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Apify Features for Free: Why Browser Automation is Easier Than You Think

Apify Features for Free: Why Browser Automation is Easier Than You Think

The "Cloud Tax" is a lie.

For a long time, the industry has pushed developers and data scientists toward a binary choice: either spend your weekend fighting with raw Puppeteer scripts, or hand over a credit card to a SaaS platform. Apify and Bright Data have been the defaults for a long time, along with others like RapidAPI, but they all share the same issue: they charge a premium for "convenience" that actually costs them nothing to provide.

I built Doppelganger because that convenience shouldn't be behind a paywall.

The Problem: The "Open Core" Trap#

If you’ve used "self-hosted" automation tools, you’ve probably hit the wall where the engine is free, but essential features—like unlimited execution history—are hidden behind an "Enterprise" tier.

It costs a company $0 for you to store execution logs on your own server. Gatekeeping those features is just a way to force a monthly subscription. Doppelganger is different. If a feature is in the code, it’s available. No paywalls for version history. No "Pro" tier for proxy management.

The Complexity Trade-off#

I'll be honest: Doppelganger is slightly more complex than a managed provider like Apify—I’d estimate about 10% more. That’s the trade-off for total ownership. You aren't just clicking a "Buy" button; you are bringing your own proxies and importing them into the engine.

The important thing is that importing happens only once. Unless you decide to add more later, you set it and forget it.

Compared to traditional self-hosting, it’s a massive shift. It feels like 90% less complexity because you don't need to be a DevOps expert or write custom rotation logic. Raw proxies are auto-rotated by the engine, and if you're already using rotating proxies, those are natively supported too. Setting up Doppelganger requires no specialized skills; it’s almost as instant as a SaaS.

Depending on your budget and scale, you can bring proxies from almost any provider. Here are some I recommend:

  • Premium: Oxylabs, Bright Data, Smartproxy
  • High Value: Webshare
  • Hyper-Cheap: Proxy-Cheap, IPRoyal, Rayobyte

The "One-and-Done" Experience#

If you’re currently using RapidAPI or Apify Actors because you want a "one-and-done" result, you’re paying a premium for every single request.

Doppelganger replicates that experience through Prebuilt Templates:

  1. Select a Template (Amazon, Google, LinkedIn—the library is expanding).
  2. Bring your Proxies (Import from any provider once).
  3. Hit Run.

You get the full Execution History and Capture Logs without paying for retries or "Compute Units." You just get your data.

The Ethics of the Engine#

There is a clear line between software and services. My philosophy for Doppelganger is that I will only ever charge for features that actually cost me money to implement.

I am considering offering a dedicated proxy plan in the future to solve the "fuel" problem for users, but that is a resource cost. The Software itself—the features that make the tool useful—will always be baked into the core. I’m not interested in rent-seeking on code or gatekeeping a UI behind a subscription.

Own Your Infrastructure#

The era where Apify and Bright Data are your only "easy" options is ending.

Doppelganger is the middle path. It’s an instant engine that you own. It’s enterprise-grade power with a minimalist footprint.

The engine can be deployed in minutes to:

  • DigitalOcean App Platform (My personal favorite for an instant setup)
  • Vercel
  • Render
  • Fly.io
  • Railway
  • Serverless via Postgres (Scale to zero and pay only for the DB)

The project is live on GitHub: mnemosynestack/doppelganger