# Source: https://docs.apify.com/academy/build-and-publish/why.md

# Why publish Actors on Apify

Publishing Actors on Apify Store transforms your web scraping and automation code into revenue-generating products without the overhead of traditional SaaS development.

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## What you get when you publish on Apify

When you publish your Actor on Apify Store, you eliminate the complexity of building and maintaining a traditional SaaS product. The platform handles infrastructure, billing, and distribution, so you can focus on your code.

### Skip the SaaS overhead

Your Actor gets its own dedicated landing page with built-in documentation hosting through README integration, giving you instant distribution with direct exposure to organic user traffic through Apify Store's marketplace. You won't pay hosting costs since the built-in cloud infrastructure with automatic scaling handles all compute needs. Payment infrastructure is completely handled for you with multiple payment options, automated billing, and transactions.

### No infrastructure headaches

Publishing on Apify Store means you don't need to purchase and manage domains or websites, build payment processing systems, set up hosting infrastructure, or handle customer billing manually. You also won't need to invest heavily in marketing since the marketplace presence drives discovery.

## Choose your pricing options

Apify Store offers flexible pricing models that let you match your Actor's value proposition:

* Pay-per-event (PPE): Charge for any custom events your Actor triggers (maximum flexibility, AI/MCP compatible, priority store placement)
* Pay-per-result (PPR): Set pricing based on dataset items generated (predictable costs for users, unlimited revenue potential)
* Rental: Charge a flat monthly fee for continuous access (users cover their own platform usage costs)

All models give you 80% of revenue, with platform usage costs deducted for PPR and PPE models.

Learn more in [How Actor monetization works](https://docs.apify.com/academy/actor-marketing-playbook/store-basics/how-actor-monetization-works.md).

## Why developers publish Actors

### Generate passive income

Developers successfully monetize their Actors through the Apify platform. Once published and promoted, Actors can generate recurring revenue with minimal maintenance.

Check out their success stories:

* [Caleb David (microworlds)](https://blog.apify.com/web-scraping-freelance-financial-freedom/) - Achieved financial freedom through Actor development.
* [Tugkan (epctex)](https://apify.com/success-stories/paid-actor-journey-apify-freelancer-tugkan) - Built a successful freelance career with paid Actors.

### Build your portfolio

Publishing Actors demonstrates your skills publicly. Your Actors become visible examples of your work, showcasing your technical expertise to potential clients while building your reputation in the developer community. This visibility can open freelance opportunities and establish you as a subject matter expert.

### Join a marketplace

Apify Store is a growing library of thousands of Actors, most created by community developers. When you publish, you reach users actively searching for automation solutions while benefiting from platform features like monitoring, scheduling, API access, and integrations. You get visibility through Store categories and search, plus access to analytics to understand user behavior and optimize pricing.

## What it takes to succeed

### Maintain quality

Public Actors require higher standards than private ones. Since users depend on your Actor, you'll need to commit to regular maintenance—reserve approximately 2 hours per week for bug fixes, updates, and user support. Thorough documentation is essential; write clear README files using simple language since users may not be developers. Set up automated testing or use manual testing to prevent user issues, and respond promptly to issues through the Issues tab, where your response time is publicly visible. Learn more about metrics determining quality in [Actor quality score documentation](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/quality-score.md).

### When you need to change things

If you need to make breaking changes to your Actor, contact [community@apify.com](mailto:community@apify.com) beforehand. Major pricing changes require 14-day notice and are limited to once per month. The platform helps communicate changes to your users.

## Getting started

Ready to publish? The process involves four main stages:

1. Development: Build your Actor using [Apify SDKs](https://docs.apify.com/sdk), [Crawlee](https://crawlee.dev/), or [Actor templates](https://apify.com/templates)
2. Publication: Set up display information, description, README, and monetization
3. Testing: Ensure your Actor works reliably with automated or manual tests
4. Promotion: Optimize for SEO, share on social media, and create tutorials

Learn more:

* [How to build Actors](https://docs.apify.com/academy/actor-marketing-playbook/store-basics/how-to-build-actors.md)
* [How Apify Store works](https://docs.apify.com/academy/actor-marketing-playbook/store-basics/how-store-works.md)
* [Publish your Actor](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/publish.md)