APEX FLOW WEB SCRAPER / REFERENCE LIBRARY
What does self-hosted scraping actually cost?
Self-hosted software can have a zero license price while still consuming compute, storage, bandwidth and operator time. Compare the complete job cost, not only a vendor subscription.
Write the cost equation
Monthly cost = allocated compute + retained storage + network charges + maintenance time + any optional services you explicitly choose. Browser-heavy work and frequent refreshes can dominate compute. Long retention can dominate storage.
An illustrative calculation
Assume a $12 monthly machine and 20,000 successful pages: the machine allocation is $0.60 per 1,000 successful pages. Add 30 minutes of work valued at $40/hour and the example becomes $1.60 per 1,000, before storage and network. These are assumptions, not measured Apex production economics or a hosting quote.
Current pricing approach
The open engine has a $0 software license price. Assisted setup and ongoing care are separately scoped services; hosting is not silently bundled into an unlimited promise. Public billing is not implemented in this release.
Find the break-even point
Compare your observed successful pages and maintenance time against a managed provider’s total bill for the same workload. An API can be cheaper for a difficult low-volume workload; owned infrastructure may be preferable when control and repeatability matter most.
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