switch402

Apify Credits Explained (2026): Compute Units, Prepaid Usage and Actor Burn

Apify does not sell a simple per-page credit the way many scraper APIs do. Per apify.com/pricing and Apify's Actor usage docs (checked Nov 6, 2026), platform compute is measured in compute units (CUs): 1 CU = 1 GB of RAM running for 1 hour. Each subscription includes prepaid platform usage for the month (Free $5, Starter $19, Scale $199, Business $999), CU prices fall from $0.20 on Free/Starter to $0.16 on Scale and $0.13 on Business, and unused prepaid usage does not roll over. Many Apify Store Actors use pay-per-event pricing listed on the Actor page; others bill platform usage only; some charge both. That is why switch402 never ships an Apify per-page calculator: there is no honest single dollars-per-page number without measuring a specific Actor, memory and run time. This page explains CU burn on common Actor classes and contrasts it with paying $0.008 per successful page ($0.003 on lite) with no compute pool to manage.

See also: Apify pricing calculator · Scraping API pricing compared · ZenRows credits explained · Pay-as-you-go web scraping API

  • 1 CU = 1 GB · hour

    Apify's docs: running an Actor with 1024 MB for 1 hour consumes 1 CU. CPU scales with memory (about one full core per 4096 MB). Disk is roughly 2× memory. You pick a power-of-two memory from 128 MB to 32768 MB when you start a run.

  • Prepaid usage, then pay as you go

    Starter is $19/month and includes $19 of platform usage; Scale $199 / $199; Business $999 / $999. Usage past the prepaid amount bills on the next invoice up to a limit you set (Starter caps around $100 of usage). Free includes $5 and blocks when it runs out. Unused prepaid usage expires at the end of the billing cycle.

  • Actor class changes the burn

    HTTP / Cheerio-style crawlers can run on less memory and finish more pages per CU. Puppeteer / Playwright browser Actors need at least 1024 MB and run slower, so the same job burns more CU time. Large sites and heavy pages cost more regardless of stack. Short runs that restart often waste CU on cold starts versus one longer batch.

  • Pay-per-event is a different meter

    Most Store Actors price events (for example a result returned) on the Actor page. Some include platform usage in the event price; some add CU, proxy and storage on top. Always read that Actor's pricing section — a CU table alone will not predict the invoice.

Apify plans and CU price, as of Nov 6, 2026 (monthly)

PlanMonthly pricePrepaid usageCU priceMax concurrent runs
Free$0$5$0.20 / CU5
Starter$19 ($17/mo annual)$19$0.20 / CU32
Scale$199 ($179/mo annual)$199$0.16 / CU128
Business$999 ($899/mo annual)$999$0.13 / CU256

Illustrative CU burn (from Apify's own estimation pattern, not a switch402 benchmark): a 4096 MB run that lasts 15 minutes uses 1 CU (4 GB × 0.25 h). On Starter that is $0.20 of usage — whether that run fetched 10 pages or 10,000 depends entirely on the Actor. A browser Actor at 2048 MB for 30 minutes is also 1 CU. Residential proxy is priced separately ($8/GB on Free/Starter per the pricing page). switch402 has no CU pool: $0.008 per successful page on /v1/scrape and $0.003 on lite, charged only on success, and a month with no calls costs $0. We do not claim switch402 is cheaper for every Apify workload — a well-tuned pay-per-event Actor or a CU-efficient HTTP crawl can cost less per page at volume. switch402 is the option when you want a fixed success price and no prepaid compute to burn off.

Sources, checked Nov 6, 2026: apify.com/pricing, docs.apify.com — Actor usage and resources. Prices can change; check the source before you decide.

Example: you pay Starter $19 and use only $4 of platform usage that month — $15 of prepaid usage expires. The same month, 500 successful pages on switch402 cost $4.00 ($1.50 on lite) with nothing left unused. If your Store Actor is pay-per-event at $2.30 per 1,000 results (Apify's Instagram Scraper example on the pricing page), 10,000 results cost $23 on that meter alone, before any separate usage line the Actor still bills.

Code example

Apify: start a Store Actor run (SDK sketch)

// CU burn = (memory_GB) × (duration_hours); event Actors also bill their own prices
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN })
const run = await client.actor('username/actor-name').call({ startUrls: [{ url: 'https://example.com' }] })
// check run.stats and the Actor's pricing section for events vs usage

switch402: one flat price per successful page (JavaScript)

// npm i @x402/fetch @x402/evm viem
import { wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig } from '@x402/fetch'
import { ExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm'
import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts'

const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.AGENT_KEY)
const fetchWithPayment = wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig(fetch, {
  schemes: [{ network: 'eip155:8453', client: new ExactEvmScheme(account) }],
})

const res = await fetchWithPayment('https://api.switch402.com/v1/scrape', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'User-Agent': 'my-agent/1.0' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: 'https://example.com' }),
})
const { markdown } = await res.json() // $0.008, charged only on success

FAQ

Is switch402 live?
Yes. POST https://api.switch402.com/v1/scrape with {"url": "..."} returns the page as markdown for $0.008 USDC on Base per call, paid over x402 and charged only on success. A lower-cost endpoint, /v1/scrape/lite, is $0.003 per call.
What is an Apify compute unit?
Per Apify's docs, 1 CU is 1 GB of RAM allocated to an Actor for 1 hour. A 2048 MB run that lasts 30 minutes uses 1 CU. CPU capacity scales with the memory you assign.
How much does Apify cost?
As of Nov 6, 2026, per apify.com/pricing: Free $0 with $5 prepaid usage, Starter $19/month with $19 usage at $0.20/CU, Scale $199 with $199 at $0.16/CU, Business $999 with $999 at $0.13/CU (about 10% less when billed annually). Store Actors may add pay-per-event charges. Proxies, storage and data transfer have their own rates on the same page.
Do Apify prepaid credits roll over?
No. Unused prepaid platform usage expires at the end of the billing cycle, per Apify's pricing FAQ.
Is there an Apify pricing calculator on switch402?
Yes: /calculators/apify-pay-per-call-alternative shows switch402 at $0.008 per successful page next to each Apify plan floor and the published Instagram Scraper pay-per-event example. It does not invent a CU-per-page rate — Apify bills compute time and often per-event Actor prices, so the same 1,000 URLs can cost very different amounts depending on the Actor.
Is Apify cheaper than switch402?
It can be, especially on efficient HTTP Actors or low pay-per-event rates at volume — and it can be far more expensive on browser-heavy or proxy-heavy runs, or when prepaid usage expires unused. Compare a measured test run of your Actor to pages × $0.008. switch402 wins on predictability and on months with little or no usage.
Where do these numbers come from?
Apify's public pricing page (plans, CU prices, prepaid usage, proxy rates, Instagram Scraper event example) and the Actor usage and resources docs (CU definition, memory/CPU rules, estimation example), fetched Nov 6, 2026, plus switch402's live payment terms. Prices can change; check the sources before you decide.

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