--- title: "Apify API: pricing, rate limits & MCP | ONEGTMLAB" description: "Apify API: Cloud platform and marketplace of ready-made scrapers ('Actors') you run by API, with built-in storage, proxies, schedules, webhooks and an…" canonical: https://www.onegtmlab.dev/tool-directory/research-and-scraping/apify --- # Apify API: pricing, rate limits & MCP | ONEGTMLAB [](/) [ Book a call ](/book) ![](/_astro/apify.BGdNuL2e.svg) API review # Apify API review Cloud platform and marketplace of ready-made scrapers ('Actors') you run by API, with built-in storage, proxies, schedules, webhooks and an MCP server. Best for scraping sites that have no API via pay-per-result Store Actors. Verified 25 Oct 2026 · 16 endpoints listed · Official MCP server [ See pricing ](#pricing)[ Apify API docs ](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md) At a glance Category Scraping, Data platform Pricing model Usage-based Free tier Free plan $0/month with $5 of platform usage Entry price $1/mo, billed monthly Creator Auth API key Official MCP Yes Best for Scraping sites that have no API via pay-per-result Store Actors [apify.com ↗](https://apify.com)[Pricing page ↗](https://apify.com/pricing.md) ## What a call costs The actions you pay for, as Apify prices them. Action Cost Per Compute unit (1 GB RAM x 1 hour) $0.20 Free/Starter, $0.16 Scale, $0.13 Business CU Residential proxy $8 Free/Starter, $7.5 Scale, $7 Business GB Datacenter proxy 5/30/200/500 IPs included; then $1 (Starter), $0.8 (Scale), $0.6 (Business) IP Google SERP proxy $2.5 Free/Starter, $2 Scale, $1.7 Business 1,000 SERPs Unblocker $1.5 Free/Starter, $1.25 Scale, $1 Business 1,000 requests Add-on concurrent run $5 run Add-on Actor RAM $1 GB Store Actors set per Actor (pay-per-event, e.g. per result) or pay-per-usage per Actor page Show all 10 priced actionsHide the rest Action Cost Per Personal training add-on $150 hour Storage and data transfer (in-app Pricing tab, Free plan) dataset $0.005 / 1,000 writes; key-value store $0.05 / 1,000 writes; request queue $0.01 / 1,000 writes; timed storage $1 and $4 per 1,000 GB-hours; external transfer $0.20/GB, internal $0.05/GB as stated ## Pricing, plan by plan US dollars, as Apify's pricing page shows them on 25 Oct 2026. Monthly and annual billing are shown apart. Free tier Free plan $0/month with $5 of platform usage; blocked (not billed) when exhausted until next cycle; no credit card ### Free $0 Free $5 platform usage/month; CU $0.20 API includedPlan details none - account blocked until next cycle ### Starter $19/mo billed monthly $17/mo billed annually $19 platform usage/month; CU $0.20; Bronze Store discount API includedPlan details pay-as-you-go, billed on next invoice up to your usage limit ### Scale $199/mo billed monthly $179/mo billed annually $199 platform usage/month; CU $0.16; Silver Store discount API includedPlan details pay-as-you-go ### Business $999/mo billed monthly $899/mo billed annually $999 platform usage/month; CU $0.13; Gold Store discount API includedPlan details pay-as-you-go ### Creator $1/mo billed monthly $1/mo monthly billing only one-time $500 platform usage for first 6 months; Store limited to universal Actors API included ### Enterprise Custom quote custom API included ## Rate limits Global 250,000 requests/minute per user (per IP if unauthenticated). Limit Free Starter Scale Business Max Concurrent Runs 5 32 128 256 Max Ram 16 GB (combined and per run) 64 GB combined across running jobs (pricing page; limits page 65,536 MB combined); max 32 GB for a single run (limits page) 256 GB 512 GB More on limitsLess Default 60 req/s per resource (one Actor, run, dataset, store); higher on some endpoints: 35 (request-queue batch, head/lock), 100 (KV ZIP download), 200 (KV record CRUD, list keys), 350 (request CRUD, lock ops), 400 (run Actor, run task async/sync, metamorph, push dataset items). 429 rate-limit-exceeded: retry with exponential backoff. Each response carries X-RateLimit-Limit. ## How to get an API key Apify uses API key. The steps below follow Apify's own docs. 1. Create a Apify account. The Free plan includes API access. 2. Apify Console > Settings > API & Integrations (console.apify.com/account#/integrations) 3. Send it with every request: header (Authorization: Bearer , recommended) or query (?token=, less secure). 