The Complete ApifyForge Tool Suite

ApifyForge provides 14 developer tools organized into five categories. Every tool runs as an Apify actor on your account, charges a small PPE fee per use, and caches results in your dashboard. This guide covers all 14 tools: what each does, when to use it, and how they complement each other.

Tool categories at a glance

| Category | Tools | Price Range | |----------|-------|-------------| | **Testing** | Schema Validator, Test Runner, Cloud Staging, Regression Suite, MCP Debugger | $0.15 - $0.50 | | **Schema & Data** | Input Tester, Schema Registry, Schema Diff, LLM Output Optimizer | $0.15 - $0.35 | | **Cost & Planning** | Cost Calculator, Plan Advisor, Proxy Analyzer | $0.20 - $0.25 | | **Compliance** | Compliance Scanner | $0.15 | | **Pipeline** | Pipeline Builder | $0.40 |

Testing tools

The testing suite catches bugs before they reach production. See the dedicated Testing Suite guide (/learn/testing-suite) for detailed coverage of all five testing tools.

**Quick reference:** - **Schema Validator** ($0.35) -- Compares output against declared schema. 0-100 compliance score. - **Test Runner** ($0.35) -- Multi-case test suites with 6 assertion types. - **Cloud Staging** ($0.50) -- Full production environment validation. - **Regression Suite** ($0.35) -- Historical comparison to detect what changed. - **MCP Debugger** ($0.15) -- Real protocol handshake for MCP server diagnostics.

Schema & Data tools

These tools help you understand, validate, and optimize actor data structures.

Input Tester ($0.15)

Validates your input JSON against an actor's declared input schema before running the actor. This prevents the most common cause of failed runs: bad input.

The Input Tester checks: required fields are present and non-empty, values match declared types (string, number, integer, boolean, array, object), numeric values are within min/max ranges, and select values are in the allowed enum list.

Bonus: generates ready-to-use cURL, Python, and JavaScript API call snippets from your validated input.

**When to use:** Before every new integration. When debugging why an actor run failed. When building automation scripts that need correct API calls.

Schema Registry ($0.20)

Builds a searchable index of output field names across all actors in your account. Two modes: Browse lists all actors with their complete output schemas. Find Field searches by field name (e.g., 'email') and shows every actor that outputs it.

**When to use:** When planning pipelines ('which actors give me email data?'). When evaluating whether to build a new actor or use an existing one. When auditing your fleet's data coverage.

Schema Diff ($0.20)

Compares the output schemas of two actors field by field. Shows shared fields (same name and type -- direct compatibility), type mismatches (same name, different type -- needs transformation), unique fields (only in one actor -- will be missing after swap), compatibility score (percentage of overlapping fields), and migration notes with specific transformation guidance.

**When to use:** Before replacing one actor with another in a pipeline. When evaluating competing actors. After forking an actor to see what diverged.

LLM Output Optimizer ($0.35)

Analyzes actor output and recommends token-efficient transformations for LLM pipelines. Most actor output contains fields that waste tokens: raw HTML, internal IDs, timestamps, debug data.

The optimizer fetches sample output from the actor's latest run, scores every field by information density (high/medium/low value), flags fields with >80% null values for removal, flags fields averaging >500 chars for truncation, generates an optimized schema keeping only high-value fields, and reports token savings (typically 40-70%).

**When to use:** Before feeding actor data to Claude, GPT, or any LLM. When your token costs are higher than expected. When building MCP servers that return actor data to AI agents.

Cost & Planning tools

These tools help you budget, optimize spending, and choose the right Apify plan.

Cost Calculator ($0.20)

Estimates what any actor will cost at various volumes. Fetches the actor's PPE pricing and recent run history, then projects costs at 1x to 100x your estimated monthly volume. Separates PPE charges from compute charges so you can see how much you pay the actor developer (PPE) versus how much you pay Apify for platform resources (compute).

**When to use:** Before committing to an actor for a production workflow. When comparing two actors that do the same job. When budgeting for a new project.

Plan Advisor ($0.25)

Scans your actual Apify usage (last 30 days of runs across up to 50 actors) and recommends the cheapest subscription plan. Models your workload against Free ($5 credits), Starter ($49), and Scale ($499). Catches common mistakes like staying on Free too long, upgrading to Scale when Starter would suffice, or using 4096MB memory on actors that work fine at 512MB.

**When to use:** Quarterly. When your usage changes significantly. Before renewing your subscription.

Proxy Analyzer ($0.25)

Scans your entire fleet and recommends the optimal proxy type for each actor based on target platform detection. Residential proxies cost 8x more than datacenter, and SERP proxies cost 12x more. Many actors use expensive proxies they don't need.

**When to use:** When proxy costs seem high. When adding new actors to your fleet. When reviewing your monthly Apify bill.

Compliance tool

Compliance Scanner ($0.15)

Assesses legal and regulatory risk for any actor by analyzing its metadata. Does NOT run the actor or access scraped data. Checks three risk categories: PII risk (scans for 18 keywords indicating personal data collection), ToS risk (matches against 13 platforms with known anti-scraping enforcement), and auth risk (detects login-wall scraping indicators for CFAA relevance). Maps applicable regulations: GDPR (EU), CCPA/CPRA (California), CFAA (US), ePrivacy Directive (EU), CAN-SPAM (US), PIPEDA (Canada).

**When to use:** Before publishing any actor that touches personal data. During portfolio audits. When evaluating third-party actors for enterprise use.

**Important:** Compliance Scanner provides awareness, not legal advice. Consult qualified legal counsel for binding compliance guidance.

Pipeline tool

Pipeline Builder ($0.40)

Validates multi-actor data pipelines and generates orchestration code. Define stages with actor IDs and field mappings, and the builder validates each actor exists, checks field mappings between stages (output to input), identifies type mismatches, generates complete TypeScript code using Actor.call() chains, and estimates total pipeline cost (PPE summed across stages).

**When to use:** When building multi-step data workflows. When connecting scraping actors to enrichment actors to output actors. When estimating costs for composite workflows.

Recommended workflows

New actor development

1. **Input Tester** -- Validate your input schema design 2. **Schema Validator** -- Check output matches declared schema 3. **Test Runner** -- Run multi-case test suite 4. **Cloud Staging** -- Verify in production environment 5. **Compliance Scanner** -- Assess legal risk before publishing

Total cost: ~$1.50

Pipeline design

1. **Schema Registry** -- Find actors with the fields you need 2. **Schema Diff** -- Compare candidates for compatibility 3. **Pipeline Builder** -- Validate mappings and generate code 4. **Cost Calculator** -- Estimate total pipeline cost 5. **LLM Optimizer** -- Optimize output for AI consumption

Total cost: ~$1.35

Cost optimization

1. **Cost Calculator** -- Analyze per-actor costs 2. **Proxy Analyzer** -- Find proxy savings 3. **Plan Advisor** -- Verify you're on the right plan 4. **LLM Optimizer** -- Reduce token costs if using AI

Total cost: ~$1.05

Portfolio audit

1. **Compliance Scanner** -- Run on all actors 2. **Schema Validator** -- Check all schemas 3. **Proxy Analyzer** -- Optimize proxy costs 4. **Plan Advisor** -- Verify plan selection

Total cost: varies by fleet size

All tools on one page

Visit **/dashboard/tools** in the ApifyForge sidebar to access all 14 tools. Each tool has its own configuration form, run button, and cached results display. Previous results load automatically when you revisit a tool page -- you never pay twice to view the same report.