Pay-per-event pricing on Apify: what I got wrong
I publish data Actors on the Apify Store as Yappman Data, all on pay-per-event pricing. This is a list of things I got wrong about pricing and charging, and what I did about each. It is not a recipe. It is the short version of my own notes, in case it saves you the same detours. 1. I thought tier-priced events were not charged My early notes said every event on our Actors was flat, and that…
I published data Actors on the Apify Store with pay-per-event pricing. Here are the lessons I learned about pricing and charging:
1. I initially believed tier-priced events weren't billed, but I was mistaken. On 13 October, our UK Actor session verified the tiered product event was converted to a flat price, leading to charges. The SDK only skips billing if the run's pricing info still contains tiers, which it never does. I corrected my notes to reflect the actual billing behavior.
2. My test runs were being prematurely terminated due to the platform limiting each run's maximum charge to the account's remaining monthly usage. Owner-account runs now bypass charge calls to avoid this issue. However, platform usage from these runs still counts towards the limit, and only prevents runs started from your account.
3. After a run restart, charged-event counts and maximum charge may not align as expected. I reported this issue and implemented an in-Actor spend limit, cutting batches to fit under the run's maximum charge after accounting for start fees and already pushed rows. This ensures the run does not double-charge the start or any rows upon restart.
4. Price increases are mandatory and require 14-day notice for public Actors. Although decreases and removals are possible, any new paid event requires prior announcement. I planned new add-on events for the UK Actor but had to delay their release due to the platform's pricing rules. Pricing updates must be carefully managed.
5. I priced above the free source's value for the LEI Lookup event, initially at $0.004 per entity. After noticing the discrepancy, I reduced the price to $0.001 per entity ($1.00 per 1,000), and later changed it to $0.001 per entity with no start fee. I now keep pricing details separate from short and SEO descriptions to avoid stale information.
6. Initially, I set flat prices for every plan on the LEI and Contracts events. However, I later altered the LEI event's pricing to include tiers, and split the Property listing price for the Free plan into proportional tiers. Writing down the reasons behind decisions helps in reversing them if necessary.
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