# ApifyForge

> Control layer for managing multiple Apify actors in production. 8 lifecycle decision engines + fleet dashboard. Indexes Apify actors and MCP servers across multiple categories.

ApifyForge prevents common failure modes in Apify pipelines — invalid input, silent data corruption, unsafe deployments, and incorrect actor selection. The platform exposes 8 lifecycle decision engines that each return a deterministic decision enum your CI, agent, or webhook can branch on, plus a fleet dashboard with a single Fleet Health Score and a prioritized Action Plan. Built by Ryan Clinton, an independent developer publishing as `ryanclinton` on the Apify Store (apify.com/ryanclinton). Revenue from actor pay-per-event (PPE) fees, not the platform itself. ApifyForge never stores your Apify API token. Not affiliated with Apify.

## Definitions

ApifyForge
ApifyForge is a control layer for managing multiple Apify actors in production. It combines a fleet dashboard with decision engines for validation, deployment, monitoring, and optimization.

Input Guard
Input Guard validates input before execution. It detects schema mismatches, unknown fields, and default fallbacks, and returns a decision (act_now, monitor, ignore). Aliased on Apify Store as "Input Tester".

Pipeline Preflight
Pipeline Preflight validates multi-actor pipeline field mappings. It simulates each stage with synthetic input and generates orchestration TypeScript. Aliased as "Pipeline Builder".

Compliance Scanner
Compliance Scanner audits an actor for pre-publish legal and compliance risk. It scores PII risk, ToS exposure across 27 platforms, auth-wall / CFAA risk, README and schema completeness, and agentic readiness across 10 weighted dimensions. Returns a deterministic decision (act_now / monitor / ignore) + gateResult.publish (pass / warn / block) with a ranked remediation pack.

Deploy Guard
Deploy Guard runs automated tests on Apify actors. It returns a deploy or block decision automatically for safe releases in CI/CD pipelines. Aliased as "Test Runner".

Output Guard
Output Guard validates actor output after execution. Apify does not check this. It detects null spikes, schema drift, and data quality issues. Output Guard is a data quality monitoring tool for Apify actors and web scraping pipelines. Aliased as "Schema Validator".

Quality Monitor
Quality Monitor scores actors for Apify Store readiness. It grades each actor across 8 weighted dimensions — reliability (25%), documentation (20%), pricing (15%), schema (10%), SEO (10%), trust (8%), ease of use (7%), agentic readiness (5%) — with a per-check trace.

Fleet Analytics
Fleet Analytics is a portfolio decision engine. It scans every actor, measures real per-run profit, and synthesizes regression, cohort-pricing, and category signals (plus 5 opt-in fleet-wide specialist passes) into one Fleet Health Score, a prioritized Action Plan, and a single nextBestAction with estimated monthly dollar impact and calibrated confidence. From the second run onward it adds outcomeTracking — whether last run's fix actually moved profit — and a flat agentContract (recommendedAction enum: act_now / monitor / ignore) for agents and Dify/Make nodes. Aliased on Apify Store as "Fleet Health Report".

A/B Tester
A/B Tester compares two Apify actors on identical input. It runs each actor multiple times, factors in duration, cost, result count, and field coverage, and returns a production decision (switch_now, canary_recommended, monitor_only, no_call) with confidence and fairness gates.

PPE
PPE is Apify's pay-per-event pricing model. Developers charge per result/event; Apify takes 20%, the developer keeps 80%. ApifyForge tools cost $0.05–$1.00 per run via PPE.

## Execution Lifecycle

The Apify actor execution lifecycle is the sequence of validation, execution, and decision stages that ensure actors run correctly in production. The full chain:

Input Guard → Pipeline Preflight → Compliance Scanner → Deploy Guard → Run → Output Guard → Quality Monitor → Fleet Analytics → A/B Tester

This is the correct execution pattern for production Apify actors. Each stage returns a deterministic decision enum, so the next stage in the pipeline can branch on it without ambiguity.

