Comparison

Looking for an Apify alternative?

Apify is a full scraping platform: an Actor marketplace, hosted runtimes, datasets, schedules, and proxies billed in compute units. FineData is a narrower product — a single pay-as-you-go scrape endpoint that returns page content or structured fields from a URL.

If you need ready-made scrapers for specific sites and a place to run them, Apify is built for that. If you already know the URLs and just want structured data via one API call — without learning an Actor SDK or managing a separate runtime — this page explains the tradeoff.

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Different products, not clones

Treating them as interchangeable "scraping APIs" hides the real choice. One is a marketplace and execution environment; the other is a stateless HTTP scrape API.

Apify

  • Thousands of ready-to-run Actors in Apify Store for site-specific and automation tasks
  • Hosted Actor runtime (Docker-based), with SDK, CLI, and console for building your own
  • Built-in storage: datasets, key-value stores, and request queues
  • Native schedules, webhooks, integrations, monitoring, and team collaboration
  • Billing centered on prepaid platform usage and compute units (1 CU = 1 GB RAM x 1 hour), plus proxy and Store Actor fees

FineData

  • One scrape endpoint: POST https://api.finedata.ai/api/v1/scrape
  • Token pricing (base request + optional modes), not compute-unit metering
  • AI structured extraction via schema or natural-language prompt
  • MCP server for agents (finedata-mcp / @finedata/mcp-server)
  • Batch (up to 100 URLs), webhooks, screenshots, geo targeting, session persistence, Bring Your Own Proxy — no hosted Actor lock-in

Plan and pricing snapshot

Figures below are list prices and published plan limits from each product's public pricing pages. They are not cost-per-page benchmarks — Apify bills compute, storage, proxies, and some Store Actors separately; FineData bills tokens per request options.

Dimension Apify (public plans) FineData
Free tier $0/mo with $5 prepaid platform usage; community support; no credit card $0/mo, 1,000 tokens, 2 concurrent, datacenter proxies; no credit card
Paid self-serve plans Starter $29/mo ($26/mo annual); Scale $199/mo ($179/mo annual); Business $999/mo ($899/mo annual). Each plan's fee equals that amount of prepaid platform usage. PAYG $0.55/1k tokens; Personal $47/mo (100k tokens); Team S $142 (1M); Team M $284 (3M); Team L $399 (5M); Scaling $699 (10M)
Usage meter Compute units: $0.20/CU (Free & Starter), $0.16/CU (Scale), $0.13/CU (Business). Unused prepaid usage expires each billing cycle. Tokens: 1 base token per request, plus additive options (TLS +2, JS render +5, Stealth +7, headful Stealth +25, residential +3, mobile +4, captcha +10)
Concurrency (published) Max concurrent Actor runs: Free 25, Starter 32, Scale 128, Business 256 (extra concurrent runs available as add-on) Free 2; PAYG 10; Personal 20; Team S 50; Team M 100; Team L 200; Scaling 400
Proxies Residential from $8/GB (Free/Starter) down to $7/GB (Business); datacenter IPs included by plan (5 / 30 / 200 / 500) then per-IP; SERPs proxy priced separately Datacenter on Free; premium / residential / mobile on higher plans; BYOP on PAYG and Team tiers; geo via proxy_country
Marketplace / ready scrapers Apify Store with free and rented Actors; Store discounts by plan (Bronze / Silver / Gold) No Actor marketplace — you call the scrape API with your URLs and options
Platform features Schedules, datasets / KV / request queues, SDK & CLI, integrations, monitoring, Actor monetization, hosted MCP for Actors REST scrape + batch + webhooks + screenshots + AI extract + MCP; storage and scheduling stay in your app
Auth (API) Apify API tokens via their platform API Authorization: Bearer fd_your_api_key

Pricing accurate as of July 28, 2026, always verify on Apify's site (apify.com/pricing) and on FineData's current plans. Apify also offers custom Enterprise; annual billing saves 10% on their paid plans per their pricing page.

