If it is not secret, what is the reason
If it is not secret, what is the reason why you have external costs? Ideally, you just need Apify for the whole thing (compute, proxy, storage) and then you don't need to worry about free users since Apify covers all of its resources.
2 Replies
vicious-gold•3mo ago
Let me explain how I handle my actors.
For one of my rental-based actors, I implemented a strategy to limit usage for free users. Since each free user gets $5 in credits, and the runs are so cheap, they could otherwise just create multiple accounts to exploit it. By putting limits in place, I was able to prevent abuse and actually increase revenues. I’m aware that I can also limit the trial period, but in my opinion, that alone isn’t enough.
For my other actors that run on PPE, I use a different strategy: I manually approve free users who request access. I then grant them a limited number of runs and restrict the results per run. Why? Because free users receive a recurring $5 credit every month, and that creates another challenge. Technically, I could adjust the pricing for free users, but doing so makes the pricing displayed on the actor page look very expensive which is another issue that has been discussed here.
That’s why I suggested adding configuration options for developers, so they can more easily manage usage limits and control the number of event invocations depending on the user’s plan.
Sorry for being so direct, but I think the voices of developers here are not being considered enough, and Apify should really make an effort to improve on that.
At the end of the day, the main goal for both us developers and Apify is the same: to generate revenue and ensure it keeps growing.
when I talk about external costs, what I mean is that for my PPE actors I sometimes rely on my own hosted tools combined with third-party proxy providers, since Apify’s proxy pricing is too high. That’s another factor that makes it harder to keep margins healthy.
I see, so you are getting better residential proxy price elsewhere? On the other hadn, if you use Apify's proxy, the cost is just subtracted from your revenue (and the margin is separated for each Actor) so you are at much lower risk that something goes wrong and you have to pay more than you earn.