Definition
On some scraping platforms, an actor is a ready-made cloud program that performs a task — usually scraping a specific website (Google Maps, YouTube, Instagram) or processing data. You give it inputs, it runs on the platform's servers, and it returns a dataset.
How it works
- Choose an actor from a marketplace.
- Fill in its inputs: search terms, locations, limits, options.
- Run it; the platform handles servers and proxies.
- Download the results as JSON, CSV or Excel.
Strengths
- huge variety — scrapers for thousands of sites
- scheduling, storage and integrations
- developers can build their own
Things to consider
- choosing between many similar actors takes research
- inputs differ for every actor
- costs depend on usage (compute, proxies) and can be hard to predict
- output often needs cleaning and enrichment
When a dedicated tool is simpler
If your goal is lead lists, a tool built for it handles the details: Prospect Cheap gives you Google Maps, YouTube, Facebook Ad Library, Product Hunt, TrustMRR and Skool searches with one form each, enrichment included and a fixed price per lead. See Prospect Cheap vs Apify.
Example
A developer picks a Google Maps actor, sets search terms, locations and limits, runs it, then downloads JSON with places — and still needs to add emails and owner names separately.
Key takeaways
- Actors are packaged cloud scrapers.
- They are flexible but technical.
- Dedicated lead tools trade flexibility for simplicity.