Apify charges a platform fee plus per-compute-unit costs on top. Shell City charges $0.001 per page — one price, one API call, no platform to learn.
No credit card. No subscription.
Apify requires you to learn their actor framework, browse their marketplace, and configure runs. Shell City is one API call — pass a URL, get clean data back. No platform to learn.
Apify charges $49–$499/mo just for platform access, then bills compute units on top. You pay twice. Shell City: $0.001/page, all-in. No platform fee, no hidden compute charges.
Apify actors return raw HTML or custom JSON schemas. Your AI agent has to parse and transform. Shell City returns clean markdown by default — ready for LLM context instantly.
| Shell City | Apify | Firecrawl | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per page | $0.001Cheapest | $0.004–$0.025+ (varies by actor) | $0.002–$0.004 | $0.001–$0.049 |
| Pricing model | Pay per use | Platform fee + compute units | Subscription tiers ($16–$500/mo) | Credit packs ($49–$999/mo) |
| Platform / base fee | $0 | $49–$499/mo | $16–$500/mo | $49–$999/mo |
| Monthly minimum | $0 | $49/mo (Starter plan) | $16/mo | $49 minimum pack |
| Free tier | 1,000 free pages | Free plan (limited compute) | 500 credits (trial) | 1,000 credits (trial) |
| Billing transparency | $0.001 × pages | Platform + compute units (complex) | Plan-based | Credit-based |
| Output format | Clean markdown | Depends on actor (usually HTML/JSON) | Clean markdown | Raw HTML |
| 10K pages/mo cost | $10 | $49+ (platform) + ~$40–$250 compute | $56 (Growth plan) | $99 (Startup plan) |
| 100K pages/mo cost | $100 | $149+ (platform) + ~$400–$2,500 compute | $500 (Business plan) | $249 (Business plan) |
1,000 free pages. No credit card. No subscription.
| Feature | Shell City | Apify | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript rendering | ✓ Included ($0.001) | ✓ Via actors (compute cost) | ✓ Included |
| Clean markdown output | ✓ Default | ✕ Actor-dependent | ✓ Default |
| Setup complexity | ✓ One API call | Learn actor framework | ✓ Simple API |
| Anti-bot bypass | ✓ Included | ✓ Via proxy actors | ✓ Included |
| Proxy rotation | ✓ Included | ✓ Extra cost (residential) | ✓ Included |
| HTTP 402 auto-billing | ✓ Agent-native | ✕ | ✕ |
| Pay-per-use model | ✓ Always | ✕ Platform fee required | ✕ Subscriptions only |
| OpenAPI spec | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI agent optimized | ✓ Built for agents | Developer platform | Developer-focused |
| Batch/crawl mode | Coming soon | ✓ Via crawl actors | ✓ Included |
Enter your expected monthly page volume to compare costs. Apify costs include platform fee + estimated compute for a standard web scraper actor.
Shell City routes scraping requests through best-in-class providers under the hood. We negotiate volume pricing, pool capacity across all customers, and pass the savings directly to you.
You get the same rendering quality and anti-bot bypass you'd expect from premium providers — without their platform fees, actor complexity, or compute-unit billing. Our margin comes from volume efficiency.
Think of it as buying wholesale instead of retail. Same infrastructure, dramatically simpler economics.
Get 1,000 free pages. No credit card. No platform to learn. Your agent starts scraping in 30 seconds.
Get your free API key →