Apify Facebook scrapers compared: official vs Alfalfa
Apify's Store has an official scraper for each Facebook surface and, since September 2026, an Alfalfa one for the same five surfaces. Both read only what a signed-out visitor sees and return the same field names. This page puts the prices, fees and limits next to each other so you can decide in a minute, with the numbers taken from the Store pages rather than from marketing copy.
Price per 1,000 results
| Surface | Official Apify Actor | Alfalfa Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Events | $13, plus a start fee | $5, no start fee | Alfalfa adds every date of recurring events and an optional organizer email ($10 per 1,000 found). The official one has no email. |
| Posts | $5, plus a start fee and a fee per filter | $2, no start fee, filters free | Video transcripts are an optional add-on on the Alfalfa side ($2 per 1,000 video posts). |
| Pages with contact details | $12 for page data plus $13 for contacts, two separate Actors | $3.50, email and phone included | The full About text is an add-on ($2 per 1,000 pages that have one), on by default to match the official output. |
| Comments | $2.50, plus $1 per run and a surcharge per comment when a date filter is on | $0.50, no start fee, date filter free | Replies come as separate records with parent links on both sides. |
| Ad Library | $5.80 | $0.50, ad details and EU reach included | The official one offers an e-commerce enrichment step; Alfalfa does not yet. |
Platform usage and residential proxies are included on both sides. The official prices drop by plan tier; the Alfalfa ones drop with the same Store discounts (Starter, Scale, Business).
What is the same
- Field names. Every Alfalfa Actor was diffed field by field against a real run of its official counterpart. Existing pipelines, Sheets formulas and n8n or Make workflows keep working after the Actor name changes.
- Inputs. The official formats are accepted (
startUrlsas objects or strings,resultsLimit, Ad Library URLs withview_all_page_idorid), plus plain keywords and page IDs where that is simpler. - Scope. Public data only. Groups, Marketplace, private profiles and anything behind a login are out of reach for both.
- Platform features. API, schedules, webhooks, dataset exports, MCP for AI agents: all the same, it is the same platform.
What is different
| Official | Alfalfa | |
|---|---|---|
| Start fee | On events, posts and comments | None |
| Filter surcharges | Posts and comments charge extra per filtered item | None |
| Extras | E-commerce enrichment for ads | Organizer emails, recurring-event dates, video transcripts, page contacts in one Actor, EU reach breakdown |
| Speed | Minutes for large runs | Seconds to a minute for a thousand records; the Ad Library Actor starts in about a second |
| Track record | Years, thousands of users, hundreds of reviews | Weeks, a handful of users, fixes shipped within a day |
The last row is the honest one. If you need a vendor with a long public history, the official Actors have it. If you run volume and the bill matters, the Alfalfa ones do the same job for a fifth of the price, and the daily automatic Store test plus the owner's own health checks catch breakage before most users see it.
Switching in three steps
- Replace the Actor name in your integration (for example
apify/facebook-events-scraperbecomesalfalfa/facebook-events-scraper). - Keep the input. It is accepted as is.
- Run once and diff the output against your last official run. The field names match; a few Alfalfa extras appear as additional columns.
Questions people ask
Why is it this much cheaper?
Small, fast Actors that move little data per record and run in little memory. Platform cost per thousand records is cents, and the price leaves a fair margin after Apify's share. The official prices are a business decision, not a cost floor.
Is this an official comparison?
No. Alfalfa writes this page and is not affiliated with Apify or Meta. Every number is on the respective Store page; check them before you decide, prices change.