Iteration Layer vs Apify
Apify is a broad scraping and automation platform; Iteration Layer is a focused API that returns typed JSON from a schema.
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Why developers switch from Apify
Apify gives teams a marketplace of scraping actors. Iteration Layer gives you one endpoint, one schema, and typed extraction results with confidence scores.
One endpoint instead of actor selection
Send a URL and schema directly instead of choosing, configuring, or maintaining a scraping actor for each workflow.
Confidence scores and citations
Every extracted value includes a confidence score and a verbatim source citation. No post-processing needed to assess extraction quality.
EU-hosted, zero data retention
All processing runs on EU infrastructure. Page content is processed in memory and not retained. DPA available for all plans.
Feature-by-feature comparison
We went through the docs so you don't have to. Here's how every feature compares — including the ones where we're not the better choice.
| Feature | Iteration Layer | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Schema-defined extraction |
Yes
Define fields in a schema and receive typed JSON results |
Actor-dependent
Output shape depends on the actor or custom flow |
| Confidence scores |
Per field
Confidence score between 0 and 1 for every extracted field |
No
No built-in confidence scoring |
| Source citations |
Yes
Verbatim source citation from the page for every field |
No
No source citations for extracted values |
| Crawling breadth |
Single page
One public URL per request |
Broad platform
Useful for crawler and automation workflows |
| EU hosting |
EU only
All processing on EU-hosted servers |
Check availability
Review Apify for EU region options |
| GDPR / Data privacy |
Zero retention
No page content stored beyond temporary 90-day logs |
Platform policies
Check Apify for data retention and privacy terms |
| Data used for training |
Never
Page content is never used to train or improve AI models |
Check terms
Review Apify terms for model training policies |
| Pricing model |
Per page
One credit per extraction request |
Per run
Pricing based on compute, storage, and proxy usage per actor run |
| Infrastructure required |
None
Fully managed API with no deployment needed |
None
Fully managed platform |
Pricing
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Developer
For individuals & small projects
Startup
Save 40%For growing teams
Business
Save 47%For high-volume workloads
Or pay as you go from $0.022/credit with automatic volume discounts.
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