Where Apify is the stronger fit

An honest alternative page should say when you should stay put. Apify's public product surface is broader for platform-style scraping work.

Actor Store ecosystem

If you want a pre-built scraper for a specific site or workflow and prefer renting or running an Actor over wiring your own requests, the Store is a real advantage FineData does not try to match.

Hosted pipelines

Schedules, datasets, request queues, monitoring, and console-first operations live inside Apify. Teams that want scraping plus storage and orchestration in one place get more of that out of the box.

Build and publish Actors

Their SDK, CLI, Academy, and Store monetization path are for people building scrapers-as-products. That is a different job than calling a scrape API and parsing the response in your own code.

When a scrape API is enough

Choose FineData when the workflow is "URL in, data out" and you do not want a second runtime to operate. It is not a superset of Apify — it is the simpler shape for that use case.

One call, predictable options

Turn on TLS fingerprinting, JS rendering, Stealth antibot, proxies, or captcha solving as token add-ons. You see the meter on the request instead of estimating GB-hours of Actor RAM.

Structured extraction without an Actor

Pass a schema or a natural-language prompt and get fields back from the same endpoint — useful for agent and app backends that already hold the URL list.

Your stack keeps the data

Results return over HTTP (sync or via webhooks). Persist them in your database, queue, or warehouse — there is no requirement to adopt platform datasets or an Actor packaging model.

Agent-friendly MCP

Official MCP packages on PyPI and NPM let agents call scraping as a tool while you stay on a standard REST contract, or connect the hosted endpoint over OAuth with nothing in the config — see the MCP server page. Apify also ships MCP for Actor discovery and runs — again, different product shape, similar agent intent.

What the FineData call looks like

No Actor input schema, no run polling loop unless you choose async/webhooks. Auth is Bearer — not an x-api-key header. 

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.finedata.ai/api/v1/scrape",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer fd_your_api_key"},
    json={
        "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
        "extract": "top story titles and points",
        "use_js_render": True,
    },
)
print(response.json())

Full parameters, token costs, batch, and webhooks are in the API documentation.

FAQ

Is FineData a drop-in replacement for Apify? +
No. Apify is a platform for running and marketplace-distributing Actors with storage and scheduling. FineData replaces the subset of workflows that are "send URL, get HTML or structured JSON back" without hosting scrapers on their infrastructure.
Why can't you publish speed or success-rate benchmarks? +
Apify's terms restrict publishing benchmarks of their service. This page sticks to their public pricing and documented features, and to FineData's own published plans — not run-time comparisons against Actors or target sites.
How do compute units compare to tokens? +
They do not convert cleanly. Apify's CU meter is RAM x time for Actor runs (and your bill can also include proxies, storage, transfer, and Store rental fees). Tokens here are per-request option costs. Which is cheaper depends on how long Actors run, how much memory they use, and which add-ons you enable — verify on both pricing pages for your workload.
Does Apify include proxies in the plan fee? +
Per their pricing page, prepaid platform usage covers metered services, and proxies are billed separately (residential per GB, datacenter IPs with plan allowances then per-IP, SERPs per thousand). FineData includes proxy tiers by plan and charges residential/mobile as token add-ons, with BYOP available so you can use your own pool.
Can I schedule scrapes without Apify Schedules? +
Yes — with FineData you schedule in your own cron, queue, or workflow tool and call the API (or use webhooks for async jobs). Apify's built-in Schedules are nicer if you want that control plane next to Actor runs and datasets.
Which free tier should I try first? +
Try Apify's free plan ($5 prepaid usage) if you want to explore Store Actors and the console. Try FineData's free plan (1,000 tokens, no card) if you want to hit a scrape endpoint from code or an MCP client immediately. Many teams evaluate both for different jobs rather than forcing one tool to cover everything.

Prefer one scrape endpoint over an Actor platform?

Create a free account, grab a Bearer API key, and start with 1,000 tokens. Keep Apify for Store Actors and scheduled pipelines when that model fits better.

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