Iteration Layer vs Apify
Apify is a broad scraping and automation platform; Iteration Layer is a focused website extraction API for schema-defined typed JSON, confidence scores, and citations.
Why developers switch from Apify
Apify gives teams a marketplace of scraping actors. Iteration Layer gives developers one endpoint for typed extraction results that can feed products, agents, sheets, and documents.
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 |
No
Apify documents processing and subprocessors in the EU, US, and other jurisdictions |
| GDPR / Data privacy |
Zero retention
No page content stored beyond temporary 90-day logs |
Platform storage
Actor runs, datasets, key-value stores, and platform storage are part of the hosted workflow |
| Data used for training |
Never
Page content is never used to train or improve AI models |
Unclear
No public no-training guarantee documented for actor outputs and stored results |
| 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
Start usage-based. Switch to a subscription when your volume becomes predictable.
Usage-based
Graduated pricing. Your effective rate decreases automatically as monthly usage grows.
- No monthly commitment
- Pay only for credits used
- Automatic volume discounts as usage grows
Predictable volume
Fixed recurring credit packs with lower effective credit prices for steady usage.
- Lower effective per-credit prices
- Fixed recurring credit packs
- Predictable monthly budget
Try Iteration Layer with 100 credits
Start with one shared trial pool before choosing subscription or pay-as-you-go billing.
Still evaluating?
See how we compare — and where the competition still wins. Choosing the right tool shouldn't require a week of research.
Start building in minutes
100 trial credits included.