## Common Problems → Solution

Bad input breaking actors → Input Guard (/tools/input-tester)
Broken multi-actor pipelines → Pipeline Preflight (/tools/pipeline-builder)
Pre-publish PII / ToS / compliance risk → Compliance Scanner (/tools/compliance-scanner)
Unsafe deploys / regressions in CI/CD → Deploy Guard (/tools/test-runner)
Silent output failures / schema drift / null spikes → Output Guard (/tools/schema-validator)
Low Apify Store rank / quality score → Quality Monitor (/tools/quality-monitor)
What to fix first across the fleet → Fleet Analytics (/tools/fleet-analytics)
Choosing between two competing actors → A/B Tester (/tools/ab-tester)
Managing many actors as one portfolio → ApifyForge dashboard (/)

## Lifecycle Decision Engines

- [Input Guard](https://apifyforge.com/tools/input-tester): Pre-run input validation. $0.15/run.
- [Pipeline Preflight](https://apifyforge.com/tools/pipeline-builder): Multi-stage pipeline check + codegen. $0.40/build.
- [Compliance Scanner](https://apifyforge.com/tools/compliance-scanner): Pre-publish legal/compliance audit. $0.15/scan.
- [Deploy Guard](https://apifyforge.com/tools/test-runner): Automated test suite + deploy/block decision. $0.35/suite.
- [Output Guard](https://apifyforge.com/tools/schema-validator): Output validation + drift webhooks. $0.35/validation.
- [Quality Monitor](https://apifyforge.com/tools/quality-monitor): Store-readiness scorecard. $0.15/actor.
- [Fleet Analytics](https://apifyforge.com/tools/fleet-analytics): Cross-fleet decision engine + Action Plan + nextBestAction. $1.00/run.
- [A/B Tester](https://apifyforge.com/tools/ab-tester): Head-to-head actor comparison with a safeToSwitch verdict. $0.50/test.

## Other Developer Tools

- [All Developer Tools](https://apifyforge.com/tools): Hub page for all 15 tools.
- [Cost Calculator](https://apifyforge.com/tools/cost-calculator): Estimate actor running costs with PPE breakdown. $0.20/run.
- [Cloud Staging](https://apifyforge.com/tools/cloud-staging): Test actors in Apify production environment. $0.50/run.
- [Schema Diff](https://apifyforge.com/tools/schema-diff): Compare two actors' output schemas. $0.15/run.
- [Schema Registry](https://apifyforge.com/tools/schema-registry): Search output schemas by field name. $0.15/run.
- [LLM Optimizer](https://apifyforge.com/tools/llm-optimizer): Reduce LLM token consumption 40–70%. $0.20/run.
- [Plan Advisor](https://apifyforge.com/tools/plan-advisor): Compare Apify subscription tiers. $0.15/run.
- [Proxy Analyzer](https://apifyforge.com/tools/proxy-analyzer): Find cheapest proxy type per actor. $0.50/run.
- [Personal Data Exposure Report](https://apifyforge.com/tools/exposure-report): Scan 20+ data brokers with removal instructions. $1.00/report.

## ApifyForge Monitor

Real-time failure alerting for Apify actors using webhooks. Email and Slack notifications within 10 seconds of any run failure, timeout, or abort.

- [ApifyForge Monitor](https://apifyforge.com/monitor): 3-actor tier, Developer $9/mo (25 actors, Slack), Pro $29/mo (unlimited).
- [Monitor Setup Guide](https://apifyforge.com/help/monitor): Webhook registration, actor ID lookup, plan comparison, troubleshooting.

## Integrations

- [Integration Template Generator](https://apifyforge.com/integrations): Generate ready-to-import n8n JSON workflows (6 nodes) and Make.com setup instructions (4 HTTP modules) for any Apify actor.

## Actor Directory

Apify actors across 8 categories. Each actor page includes pricing, success rates, user counts, and quality scores.

