Actors
Learn how to develop, run and share serverless cloud programs. Create your own web scraping and automation tools and publish them on the Apify platform.
Actors are serverless cloud programs that can do almost anything a human can do in a web browser. They can do anything from small tasks like filling in forms or unsubscribing from online services all the way up to scraping and processing vast numbers of web pages.
You can use Actors manually in Apify Console, by using the API or scheduler. You can easily integrate them with other apps and share your Actors with other Apify users via Apify Store or access rights system.
New to Apify? Try actors with our quick start tutorial and see the Apify Academy's courses.
A single isolated Actor consists of source code and various settings. You can think of an Actor as a cloud app or service that runs on the Apify platform. The run of an Actor is not limited to the lifetime of a single HTTP transaction. It can run for as long as necessary, even forever.
Public and private actors
Actors can be public or private. Private Actors are yours to use and keep; no one will see them if you don't want them to. Public actors are available to everyone in Apify Store. You can make them free to use, or you can charge for them.
Section overview
This section covers the main 3 topics when it comes to Apify Actors:
- Running Actors - how to run private and public Actors (from Apify Store), and information about Actor configuration, pricing, and usage cost.
- Development - start developing your own Actors.
- Publishing and monetization - learn how to share your Actors with other users and monetize them on Apify Store.