4. Make a first call: Search Apify Store Actors. Keep the key in an environment variable, never in the command. ``` curl -X GET "https://api.apify.com/v2/store" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_API_KEY" ``` ## Where the docs live What Where Documentation [docs.apify.com](https://docs.apify.com) API reference [docs.apify.com/api/v2.md](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md) OpenAPI spec [docs.apify.com/api/openapi.json](https://docs.apify.com/api/openapi.json) llms.txt [docs.apify.com/llms.txt](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) Changelog [docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs/changelog.md](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs/changelog.md) Base URL `https://api.apify.com` MCP server `https://mcp.apify.com` SDKs apify-client (JavaScript), apify-client (Python), Apify SDK (JS/Python) for building Actors, Apify CLI ## Strengths and limits ### Where it fits - Scraping sites that have no API (LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps) via pay-per-result Store Actors - Async batch jobs: start a run, get a webhook, read the dataset - Agents that need to discover and run scrapers through MCP - Running your own scraper code without managing servers or proxies ### Where it falls short - Fixed, predictable per-record pricing across vendors (each Actor sets its own price, and Actors change or break) - Long-running synchronous calls (run-sync times out at 300 s with HTTP 408) - Use cases needing a vendor-maintained data contract; most Store Actors are third-party ### Worth knowing - run-sync and run-sync-get-dataset-items return HTTP 408 if the run exceeds 300 s; use async runs + webhook for anything slow (openapi.json). - Prepaid monthly usage does not roll over; Free plan is blocked (not billed) once $5 is used (apify.com/pricing.md). - Store Actor prices are set by each developer; check pay-per-event vs pay-per-usage on the Actor page and read chargedEventCounts, not usageTotalUsd on a just-started run. - Unnamed storages are deleted when the plan's retention period expires; on Free your 10 most recent runs are kept 4 months. Name a storage to keep it indefinitely. - Pricing FAQ says reading a finished run's dataset counts as platform usage, while our 2026-10-05 note calls dataset reads free; treat re-reads as near-free, not zero. 5 moreShow fewer - Plan on 5 (live app wins). - MCP server excludes full-permission Actors from search and execution (docs.apify.com/mcp.md). - Third-party Actors break without notice: apple\_yang transcript actor failed for every reel on 2026-10-24. - The canonical prefix is /v2/actors/...; /v2/acts/... (used in many older examples and in our own scripts) is deprecated but still routes to the same handler. Source: [docs.apify.com/api/v2.md](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md) ('Legacy /v2/acts/ URL prefix') - An AI agent can pay for runs with no Apify account via x402 / MPP at agi.apify.com (temporary token with a spend cap); MCP per-request payments (e.g. Skyfire) work only with pay-per-event Actors. Source: [apify.com/pricing.md](https://apify.com/pricing.md); [docs.apify.com/mcp.md](https://docs.apify.com/mcp.md) ### Our take We run Apify actors in our standard workflows: LinkedIn company pages for company qualification (about $0.0035 per company), LinkedIn profile posts (pay per event, $0.002 per post) and Instagram reel transcripts for our own content research (about $0.01 per reel). Two things we learned: the profile-posts actor returns reposts under the original author, so we split them out on the repostedBy field, and on a pay-per-event actor the run's usage total can show only the start event, so we read the charged event counts instead. On the Free plan, the $5 monthly usage cap returns HTTP 402 once it is spent. ## Who should use it Use Apify for Scraping sites that have no API (LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps) via pay-per-result Store Actors Look elsewhere for Fixed, predictable per-record pricing across vendors (each Actor sets its own price, and Actors change or break) ## If Apify is not the answer Other Research and scraping tools in this directory, each with its own review. [ ![](/_astro/brightdata.D3o9R6mQ_Z2nLIVf.webp) Bright Data Research and scraping From $499/moOfficial MCP Best for structured records from big platforms via maintained Scraper APIs, pay only per delivered record. Bright Data API review →](/tool-directory/research-and-scraping/brightdata)[ ![](/_astro/firecrawl.BlOy6k5j_ZIB9lf.webp) Firecrawl Research and scraping Free planOfficial MCP Best for full-site URL inventories. Firecrawl API review →](/tool-directory/research-and-scraping/firecrawl) ## Before you build Four things to settle first, each read off Apify's own