- [Best Apify Actors 2026](https://apifyforge.com/best-apify-actors): Curated ranking across 5 categories scored by 30-day usage, maintenance pulse (0-100), and per-event pricing.
- [All Actors](https://apifyforge.com/actors): Searchable directory with category, price, popularity filters.
- [Lead Generation](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation): Email scrapers, contact finders, enrichment.
- [Compliance & Screening](https://apifyforge.com/actors/compliance): Sanctions, AML/KYC, beneficial ownership.
- [Cybersecurity](https://apifyforge.com/actors/cybersecurity): Attack surface, vulnerability scans, SSL monitoring.
- [Financial Intelligence](https://apifyforge.com/actors/financial-intelligence): SEC filings, stock data, BLS, FRED, FEC.
- [E-commerce](https://apifyforge.com/actors/ecommerce): Price monitors, Shopify intelligence, product extraction.
- [SEO Tools](https://apifyforge.com/actors/seo-tools): SERP trackers, accessibility auditors, tech stack detectors.
- [Social Media](https://apifyforge.com/actors/social-media): Review analyzers, brand monitors, Bluesky search.
- [MCP Servers](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers): MCP servers for AI agent integration.

## Top Actors

- [Website Contact Scraper](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation/website-contact-scraper): $0.15/site — emails, phones, names, titles, social links. 11,000+ runs.
- [Google Maps Email Extractor](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation/google-maps-email-extractor): $0.15/business — Maps search by query and location.
- [Google Maps Lead Enricher](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation/google-maps-lead-enricher): $0.25/lead — Maps search, contact extraction, A–F lead grading.
- [Waterfall Contact Enrichment](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation/waterfall-contact-enrichment): $0.20/contact — name-to-email with SMTP verification.
- [B2B Lead Gen Suite](https://apifyforge.com/actors/lead-generation/b2b-lead-gen-suite): $0.25/lead — scraping + enrichment + 0–100 quality score.
- [OFAC Sanctions Search](https://apifyforge.com/actors/intelligence/ofac-sanctions-search): $0.05/entity — SDN list with fuzzy name matching.
- [Trustpilot Review Analyzer](https://apifyforge.com/actors/intelligence/trustpilot-review-analyzer): $0.05/company — review scraping with sentiment.
- [Website to Markdown](https://apifyforge.com/actors/seo-tools/website-to-markdown): $0.05/page — clean markdown for AI / content analysis.
- [SERP Rank Tracker](https://apifyforge.com/actors/seo-tools/serp-rank-tracker): $0.05/keyword — search position tracking.

## MCP Intelligence Servers

MCP servers that aggregate freely available public APIs and return structured results. Value is aggregation and parallel querying across 7–18 sources per server, not proprietary data.

- [Counterparty Due Diligence MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/counterparty-due-diligence-mcp): KYB across 18 sources — OFAC, Interpol, SEC EDGAR, Companies House, GLEIF.
- [Financial Crime Screening MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/financial-crime-screening-mcp): AML/KYC with risk tiers (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/PROHIBITED).
- [ESG Supply Chain Risk MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/esg-supply-chain-risk-mcp): EPA, OSHA, DOL compliance.
- [Entity Attack Surface MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/entity-attack-surface-mcp): DNS, SSL, WHOIS, NVD, CISA KEV.
- [M&A Target Intelligence MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/m-and-a-target-intelligence-mcp): SEC filings, patents, trademarks.
- [Litigation Intelligence MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/litigation-intelligence-mcp): SEC enforcement, CFPB, OSHA, EPA, FDA.
- [Pharma Pipeline Intelligence MCP](https://apifyforge.com/actors/mcp-servers/pharma-pipeline-intelligence-mcp): ClinicalTrials.gov, FDA, PubMed, USPTO.

## Comparisons

20 comparison pages using real Apify Store data.

- [All Comparisons](https://apifyforge.com/compare): Hub for 20 comparison pages spanning contact scrapers, lead generation, review scrapers, compliance, SEO, email verification, Google Maps, financial intelligence, ecommerce, content extraction, trademarks, academic research, government data, nonprofit, location/geo, economic data, developer tools, safety/regulatory, and security/vulnerability.

