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Apify Alternatives

3 independently reviewed web crawl & scraping apis for AI builders evaluating alternatives to Apify.

Maintained by Nathan Kessler·Updated

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At a glance

ToolPricingJS renderOpen sourceSelf-host
ApifyFreemiumYesNoNo
FirecrawlFreemiumYesYesYes
ZytePaidYesNoNo
ScrapyFreeNoYesYes

The alternatives

Firecrawl

Freemium

Firecrawl is simpler and more AI-native, better for LLM-ready output without the marketplace complexity.

JS renderingStructured outputOpen sourceSelf-host

Zyte

Paid

Zyte is the enterprise alternative with 15+ years of experience and the Scrapy framework.

JS renderingStructured outputno open sourceno self-host

Scrapy

Free

Scrapy (Apify's Crawlee competes with it) is the pure OSS path if you want full control.

no js renderingStructured outputOpen sourceSelf-host

Reviewing Apify itself?

Our full Apify review covers pricing, features, and editorial assessment in detail. Read the Apify review →

Frequently asked questions

What are the best alternatives to Apify?

The leading alternatives to Apify include Firecrawl, Zyte, Scrapy. Each takes a different approach to web crawl & scraping apis, and the right choice depends on your pricing tolerance, feature requirements, and integration constraints.

Which Apify alternative is cheapest?

Scrapy is fully free. Scrapy (Apify's Crawlee competes with it) is the pure OSS path if you want full control.

Is Apify open source? What about its alternatives?

Firecrawl, Scrapy are open source. The remaining options are commercial hosted services. Open source gives you full control but requires self-hosting and maintenance.

When should I switch from Apify?

Common reasons to evaluate alternatives: pricing scaling beyond your budget, missing features (JS rendering, structured output, self-hosting), reliability concerns, or vendor risk. Each alternative below addresses a specific gap – read the editorial assessment to identify which gap matches your situation.

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