Getting Started with Devil Scrapes Actors on Apify

An Apify Actor is a packaged, hosted scraper: you supply an input (a list of URLs, a domain, a username), Apify runs it in an isolated container on our behalf, and the output lands in a structured dataset you can download or pull via API. You never install Python, manage a proxy, or babysit a browser. This page gets a Devil Scrapes Actor running for you in three steps, using nothing but a browser and Apify’s free trial credit.

What you’re actually running

Every one of our 202 live Actors on the Apify Store is the same shape under the hood: an input schema (a form), a run (a container that does the scraping), and a dataset (the output table). We wrote the scraping logic — the fingerprint rotation, the proxy handling, the retry loops — so your job is limited to filling in the form and reading the results.

Step 1: Open the Actor and fill the input

1. Go to the Actor’s page on the Store, e.g. https://apify.com/DevilScrapes/<slug>, or browse the full catalog at /actors/.
2. Click Try for free. Apify prompts you to sign up if you haven’t already — no credit card required for the free tier.
3. On the Actor’s Input tab, fill in the fields the form asks for. These map 1:1 to the “Input” table in the Actor’s README — a domain, a username, a list of URLs, a max-results cap. Every field has a description and, usually, a prefilled example so you can hit Run without typing anything to see the shape of the output first.

Step 2: Run it

Click Start. Apify spins up a container, our code boots, and you’ll see a live log stream on the Log tab — page fetched, item written, retry fired, that kind of detail. Most of our Actors finish a small run (tens of results) in under a minute; larger jobs (thousands of rows) take longer because we deliberately pace requests against the target’s rate limits rather than hammering it and getting blocked mid-run.

While it runs, the status bar shows RUNNING. When it’s done, it flips to SUCCEEDED (or, rarely, FAILED with a log line explaining why — we fail loud rather than hand you a silent empty dataset when something upstream breaks).

Step 3: Read the results

Results land in the run’s Dataset tab as a table, one row per Pydantic-validated result. From there you can:

• Preview rows directly in the Console table view.
• Export to JSON, JSONL, CSV, XLSX, XML, RSS, or HTML — pick a format from the dropdown and download.
• Grab the API URL — every dataset has a stable GET https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{datasetId}/items?format=json endpoint you can hit from code, a spreadsheet importer, or a webhook target. See Run any DevilScrapes Actor via the API for the full pattern.

Fields are named consistently across our fleet — plain snake_case or camelCase, ISO-8601 timestamps, stable IDs where the source data supports one — so swapping between our Actors doesn’t mean relearning a schema every time.

What it costs to try

Every Actor is priced Pay-Per-Event: a small flat actor-start fee (commonly $0.20) plus a per-result price, typically $1–$5 per 1,000 results depending on how much work each row costs us to extract. If a run finds zero matching results, you’re charged only the start fee — never the per-result price for rows that never landed. New Apify accounts get free trial credit to run Actors before spending anything real, so your first run (and usually several after it) costs you nothing out of pocket. The exact price for any Actor is always shown on its Store page and in the README’s Pricing table before you click Run.

Where to go next

• Need to call an Actor from your own code or a cron job instead of the Console? Read Run any DevilScrapes Actor via the API.
• Want the run to finish and hand you data in one HTTP call, or fire a webhook when it’s done? Read Synchronous runs, webhooks, and scheduling.
• Curious exactly how Pay-Per-Event billing works, including how to cap spend? Read Pricing and billing.
• Browse the full catalog at /actors/.

FAQ

Do I need to install anything to run an Actor?

No. Everything runs in Apify’s cloud. You need an Apify account (free to create) and a browser. Code and CLI access are optional conveniences covered in Run any DevilScrapes Actor via the API, not requirements.

How long does a run take?

It depends on the Actor and how many results you ask for. Small runs (tens of rows) typically finish in under a minute. Large runs take longer because we pace requests deliberately — we back off when a target rate-limits rather than pushing through and getting the whole run blocked.

What happens if the run finds nothing?

You’re charged only the actor-start fee. A search that legitimately has zero matches finishes SUCCEEDED with an empty dataset and a status message explaining what was searched — that’s correct behavior, not a bug.

Can I try an Actor without paying?

Yes. New Apify accounts get free trial credit that covers the actor-start fee and typically a batch of results on most of our Actors, so you can validate the output shape before committing spend.

Where do my results go after the run finishes?

Into that run’s dataset, browsable and exportable from the Console immediately, and reachable via the Dataset API for as long as your Apify plan’s storage retention allows. If you need results to outlive that window, export them or pull them into your own storage right after the run.