Not legal, tax, or investment advice. Mechanics below come from docs.apify.com monetization / Store / payout pages and Store Publishing Terms as of 2026-10-15. Console UI and fees evolve — re-open the linked pages before you change prices. This article does not link or endorse any of our products or any specific Actor.
This article is not a Store publishing checklist. Here the only job is: what you can honestly claim about how users pay you, how Apify splits revenue, what “rental” still means in 2026, and when money actually leaves Apify.
1) Lead answer
Current publishable models on the Monetize index (Monetize Actors): Pay per event (PPE) and Pay per usage. Rental is documented for users still on it, but is being sunset (see #2).
PPE creator profit (PPE, pricing & costs, Terms §10.2.1):
profit = (0.8 × revenue) − platform costs
You keep 80% of event fees charged to users; Apify keeps 20%; then platform usage for those runs is subtracted from your side (unless you pass usage to users — with transparency / quality-score tradeoffs).Free-plan users do not fund your profit on PPE / rental: only paid-plan customers count toward revenue and cost in the formula (PPE, rental). Apify covers free users’ platform costs in that calc — you still owe them a transparent free-tier story in README / input schema (Monetize).
“Pay per result” is not a separate docs page (URL 404 on archive day). Official path for per-result billing is PPE — especially the synthetic event
apify-default-dataset-item(charges eachpushDatato the default dataset) (PPE). Do not invent a third model name in marketing copy.Rental sunset (2026) (rental, Actors in Store): Apr 1 — no new rental Actors / no rental price changes; Oct 1 — rental fully retired; remaining Actors migrated to pay-per-usage. Rental profit was
0.8 × rental fees(paid-plan renters only). Users still pay platform usage on top of the monthly rent — docs call that out as a common confusion source.Payout rails (Manage payouts): billing details + payment method + KYC; invoices issued day 11 for prior month; review days 11–14 (auto-approve 14th if idle); payouts days 21–25. Minimums: $20 PayPal/Wise, $100 other methods; under-min rolls over. Wire is SWIFT from Czech Republic (CZ) with SHA shared fees; intermediary fees often $10–$50 (not a promise — range from docs). UI profit figures are estimates (Terms §9.2).
2) Pricing models — honesty table (creator claims)
| Model | What users pay | What you can claim | Fail / overclaim |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPE | Prices you define per event (+ optional platform usage if “PPE + usage” on) | “Users pay for named events; primary event is shown on the detail page” | “Flat unlimited runs for $X” when you charge per event; hiding that PPE + usage adds platform bills (Actors in Store) |
| Pay per usage | Platform resources only; no developer surcharge (Actors in Store) | “Free Actor / usage-only — you pay Apify compute & proxies” | Calling it “monetized” as if you earn event fees |
| Rental (sunset) | Trial → monthly rent plus platform usage; after trial needs Apify paid plan (Actors in Store) | Historical: “$Y/month after N-day trial”; warn usage is extra | New rental launches after 2026-04-01; “all-in monthly price” that ignores CU/proxy; promising rental after 2026-10-01 retirement |
Per-result honesty: Say you charge per default-dataset item (or your custom event), not “Apify pay-per-result product” as a separate Store category. Synthetic apify-default-dataset-item is default-on and auto-charges pushData to the default dataset only (PPE).
3) PPE profit — worked example (official numbers)
Docs example (pricing & costs): two paid users generate $31 event revenue and $4 platform cost; free user ignored.
Python Decimal (archived in the archived sources):
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Revenue (paid users) | $31.00 |
| Your 80% share of revenue | $24.80 |
| Platform costs (paid users) | $4.00 |
| Profit | $20.80 |
Same month, a third free-plan user might show activity in analytics — that slice is not in the profit formula.
Negative profit isolation: if one Actor’s net is negative, Apify treats that Actor as $0 for the month so it does not drag down other Actors’ positive profit (PPE, Manage payouts).
Pass usage to users: “Pay per event + usage” exists to avoid eating platform costs while you tune prices — docs warn it hurts pricing transparency and Actor quality score, and enabling the toggle takes 14 days to take effect (turning it off is immediate) (PPE). Standby runs: users always pay platform usage on top of events.
