Apify

Apify is a cloud-based platform for web scraping, browser automation and data extraction for AI projects. The company provides a range of tools and templates to help developers create reliable web scrapers quickly and easily. Developers can use 1,600+ pre-built tools, code templates or even commission custom work to get what they need.

Apify tries to make web scraping easier, a notoriously difficult technology problem involving headless browsers, scaling infrastructure and sophisticated blocking. With a full-stack platform, Apify helps developers create, deploy and publish web scraping and data extraction tools.

Among Apify's features are:

• Simplify Scraping with Crawlee: Build scrapers with Crawlee, a widely used Node.js library.
• Support for Multiple Libraries: Integrates with libraries like Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, Scrapy and more.
• Deploy to the Cloud: Convert code into serverless microapps, actors, with minimal setup and deploy with a single CLI command or from GitHub.
• Run and Schedule Actors: Run actors from the Apify console, CLI or API, scheduling runs and monitoring performance.
• Proxy Management: Use a large pool of datacenter and residential proxies to evade blocking, with smart IP address rotation and human-like browser fingerprints.
• Data Storage and Sharing: Store structured data or binary files, and export datasets in formats like CSV, JSON, Excel and more.
• Integrations and Alerts: Connect to hundreds of apps with pre-built integrations or set up custom integrations with webhooks and APIs, with the ability to trigger automated alerts.
• Publish and Monetize: Publish actors on the Apify Store and make money from your creations.

Apify has a variety of pricing plans, including a free tier. You can sign up for the free plan and deploy your code to the service in a matter of minutes, so it's a good option for small projects.

For businesses and developers who want to automate their web scraping and other tasks, Apify is a powerful and relatively easy-to-use option. By using its full suite of tools and library support, developers can quickly and easily extract and process data from websites, and use it to power AI and data-driven projects.

Published on July 1, 2024