pages. - **Confirm the API is on your plan**The Free plan includes API access. Free tier: Free plan $0/month with $5 of platform usage. - **Keep the key out of your code**API key. It is sent as: header (Authorization: Bearer , recommended) or query (?token=, less secure). - **Design around the rate limit**Global 250,000 requests/minute per user (per IP if unauthenticated). - **Know the catch before you scale**run-sync and run-sync-get-dataset-items return HTTP 408 if the run exceeds 300 s; use async runs + webhook for anything slow (openapi.json). ## Want us to build it for you? Tell us what you want Apify to do in your stack. We will show you how we would wire it into your data, outbound or CRM, and what we would check first. [ Book a call ](/book)[ See case studies ](/case-studies) Read from [apify.com/pricing.md](https://apify.com/pricing.md), [docs.apify.com/api/v2.md](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md) and [docs.apify.com/api/v2.md](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md#rate-limiting). Verified 25 Oct 2026. All 16 endpointsFor developers: method, path, what it does and what it costs. **Base URL:** `https://api.apify.com` **Bulk and async:** async runs + datasets; batch request-queue endpoints; maxItems / maxTotalChargeUsd caps per run **Webhooks:** ACTOR.RUN.CREATED/SUCCEEDED/FAILED/ABORTED/TIMED\_OUT/RESURRECTED, ACTOR.BUILD.\* Filter endpoints 16 endpoints Method Path What it does Cost GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/actors, /v2/actors/{actorId}, /v2/actors/{actorId}/validate-input` List, create, read, update, delete Actors; validate an input free (API call); platform usage only when runs execute GET/POSTasync `/v2/actors/{actorId}/runs` Start an Actor run (async) or list its runs Actor's own price (pay-per-event or pay-per-usage) + platform usage GET/POST `/v2/actors/{actorId}/run-sync, /v2/actors/{actorId}/run-sync-get-dataset-items` Run an Actor and wait for its OUTPUT or dataset items in the same HTTP response same as a normal run GET/PUT/DELETE/POST `/v2/actor-runs, /v2/actor-runs/{runId}, /abort, /metamorph, /reboot, /resurrect, /charge` Inspect, abort, metamorph, reboot or resurrect runs free GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/actors/{actorId}/runs/last/... and /v2/actor-tasks/{actorTaskId}/runs/last/...` Shortcuts to the last run's dataset, key-value store, request queue, log, abort, metamorph, reboot free API call; storage reads count as platform usage per pricing FAQ GET/POST/PUT/DELETEasync `/v2/actor-tasks, /v2/actor-tasks/{actorTaskId}, /input, /runs, /run-sync, /run-sync-get-dataset-items, /webhooks` Saved Actor configurations (tasks) and running them as the underlying Actor GET/POST/PUT/DELETEasync `/v2/actors/{actorId}/versions, /versions/{versionNumber}/env-vars, /v2/actors/{actorId}/builds; /v2/actor-builds, /{buildId}, /abort, /log, /v2/actors/{actorId}/builds/{buildId}/openapi.json` Manage Actor source versions, env vars and builds; get a build's generated OpenAPI builds consume compute units GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/datasets, /v2/datasets/{datasetId}, /items, /statistics` Datasets: read/write result items (JSON, CSV, XLSX, etc.) storage operations billed as platform usage GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/key-value-stores, /{storeId}, /keys, /records, /records/{recordKey}` Key-value stores (INPUT, OUTPUT, screenshots, files) storage operations billed as platform usage GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/request-queues, /{queueId}, /requests, /requests/batch, /head, /head/lock, /requests/{requestId}/lock, /requests/unlock` Request queues for crawler URL frontiers storage operations billed as platform usage GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/webhooks, /{webhookId}, /test, /dispatches; /v2/webhook-dispatches` Webhooks on run/build events (e.g. ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED) free GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/schedules, /{scheduleId}, /log` Cron schedules for Actors and tasks free GET `/v2/store` Search Apify Store Actors free GET/PUT `/v2/users/me, /v2/users/{userId}, /v2/users/me/usage/monthly, /v2/users/me/limits` Account, monthly usage and spending limits (can set max monthly usage) free GET `/v2/logs/{buildOrRunId}` Raw log of a run or build free GET/POST/PUT/DELETE `/v2/browser-info, /v2/tools/encode-and-sign, /v2/tools/decode-and-verify` Utility tools free [](/) © 2026 ONEGTMLAB Private Limited. 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