Unlocking 15% More Actor Runs for the World’s Largest Marketplace of Tools for AI

Apify

Apify is building the world's largest marketplace of tools for AI, known as Actors, powering the next generation of AI agents and autonomous AI applications.

Developers and businesses use Actors to discover, combine, and automate ready-to-run cloud applications for web scraping, browser automation, data extraction, and agentic coding workflows.

With more than 50,000 Actors available and thousands of new ones added every month, helping users quickly find the right Actor has become a critical part of the platform experience.

As the marketplace expanded, Apify needed search and recommendation capabilities that could scale with its rapidly growing catalog while delivering personalized discovery from the very first interaction.

+15%

Actor Runs
(existing users)
Personalized Search

+6%

Subscriptions
(new users)
Personalized Search

+9%

CTR on First Four Search Results
(existing users)
Personalized Search

+12%

Overall CTR
Actors For You

Situation

Apify's marketplace was growing rapidly, expanding from thousands to tens of thousands of Actors.

Existing discovery relied primarily on keyword search, making it increasingly difficult to surface the most relevant Actors as the catalog expanded.

At the same time:

Search infrastructure limited personalization
Dynamic ranking at scale became increasingly difficult to maintain manually
Recommendation experiences were missing entirely
The team needed a solution that continuously optimized recommendations without manual intervention, while still allowing full control over business rules and personalization strategies

Objectives

Deliver personalized search results at marketplace scale
Introduce recommendations across key discovery journeys
Increase Actor usage and subscriptions
Reduce engineering effort required to optimize ranking
Support rapid marketplace growth without sacrificing relevance

Solution

Personalized Discovery at Scale

Recombee combines behavioral signals, real-time interactions, and contextual relevance to personalize search results and recommendations across the marketplace. As users explore more Actors, personalized suggestions continuously improve, making discovery more relevant with every interaction.

Search and Recommendations in One Platform

Apify uses a single platform to power both personalized search and recommendations. This enables a consistent discovery experience across search, homepage recommendations, similar Actors, and other touchpoints while simplifying implementation, configuration, and ongoing optimization.

Flexible Configuration Without Heavy Engineering

Using Recombee's Scenario Settings, Apify can independently configure ranking logic, filters, boosters, and recommendation strategies for different search and discovery experiences. This gives the team the flexibility to experiment, optimize, and adapt individual user journeys as the marketplace evolves without extensive engineering effort.

A Collaborative Partnership

Beyond the technology, Apify valued Recombee's hands-on collaboration throughout implementation. Direct access to the engineering and support teams enabled rapid iteration, quick problem solving, and continuous optimization as new discovery challenges emerged.

Benefits & Results

Personalised Search

New Users

+3% Actor Runs

+6% Subscriptions

+7.5% CTR on First Four Results

+4.5% Overall CTR

Existing Users

+15% Actor Runs

+9% CTR on First Four Results

+5% Overall CTR

Similar Actors

New Users

+8% Actor Runs

Existing Users

+6% Actor Runs

Actors For You

+12% Overall CTR

* Results were measured separately for new users (with limited behavioral data) and existing users (with established interaction history). The primary KPI, Actor Runs, measures how often users execute an Actor, making it a key indicator of successful discovery and engagement.

Recombee’s Solution in Action

Search Personalization

Personalized Search

Instead of returning identical search results for every user, Recombee personalizes ranking using behavioral signals, user preferences, and real-time interactions.

As users continue interacting with the marketplace, search results become increasingly relevant while still respecting textual relevance and business rules.

Key Benefits

Personalized ranking from first sessions onward
Better relevance across a rapidly growing catalog
Higher engagement with top search results
Continuous optimization through real-time learning

Similar Actors

Dashboard Personalization

Actors For You

The personalized homepage recommends Actors based on user interests, previous interactions, and evolving usage patterns.

Recommendations adapt continuously as users explore new Actors, creating a tailored marketplace experience for every visitor.

Key Benefits

Personalized homepage discovery
Faster exploration of relevant Actors
Better engagement with recommended content
Higher click-through rates

“As our marketplace grew to tens of thousands of Actors, delivering relevant discovery became increasingly challenging. With many Actors matching the same search queries, we needed more than keyword-based search. We needed smart personalization that could scale.
Recombee helped us roll out personalized search and recommendations across key discovery journeys, and we quickly saw measurable improvements. Among existing users, Actor Runs increased by 15% and click-through rate on the top four search results increased by 9%, along with a 6% uplift in subscriptions from new users.
Beyond the technology, what really stood out was the collaboration. The Recombee team genuinely cared about helping us solve difficult problems, worked closely with us throughout implementation, and was always willing to explore solutions together.”

Jan Kuzelik

Product Manager

About Apify

Apify is building the world's largest marketplace of tools for AI, known as Actors, powering the next generation of AI agents and autonomous AI applications.

Developers and businesses use Actors to discover, combine, and automate ready-to-run cloud applications for web scraping, browser automation, data extraction, and agentic coding workflows.

Visit Apify