Comparison

npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages vs Apify

npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages lands on Worth it, and Apify lands on Depends.

npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Free, no-signup npm download charts . a fine utility for quick popularity checks.

Read the full report

Apify

Depends

Confidence: High

Buy if your team needs recurring web data, lead gen, or scraping APIs feeding apps or AI agents.

Read the full report

npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages versus Apify
Compare	npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages	Apify
Verdict	Worth it	Depends
Best for	Open-source maintainers tracking package adoption	Lead-gen and sales data teams
Who it's not for	Anyone making build-vs-buy calls from raw download counts	One-off scrapes . a freelancer or free tool is cheaper
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.^³	SOC 2 Type II compliant with a public trust center, but 2026 CVEs and a reported email-data breach exist.¹⁵
Support quality	No evidence in sources	No supporting evidence found
Public sentiment	Practitioners warn that npm download counts are unreliable popularity signals because mirrors and bots inflate them.^⁴	Users rate Apify very highly, with pricing surprises the most common complaint.^⁹
Biggest gotcha	Mirror sites cache packages automatically, inflating download numbers for unused packages^⁴	Usage-based billing can balloon: one developer reported a bill 5x higher than expected¹¹

Pick npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages when

Open-source maintainers tracking package adoption
Quick side-by-side package comparisons
Researchers citing npm adoption trends

When npm-stat: download statistics for NPM packages is not a fit

Anyone making build-vs-buy calls from raw download counts
Teams needing real-time or private-registry stats
Businesses wanting vendor SLAs or guaranteed support

Pick Apify when

Lead-gen and sales data teams
Developers automating web scraping
AI teams feeding agents real-time data
Price and competitor monitoring

When Apify is not a fit

One-off scrapes . a freelancer or free tool is cheaper
Non-technical teams wanting plug-and-play simplicity
Anyone who hates variable usage-based bills
Small teams with a single simple automation

Sources

npm-stat homepagenpm-stat.com
official
npm-stat charts page (donation note)npm-stat.com
official
npm-stat security pagenpm-stat.com
security
How reliable are npm package download counts?community.latenode.com
review
How I exploited NPM downloads... and why you shouldn'tdev.to
review
npm-increaser-downloads (count inflation tool)npmjs.com
news
pvorb/npm-stat.com source on GitHubgist.github.com
official
Apify npm Package Stats actorapify.com
official
Apify Products . 616 G2 reviewsg2.com
review
Apify on Trustpilot . 4.8/5 Excellenttrustpilot.com
review
My Apify Bill Was 5x Higher Than Expected (DEV Community)dev.to
review
Confusion on Apify Pricing (Reddit)reddit.com
review
Apify pricing pageapify.com
official
Apify Security documentation (SOC 2)docs.apify.com
official
CVE-2026-50143: Apify MCP Server Auth Bypasssentinelone.com
security
Apify.com Security Breach Exposes Email Datainsecureweb.com
security