Zyte vs Apify
Apify gives you scrapers.Zyte gives you the data.
Apify is a marketplace of individual Actors. You find them, configure them and keep them working. Zyte gives you one API that handles access, rendering, sessions, retries and extraction, priced on responses that worked.
ISO 27001 certifiedMember of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI)
Independent benchmark
Zyte vs Apify: success rate, speed + cost
In Proxyway’s Web Scraping API Report 2025, Zyte API returned more successful responses than Apify, finished the same run in under a third of the time, and cost less per 1,000 unblocked pages. That reliability comes from one API, not a set of Actors to choose, configure, and maintain.
Success rate
Zyte 85.89% vs. Apify 65.4%
Speed
Zyte 50 min · Apify 3h 10m per 6,000-page run
Costs
Zyte $0.61 vs. Apify $1.00 per 1,000 unblocked pages
Three differences
Why teams move from Apify to Zyte.
One API instead of a marketplace of scrapers. Billing tied to successful responses. Structured data, not just unblocked pages.
One request, not a stack
Access, unblocking, proxy rotation, rendering, sessions, retries and extraction happen inside one request. Apify splits these across Actors, proxies, compute units and platform configuration. Each Actor has its own schema, quality and maintenance story.
You only pay for responses that worked
Failed attempts cost you nothing. Apify pricing spans compute units, proxy usage, Actor runs, platform usage and Store pricing, so cost accrues across several meters rather than tracking the data you actually used.
Structured data, not just unblocked HTML
Products, articles, job postings, forum threads and SERP results come back as typed fields, with custom attributes when you need them. Apify routes structured output through Store Actors with source-specific schemas — fast when one matches your source, another scraper to adopt and normalise when it doesn't.
Side by side
How Zyte and Apify compare
| Dimension | Zyte | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Product model: What you buy, and how many pieces you assemble. | One API covering simple, moderate and difficult sites. | A cloud platform and marketplace built around Actors: reusable scrapers and automation programs you run, schedule, customise and share. |
| Access: Reaching a page successfully when a site resists automated traffic. | Applies the leanest working strategy by default and escalates only when a site requires it. | Proxy products and anti-blocking tools, but complex targets often need Actor-level scripting, proxy configuration, retries and ongoing tuning. |
| Browser rendering: Running a real browser for JavaScript-heavy pages and on-page actions. | Point existing Playwright or Puppeteer scripts at Zyte-hosted browsers with Browser CDP, with anti-blocking and stealth built in. Or run rendering, actions, screenshots, cookies and sessions inside a single API request. | Browser automation through Crawlee, Playwright, Puppeteer and custom Actors, for teams that want to script browser workflows directly. |
| Structured extraction: Turning a fetched page into typed fields you can use directly. | Returns products, product lists, articles, article lists, forum threads, job postings, search results, page content and custom attributes. | Prebuilt Actors with source-specific outputs, datasets, and custom parsing through Actor code. |
| Pricing: What you are billed for, and what a failed attempt costs. | Success-based pricing, so spend maps to successful responses. | Pricing can span compute units, proxy usage, Actor runs, platform usage, Store pricing and add-ons. |
| Maintenance: Who absorbs the work as sites change and break. | Takes on the work of maintaining access, rendering, retries and extraction as sites change. | Long-term reliability depends on each Actor’s quality, schema fit, proxy setup and maintenance. |
Reviews
Don't take our word for it
We set everything up once, and it continued to work for years without a hitch.
Where each one wins
Which one fits your team
Choose Zyte when
- You collect web data across many sites, not one
- Your targets include protected, JavaScript-heavy or frequently changing sites
- Your team spends real time on proxy selection, retries, rendering and ban recovery
- You need structured data, not just retrieved HTML
- You need consistent schemas across sources, not separate Actor outputs to normalise
- You want spend tied to successful results and predictable cost per usable record
- You want engineering control without owning every infrastructure decision
Choose Apify when
- You need a quick start from a ready-made Actor
- Your source has a popular Store scraper that already matches your schema
- You want a self-serve runtime for custom web automation tasks
- Your team wants to script browser workflows directly with Crawlee, Playwright or Puppeteer
- You need no-code or low-code options for business users
- You are comfortable owning Actor quality, schema fit, maintenance and cost optimisation
Two ways to work with Zyte
Run it yourself, or have us run it.
Same collection engine underneath. The difference is how much of the operating work sits with your team.
All-in-one web scraping API
Zyte API
You build and run the pipeline. One API handles access, rendering, sessions, retries and extraction; you keep the crawling logic, scheduling and orchestration.
Start with Zyte APIManaged data services
Zyte Data
We build and run it for you. You specify the sources, fields and delivery schedule; data arrives on time, to spec, with the maintenance handled.
Explore Zyte DataEither way, Zyte helps teams maintain the data, not the plumbing.
FAQ
