👉 Not sure yet? Start free and measure your real usage first →
🎯 The quick answer
- Starter ($19/month): for most freelancers, marketers and small automations. Pick it as soon as your scrapers run every week.
- Scale ($199/month): only when your usage at Starter prices goes above roughly $240 to $300 per month, or when you need many runs in parallel.
- Business ($999/month): for data teams with large, steady volumes who want the lowest unit prices and an account manager.
💡 Remember: each plan's price is prepaid usage. $199 on Scale gives you $199 to spend. You're not paying $199 on top of your scraping.
📊 Side-by-side comparison
| Starter | Scale | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $19 | $199 | $999 |
| Prepaid usage included | $19 | $199 | $999 |
| Beyond that | Pay as you go | Pay as you go | Pay as you go |
| Apify Store discount | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
| Compute unit price | $0.20 | $0.16 | $0.13 |
| Max Actor RAM | 64 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB |
| Max concurrent runs | 32 | 128 | 256 |
| Residential proxy | $8.00/GB | $7.50/GB | $7.00/GB |
| Datacenter IPs included | 30 | 200 | 500 |
| Support | Chat | Priority chat | Account manager |
| Yearly billing | 10% off on every plan | ||
From the plan comparison screen in my Apify console and apify.com/pricing, September 29, 2026. An Enterprise plan with custom limits also exists.
Disclosure: this page contains affiliate links. If you subscribe through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This site is independent and not operated by Apify.
🧮 How Actor prices change with each plan
For most people, this matters more than RAM or proxies: the higher the plan, the cheaper each result.
| Actor (per 1,000) | Starter | Scale | Business | Scale vs Starter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Maps Scraper | $3.00 | $2.00 | $1.50 | -33% |
| Instagram Scraper | $2.30 | $1.90 | $1.50 | -17% |
| TikTok Scraper | $3.00 | $2.30 | $1.70 | -23% |
| Facebook Ads Library Scraper | $5.00 | $4.20 | $3.40 | -16% |
| Google Search Results Scraper | $2.50 | $1.95 | $1.80 | -22% |
| Google Maps Reviews Scraper | $0.45 | $0.40 | $0.30 | -11% |
📐 The break-even rule I use
On Starter you pay the larger of $19 or your usage at Starter prices. On Scale, the larger of $199 or your usage at Scale prices. Since Scale prices are 11 to 33% lower, Scale becomes cheaper once your usage at Starter prices passes about:
- ~$240 if you mostly use Instagram or Facebook Ads scrapers,
- ~$300 if you mostly use Google Maps Scraper.
Below that, Starter plus some overage is cheaper. Two examples:
| Monthly volume | On Starter | On Scale | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 Google Maps places | $30 | $199 | Starter |
| 50,000 Instagram results | $115 | $199 | Starter |
| 100,000 Instagram results | $230 | $199 | Scale |
| 100,000 Google Maps places | $300 | $200 | Scale |
🧾 My own case
This month I scraped 723 Google Maps places and 3,216 Facebook ads. At list prices that's about $18 on Starter, $15 on Scale and $12 on Business. On Scale I would pay the $199 minimum for $15 of real usage, so Starter is a no-brainer for me.
🔎 Other reasons to move up (besides price)
- Parallel runs: Starter caps you at 32 concurrent runs. If you launch hundreds of small jobs at once (one per city, per profile...), Scale's 128 can save you real time.
- Heavy browser crawling: pay-per-usage Actors (like website crawlers) benefit from cheaper compute units and more RAM.
- Proxies: if you use lots of residential proxy traffic or datacenter IPs with your own code.
- Support: priority chat on Scale, an account manager (plus 1 hour of training per month) on Business.
✅ My recommendation
- Start on Free to test your scrapers and measure the real cost per run.
- Move to Starter when your scrapers run every week or you pass $5.
- Set a custom usage limit in Billing from day one.
- Look at Scale only when your monthly usage at Starter prices gets close to $240 to $300, or when 32 parallel runs slow you down. Eligible startups get 30% off Scale.
- Go yearly (10% off) once your usage is stable. More in my Apify discount guide.
🔥 The right plan depends on your real usage. Measure it for free first. Open a free Apify account →
❓ FAQ
What's the difference between Apify Starter and Scale?
Scale costs $199 instead of $19, includes $199 of usage, lowers Actor and compute prices (Silver discount, $0.16 per compute unit) and allows 128 concurrent runs instead of 32.
Is Apify Scale worth it?
Only if your usage at Starter prices is above roughly $240 to $300 per month, or if you need many parallel runs.
Can I switch plans anytime?
Yes, you can change your plan from the Billing page. Unused prepaid usage doesn't roll over.
What happens if I go over my plan?
You pay the rest as overage, unless you set a custom usage limit, in which case your runs pause until the next cycle.
Who is the Business plan for?
Teams with large, steady volumes that want the lowest unit prices (Gold discount, $0.13 per compute unit), 256 parallel runs and an account manager.
🏁 My verdict
For the vast majority of users, Starter is the right Apify plan: $19 of usage, cheaper Actors than Free, and enough capacity for serious weekly automations. Scale is a volume decision, not a feature decision: do the math with the break-even rule above before you upgrade. 👇
Read next: Apify pricing with my real bill · Every official Apify discount · My full Apify review
This article reflects my own analysis. It contains affiliate links: if you subscribe through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This site is independent and not operated by Apify. Prices change, check the official pricing page.
Sources
- Apify pricing: https://apify.com/pricing
- Apify billing documentation: https://docs.apify.com/platform/console/billing
- Actor pricing pages (Google Maps Scraper, Instagram Scraper, TikTok Scraper, Facebook Ads Library Scraper, Google Search Results Scraper, Google Maps Reviews Scraper), September 29, 2026