Turning code into cash: How a solopreneur monetizes with Apify

Guillaume Lancrenon, a software engineer and solopreneur, has been using Apify for nearly a decade. As the CTO and CPO of getcockpit.io, he uses Apify as a full-stack solution that solves common developer challenges - from reliable cloud-based scraping and automation to deployment and scaling. But most importantly, Guillaume has turned the platform into a significant income stream by creating and selling web scraping and automation tools (we call them Actors) on Apify Store, boosting his side project earnings by 4x.

The search for a cloud scraper

Back in 2016, Guillaume needed a reliable, cloud-based web scraping tool. He was looking for a solution that could handle frequent runs and navigate around CAPTCHAs.

I was looking for website scraping solutions. I needed a proper cloud-based tool, not just some Chrome extension.

-- Guillaume Lancrenon

Apify delivered more than just cloud hosting. The platform automatically rotated IP addresses to avoid blocks, scaled computing resources on demand, and provided a built-in marketplace to monetize his code. For Guillaume, this meant reliable scraping infrastructure plus an opportunity to turn his automation skills into income.

Expanding use cases

What started as a scraping solution evolved into Guillaume's dual-purpose platform for both development and income generation. He explains his current work:

The first is my side projects, which require some backend processing that I want to scale with Apify Actors. It's a way of not coding on my servers, but part of the backend. The second is building Actors that I put on Store so that I can make some side money.

-- Guillaume Lancrenon

Why Apify stands out

Apify's reliability is key. He notes, "The platform is up 99% of the time. When Actors fail, it's almost never because of the infrastructure of Apify. It's because of the way I coded the Actor, or the websites I'm scraping or interacting with are changing their APIs or interfaces."

The platform's cloud-based technology provides uninterrupted operation, free from local hardware limitations. He also appreciates the intuitive developer interface, which simplifies building and debugging.

Guillaume uses Apify’s built-in customer communication tools, like the issues tab, which allows direct interaction with users. This means he can provide support, gather feedback, and build relationships with customers without needing separate help desk software or communication platforms - everything happens within the Apify ecosystem where his Actors are sold.

Cash for code

Apify's advantage is cutting the need to build everything from scratch while connecting creators with customers. He explains, "If I wanted to do this on GCP or AWS, every time I created a new Actor, it would take a lot of work to handle the domain, hosting, coding, availability - and I couldn't easily rent it to other customers."

This focus on pure development over infrastructure management paid off. The numbers tell the story:

I was making something like $500 a month on other side projects, but now Apify is bringing in more than $2,000 from Apify Store.
-- Guillaume Lancrenon

Guillaume's Actors tackle the work of prospecting and lead generation - tasks that sales teams desperately need but hate doing manually. Plus, each tool generates steady income as businesses pay for automated access to data. Below are just a few of the Actors he monetizes on Apify Store:

The future with Apify

Guillaume's experience with Apify shows how developers can use the platform to build useful, profitable tools - not just run backend projects. As businesses increasingly need custom data extraction and automation, Apify provides a full-stack solution to develop, deploy, and sell these tools.

Don't want to start from scratch? See how code templates help you build profitable scrapers quickly and start earning passive income: