This design provides developers with flexibility and power, but it also introduces additional moving parts. However, actors run in about 1.2 seconds, and API calls execute 50% faster.
That said, some users Note that longer or more complex runs can still experience slowdowns. Concurrency can sometimes drop during heavy browser-based scraping or large batch jobs. These issues can usually be alleviated with careful tuning and batching, although this adds an extra layer of work.
In short:
- Crawlbase → Strong default throughput, reliable 99% success rate, transparent uptime reporting, and round-the-clock support.
- Apify → Powerful and flexible, with clear improvements in speed, but may need fine-tuning to stay consistent under heavy loads.
Final Verdict: Which Solution Is the Best Apify Alternative in 2025?
If you just want a scraper that works out of the box and doesn’t give you headaches, Crawlbase is the safer bet. It’s fast, the success rate is solid, and the support team actually answers when you get stuck. You don’t really need to babysit it.
Apify, on the other hand, is more like a playground for developers. You can build almost anything with their Actor model, but it takes some tinkering. Great if you enjoy that level of control, not so great if you want results quickly.
If one had to pick the best Apify alternative for most teams in 2025, which would it be? We’d say Crawlbase is a better choice. It’s easier to scale, saves time, and lets you focus on the data instead of dealing with infrastructure issues. You can try Crawlbase for free and see how it handles your use case.
