# Publishing and monetization

**Apify provides a platform for developing, publishing, and monetizing web automation solutions called Actors. This guide covers the key stages involved in publishing and monetizing your Actors on the Apify platform.**

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> Sharing is caring but you can also make money from your Actors. Check out our https://blog.apify.com/make-regular-passive-income-developing-web-automation-actors-b0392278d085/ for more context.

## Publish process

To build & publish an Actor on https://apify.com/store, you'll go through the following main stages:

1. https://pr-2040.preview.docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development.md.
2. https://pr-2040.preview.docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/publish.md and set up of https://pr-2040.preview.docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/monetize.md.
3. https://pr-2040.preview.docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/automated-tests.md.
4. https://apify.notion.site/3fdc9fd4c8164649a2024c9ca7a2d0da?v=6d262c0b026d49bfa45771cd71f8c9ab.

## Benefits of publishing and monetization

Publishing your Actor on the Apify Store transforms your code, eliminating traditional SaaS development overhead. When you publish your Actor you gain access to:

* Streamlined product delivery

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  * Dedicated landing page for your Actor
  * Built-in documentation hosting through seamless README integration
  * Direct exposure to organic user traffic through Apify Store

* Reduced operational burden

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  * No need for separate domains or websites
  * Built-in cloud infrastructure with automatic scaling
  * Multiple payment options with automated billing & transactions
  * Minimal marketing efforts required due to marketplace presence

Packaging your software as an Actor allows you to launch new SaaS product faster and earn income through various monetization models that match your Actor's value proposition like:

* Fixed rental fee for continuous access
* Pay-per-result for usage-based pricing
* Pay-per-event for specific operations

To learn more visit our https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pricing-models page.

## Maintain public Actors

While private Actors don't necessarily require ongoing maintenance, public Actors demand a higher level of responsibility. Since public Actors are available on the https://apify.com/store and may be used by other users, an unmaintained public Actor could negatively impact those who depend on it.

To ensure long-term quality and improve your chances of successfully monetizing your Actors, we recommend reserving approximately 2 hours per week for maintenance tasks, such as:

* Addressing bug reports & issues
* Implementing updates & improvements
* Responding to user inquireies & feedback

![](/assets/images/apify-store-1d47e1201c104ab3c2bb25aeab35b714.webp "Apify Store")

If you decide to make your Actor's code publicly available on https://github.com, code quality becomes even more crucial, as your Actor may be the first experience some users have with Apify.

### Handling breaking changes

While refactoring and updating your Actor's code is encouraged, be cautious of making changes that could break the Actor for existing users. If you plan to introduce breaking change, please contact us at mailto:community@apify.com beforehand, and we'll assist you in communicating the change to your users.

### Documentation and testing

Pay special attention to your Actor's documentation (https://apify.notion.site/How-to-create-an-Actor-README-759a1614daa54bee834ee39fe4d98bc2). It should be clear, detailed, concise and, readable, using simple language and avoiding technical jargon whenever possible, as your users may not be developers.

Ensure periodic testing, either manually or by https://pr-2040.preview.docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/automated-tests.md and https://apify.com/apify/monitoring. This can help prevent users from encountering issues with your Actor.

## Inspiration for new Actors

To find ideas for new Actor, consider the following sources:

* Your own experiences with friends, colleagues, and customers
* SEO tools to identify search terms, websites related to web scrapint, web automation, or web integrations (see the https://apify.notion.site/SEO-990259fe88a84fd0a85ce6d3b394d8c1 for more details)
* The https://apify.com/ideas to find Actors in demand by the Apify community
* Our https://discord.com/invite/jyEM2PRvMU, especially the https://discord.com/channels/801163717915574323/1022804760484659210 channel can offer great insights

Additionally, you can refer to our https://blog.apify.com/ for examples of how we write about and present Actors, such as the:

* https://blog.apify.com/set-up-alert-when-webpage-changes/
* https://blog.apify.com/kickstarter-search-actor-create-your-own-kickstarter-api/
* https://blog.apify.com/google-sheets-import-data/