4) Rental — what not to promise in 2026
From rental / Actors in Store:
| Claim | Pass if… | Fail if… |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset calendar | You cite Apr 1 / Oct 1 2026 milestones | You market “new rental Actor” after Apr 1 |
| Profit share | “80% of rental fees from paid-plan renters” | “80% of everything the user spends on Apify” |
| Total user cost | README shows rent + expected platform usage | “$30/mo all-in” when usage often adds more (docs cite confusion examples like $20 rent → $35–50 total) |
| AI / MCP discovery | You know rental Actors are excluded from Apify MCP search results | You promise “same agent discoverability as PPE” for rental |
| Migration | You plan PPE (or usage-only) before Oct 1 retirement | You assume rental continues indefinitely |
Illustrative rental month from docs: one paid renter at $30 → your profit $24 (0.8 × 30). Free-plan trialist who never upgrades contributes $0.
5) Listing / README honesty self-check
| Check | Pass if… | Fail if… |
|---|---|---|
| Primary event | One event clearly represents main value; highlighted on detail page (PPE) | Vague “usage-based” with no named events |
| Free users | Limits stated in README and input schema; graceful exit message (Monetize) | Free users hit a crash that looks like a platform bug |
| Spending limits | You respect ACTOR_MAX_TOTAL_CHARGE_USD; charge as work completes; stop when eventChargeLimitReached (PPE) |
Batch-charge at end so aborted runs bill for inaccessible data |
| Start event | Prefer synthetic apify-actor-start (default $0.00005; Apify covers first 5s compute) — don’t also keep a custom start event |
Manually charging apify-actor-start in code (docs: it fails) |
| Discount tiers | Higher tiers ≤ lower-tier prices; tiers follow platform-wide spend, not per-Actor (Terms §9.3) | Advertising “GOLD price” as if every user gets it |
| UI estimates | You treat Console profit / payout previews as estimates (refunds, unpaid invoices) (Terms §9.2) | Quoting a UI number as a guaranteed payout |
| Agentic / Skyfire eligibility | PPE, events-only (no PPE+usage), limited permissions, no Standby, KYC done (Monetize) | Claiming “all my Actors take agent pay” when rental/usage or full permissions block it |
6) Payout timing & minimums (creator side)
From Manage payouts + Terms:
| Topic | Official |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | Billing details + payout method + KYC; incomplete KYC → earnings roll to next month; Terms also allow forfeit after 12 months failed KYC |
| Invoice | Auto on 11th for previous calendar month; only paid / legitimate user funds |
| Review window | 3 days (11–14); idle → auto-approve on 14th |
| Cash-out window | Roughly 21–25 of the month |
| Min threshold | USD 20 PayPal / Wise; USD 100 other; under-min rolls; Terms: under-min for 12 continuous months → abandoned / forfeited |
| Wire | From CZ via SWIFT, SHA shared costs; US ACH not available |
| Deductions | Possible if Apify credits a user for Actor malfunction — reviewable in the invoice window |
Do not promise “payday on the 1st” or “same-week wire everywhere.” Do not promise PayPal is fee-free — docs say PayPal may still charge as the intermediary.
7) What this article deliberately skips
Store publish sections, README structure, automated tests, quality score deep dive → a separate guide.
Step-by-step Console screenshots / submitting an Actor → not here; not published.
Partner Creator special commission contracts → Terms mention them; details Not verified beyond “adjusted structure.”
Exact intermediary bank fee for your country beyond the documented $10–$50 typical range.
8) Not verified
Whether any Console UI still offers a labeled “Pay per result” radio separate from PPE on archive day (standalone docs URL 404; PPE synthetic covers the use case).
Partner Creator % schedules (contract-only).
Exact calendar day your bank posts a SHA SWIFT (docs: “few additional business days”).
Live quality-score weight of “PPE + usage” beyond the qualitative warning.
Sources (archived)
https://docs.apify.com/actors/publishing/monetize/pay-per-event
https://docs.apify.com/actors/publishing/monetize/pricing-and-costs
https://docs.apify.com/actors/publishing/monetize/monthly-payouts
https://docs.apify.com/legal/store-publishing-terms-and-conditions
Evidence: the archived sources (sources.md, run.log, html/txt).
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