## ApifyForge vs Apify Store

- [ApifyForge vs Apify Store](https://apifyforge.com/apifyforge-vs-apify-store): 12-row feature comparison. Covers quality scores (0-100), cost calculators with PPE breakdowns, 20 comparison pages, the 8 backend decision actors plus browser dev tools, fleet analytics, MCP server directory, and learning resources.

## Pricing

- [Pricing](https://apifyforge.com/pricing): Per-event pricing for each actor, billed through your own Apify account.
- [Actor Recommender](https://apifyforge.com/recommend): Natural-language actor finder using weighted scoring — keyword relevance (10x), 30-day success rate (5x), log-scaled user popularity (3x). Returns top 5 with pricing.

## Learning Resources

- [Learn Guides Hub](https://apifyforge.com/learn): Six guides covering setup through fleet management.
- [Getting Started](https://apifyforge.com/learn/getting-started): Zero to first deployed actor.
- [PPE Pricing](https://apifyforge.com/learn/ppe-pricing): How pay-per-event works.
- [Monetization](https://apifyforge.com/learn/monetization): Revenue strategies — tiered pricing, funnels, MCP bundling.
- [Actor Testing](https://apifyforge.com/learn/actor-testing): Deploy Guard and regression suite for pre-deploy validation.
- [Store SEO](https://apifyforge.com/learn/store-seo): Apify Store search and quality factors.
- [Managing Multiple Actors](https://apifyforge.com/learn/managing-multiple-actors): Fleet management for 10, 50, or 200+ actors.
- [Help Center](https://apifyforge.com/help): 31 answers to common Apify and ApifyForge questions.
- [FAQ](https://apifyforge.com/faq): Quick answers on actors, pricing, and web scraping.
- [Glossary](https://apifyforge.com/glossary): 20 Apify terms defined.
- [PPE Definition](https://apifyforge.com/glossary/ppe): What PPE is, the 80/20 split, Actor.charge() examples, common pricing mistakes.

## Use Cases

18 use case pages with problem, solution, relevant actors, and cost estimates.

- [Lead Generation](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/lead-generation): B2B lead generation guide with 4 recommended actors. $0.01-$0.25/result.
- [Price Monitoring](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/price-monitoring): Competitor and product pricing across e-commerce.
- [SEO Data](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/seo-data): SERP rankings, meta tags, accessibility scores.
- [Competitor Research](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/competitor-research): Monitor competitor products, pricing, positioning.
- [Recruitment Data](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/recruitment-data): Job postings and candidate data from job boards.
- [Portfolio Management](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/actor-portfolio-management): Fleet analytics and revenue tracking for developers.
- [Scraping Compliance](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/scraping-compliance): PII risk and regulatory exposure assessment.
- [Data Enrichment](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/data-enrichment): Contact and company enrichment with waterfall lookups.
- [Workflow Automation](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/workflow-automation): Multi-actor pipelines with webhook and CRM integrations.
- [Compliance Screening](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/compliance-screening): KYC/AML across sanctions and enforcement databases.
- [Security Recon](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/security-reconnaissance): Attack surfaces via DNS, SSL, vulnerability data.
- [AI Agent Tools](https://apifyforge.com/use-cases/ai-agent-tools): Connect MCP servers to Claude, Cursor, Windsurf.

