# Apify Actor Comparison Report (`agentictools/actor-comparison`) Actor

Compare two or more Apify Actors side by side on usage, ratings, pricing, and freshness.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/agentictools/actor-comparison.md
- **Developed by:** [Ken Agland](https://apify.com/agentictools) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 actor compareds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Apify Actor Comparison Report

Compare two or more Apify Actors side by side on usage, ratings, pricing, and freshness.

### What it does

- Takes a list of Actors (by `username/name` or ID), or a search term with a limit.
- Returns one normalized dataset item per Actor with the same flat set of fields.
- Names the winner per metric in the run OUTPUT: most users, top rated, cheapest, most runs, freshest.
- Uses the public Apify API. No API key needed to run it here.

### Example input

Compare specific Actors:

```json
{
  "actors": [
    "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "apify/instagram-profile-scraper",
    "clockworks/tiktok-scraper"
  ]
}
```

Compare the top matches for a search:

```json
{
  "search": "tiktok",
  "limit": 5,
  "enrich": true
}
```

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `actors` | array | Actors to compare, each as `username/name` or an Actor ID. Provide this or `search`. |
| `search` | string | Search term. When set and no `actors` list is given, the top Store matches are compared. |
| `limit` | integer | How many top matches to compare when using `search`. Default 5, max 100. |
| `enrich` | boolean | Add each Actor's last modified date. Default true. |

If both `actors` and `search` are given, `actors` wins.

### Output

Each dataset item is one Actor:

```json
{
  "fullName": "apify/instagram-scraper",
  "title": "Instagram Scraper",
  "totalUsers": 318106,
  "totalRuns": 154178225,
  "reviewRating": 4.74,
  "reviewCount": 477,
  "pricingModel": "PAY_PER_EVENT",
  "priceUsd": 0.0027,
  "successRate30DaysPct": 99.6,
  "lastModified": "2026-07-04T14:41:00.207Z",
  "bookmarks": 4057
}
```

The run's `OUTPUT` record in the default key-value store names the winner per metric:

```json
{
  "input": {
    "actors": [
      "apify/instagram-scraper",
      "clockworks/tiktok-scraper"
    ],
    "search": null,
    "limit": 5,
    "enrich": true
  },
  "compared": 2,
  "winners": {
    "mostUsers": "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "topRated": "clockworks/tiktok-scraper",
    "cheapest": "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "mostRuns": "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "freshest": "apify/instagram-scraper"
  },
  "generatedFrom": "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts"
}
```

### How it works

For an `actors` list, the Actor fetches each Actor's detail endpoint, which carries stats, pricing, and the last modified date. For a `search`, it queries the Store search endpoint, which returns stats and pricing inline, then takes the top `limit` matches and (when `enrich` is true) fetches the last modified date for each. All records are normalized to the same fields, the winner per metric is chosen, and both the dataset and the `OUTPUT` summary are written. It uses the run's `APIFY_TOKEN` for higher rate limits, with no configuration needed.

MIT licensed.

# Actor input Schema

## `actors` (type: `array`):

List of Actors to compare, each as "username/name" (for example "apify/instagram-scraper") or an Actor ID. Provide this or a search term.

## `search` (type: `string`):

Full-text search term. When set and no Actors list is given, the top matches from the Apify Store are compared. Ignored when an Actors list is provided.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

How many top matches to compare when using a search query. Ignored when an Actors list is provided.

## `enrich` (type: `boolean`):

Add each Actor's last modified date. For the search path this makes one extra API call per Actor. Actors fetched by name already include the date.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "actors": [
    "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "apify/instagram-profile-scraper",
    "clockworks/tiktok-scraper"
  ],
  "search": "tiktok",
  "limit": 5,
  "enrich": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "actors": [
        "apify/instagram-scraper",
        "apify/instagram-profile-scraper",
        "clockworks/tiktok-scraper"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("agentictools/actor-comparison").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "actors": [
        "apify/instagram-scraper",
        "apify/instagram-profile-scraper",
        "clockworks/tiktok-scraper",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("agentictools/actor-comparison").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "actors": [
    "apify/instagram-scraper",
    "apify/instagram-profile-scraper",
    "clockworks/tiktok-scraper"
  ]
}' |
apify call agentictools/actor-comparison --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=agentictools/actor-comparison",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/jYXZ8Wa6wzpqwod0Y/builds/LKYOqkNwnGu8hbtzk/openapi.json