Apify vs Crawlee

A side-by-side comparison to help you choose the right tool.

Apify scores higher overall (78/100)

But the best choice depends on your specific needs. Compare below.

Pricing
Free tier with $5/month platform credits. Starter at $49/month. Scale at $499/month. Enterprise custom pricing.
Free plan
Yes
Best for
teams that need pre-built scrapers from the Actor marketplace, non-developers who prefer a visual workflow builder over code, enterprises running large-scale scraping with proxy management, data teams collecting structured datasets from well-known sites, agencies managing multiple scraping projects for clients
Platforms
web, api
API
Yes
Languages
en
Pricing
Completely free and open source (MIT license). Self-hosted on your own infrastructure. Optional paid hosting available through Apify platform.
Free plan
Yes
Best for
developers who want full control over their crawling infrastructure, teams building custom scraping pipelines that need maximum flexibility, open-source enthusiasts who prefer self-hosted solutions, engineers integrating web crawling into existing Node.js applications
Platforms
api
API
No
Languages
en

Choose Apify if:

  • You are teams that need pre-built scrapers from the Actor marketplace
  • You are non-developers who prefer a visual workflow builder over code
  • You are enterprises running large-scale scraping with proxy management
  • You want to start free
Read Apify review →

Choose Crawlee if:

  • You are developers who want full control over their crawling infrastructure
  • You are teams building custom scraping pipelines that need maximum flexibility
  • You are open-source enthusiasts who prefer self-hosted solutions
  • You want to start free
Read Crawlee review →

FAQ

What is the difference between Apify and Crawlee?
Apify is a full-featured web scraping and automation platform with a visual builder, a marketplace of pre-built scrapers (actors), and managed proxy infrastructure. covers a wide range of use cases from simple page scraping to complex browser automation workflows. Crawlee is an open-source node.js web crawling and scraping framework built by the team behind apify. provides a batteries-included toolkit for building reliable crawlers with automatic retries, proxy rotation, and headless browser support, all running on your own infrastructure.
Which is cheaper, Apify or Crawlee?
Apify: Free tier with $5/month platform credits. Starter at $49/month. Scale at $499/month. Enterprise custom pricing.. Crawlee: Completely free and open source (MIT license). Self-hosted on your own infrastructure. Optional paid hosting available through Apify platform.. Apify has a free plan. Crawlee has a free plan.
Who is Apify best for?
Apify is best for teams that need pre-built scrapers from the Actor marketplace, non-developers who prefer a visual workflow builder over code, enterprises running large-scale scraping with proxy management, data teams collecting structured datasets from well-known sites, agencies managing multiple scraping projects for clients.
Who is Crawlee best for?
Crawlee is best for developers who want full control over their crawling infrastructure, teams building custom scraping pipelines that need maximum flexibility, open-source enthusiasts who prefer self-hosted solutions, engineers integrating web crawling into existing Node.js applications.