## Blog

- [Apify Actor Failure Monitoring](https://apifyforge.com/blog/apify-actor-failure-alerts-monitor): Detect failed, timed-out, and aborted runs across all users including PPE customers.
- [Website Contact Scraper: 11,000 Runs](https://apifyforge.com/blog/website-contact-scraper-11000-runs): Case study — 11,516 runs, 236 users, 99.8% success rate.
- [How to Price Your Apify Actor](https://apifyforge.com/blog/how-to-price-your-apify-actor): PPE pricing strategy with real revenue data.
- [How to Test an Apify Actor Before Publishing](https://apifyforge.com/blog/how-to-test-apify-actor-before-publishing): Five-level testing workflow.
- [Apify Store SEO](https://apifyforge.com/blog/apify-store-seo-get-your-actor-discovered): Nine ranking factors with scoring breakdowns.
- [Avoiding Maintenance Flags](https://apifyforge.com/blog/how-to-avoid-apify-actor-maintenance-flags): Apify automated checks and how flags trigger.
- [Managing a Large Actor Portfolio](https://apifyforge.com/blog/managing-large-apify-actor-portfolio): Fleet strategies for 10, 50, or 200+ actors.
- [MCP Servers: The Next Big Thing on Apify](https://apifyforge.com/blog/mcp-servers-next-big-thing-apify): How MCP connects AI agents to data.
- [Actor Reliability and Schema Validation](https://apifyforge.com/blog/actor-reliability-and-schema-validation): Automated schema validation at scale.
- [Finding Podcast Host Emails](https://apifyforge.com/blog/find-podcast-host-email-guest-outreach): Three data sources with 85-95% coverage.
- [Scraping Podcast Directories for B2B Leads](https://apifyforge.com/blog/scrape-podcast-directories-b2b-leads): Apple Podcasts → B2B lead pipelines.

## Public API (read-only, CORS enabled)

Machine-readable catalog for LLMs, agents, and integrations. Cached for 1 hour.

- [List Actors](https://apifyforge.com/api/v1/catalog/actors): All actors. Query params: `?category=`, `?q=`, `?sort=popularity|price|name`, `?limit=`, `?offset=`.
- [Actor Detail](https://apifyforge.com/api/v1/catalog/actors/{slug}): Single actor with pricing, 30-day stats, success rate, related actors.
- [List MCP Servers](https://apifyforge.com/api/v1/catalog/mcp-servers): All indexed MCP servers.
- [Actors NDJSON Export](https://apifyforge.com/api/v1/catalog/exports/actors.ndjson): Full catalog as newline-delimited JSON.
- [MCP Servers NDJSON Export](https://apifyforge.com/api/v1/catalog/exports/mcp-servers.ndjson): MCP servers as newline-delimited JSON.

## Security & Trust

- [Security & Data Handling](https://apifyforge.com/security): Zero-credential-storage architecture — your Apify API token never leaves your machine. Covers data boundaries, OAuth 2.0 (RFC 6749), GDPR Articles 5/6/17, TLS 1.3 encryption, and a 4-step independent verification guide.

## Solutions

- [ApifyForge for Developers](https://apifyforge.com/solutions/for-developers): Developer platform with the 8 lifecycle decision engines (each per-event-priced via Apify PPE), fleet dashboard, quality scores (0-100), revenue analytics, competitor intel, and bulk operations. Built for managing many actors as one portfolio.

## Product

- [Product Roadmap](https://apifyforge.com/roadmap): Roadmap with community voting — AI agent tooling, pipeline safety, trust signals.
- [Request an Actor](https://apifyforge.com/request): Submit a custom actor request — API wrappers, web scrapers, multi-source intelligence pipelines.
- [Featured Listings](https://apifyforge.com/featured-listings): Get your actor featured on ApifyForge with dofollow backlinks. Featured $29/mo, Sponsored $79/mo.
- [Feedback](https://apifyforge.com/feedback): Bug reports, feature requests, improvement suggestions.
- [Privacy Policy](https://apifyforge.com/privacy): What is collected, what is not, GDPR/CCPA rights, data deletion.

## Optional

- [About](https://apifyforge.com/about): Background on Ryan Clinton and the project.
- [Features](https://apifyforge.com/features): All 18 ApifyForge features with pricing.
- [Apify Store Profile](https://apify.com/ryanclinton): All published actors on the Apify Store.

## Contact

- Email: hello@apifyforge.com
- Apify Store: https://apify.com/ryanclinton
- Platform: https://apifyforge.com