The latest articles on DEV Community by tobub (@tobub). https://dev.to/tobub https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4070032%2F866c976b-b34c-4128-8b7d-a7efb5015a57.png https://dev.to/tobub en tobub Sun, 09 Aug 2026 15:59:28 +0000 https://dev.to/tobub/tobub-a-free-local-alternative-to-apify-3cjf https://dev.to/tobub/tobub-a-free-local-alternative-to-apify-3cjf <p>Your data workflows don’t always need to run in the cloud.<br> tobub is a free, local-first automation and data collection platform for developers, researchers, and teams who need crawling, monitoring, analysis, and AI-powered workflows.<br> With tobub, you can:</p> <ul> <li>Crawl websites and platform data</li> <li>Monitor content and changes on a schedule</li> <li>Store, manage, and analyze collected data</li> <li>Use AI for extraction, classification, summarization, and decision-making</li> <li>Build extensible workflows with Skills</li> <li>Manage accounts, proxies, browser sessions, and execution history tobub supports multiple ways to run and integrate:</li> <li>Desktop app: simple and visual task management</li> <li>Docker: ideal for servers and long-running workloads</li> <li>OpenAPI: connect tobub to your existing systems</li> <li>SDK: build custom crawlers and automation workflows with code Unlike cloud-only platforms, tobub focuses on local execution and data ownership. Your data, login sessions, execution records, and runtime environment can stay under your control—making it a great fit for personal projects, internal tools, and experimental workflows. tobub is still in an experimental stage, and both its features and experience are actively evolving. Try it out, open an Issue, report a problem, or share what you’d like to build with it. If you’re looking for a free, flexible, self-hosted alternative to Apify, give tobub a try.</li> </ul> <p>github:<a href="https://github.com/pow505/tobub" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/pow505/tobub</a></p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fw9w77gcdsv6sevnhwzil.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fw9w77gcdsv6sevnhwzil.png" alt=" " width="800" height="479"></a></p> agents ai webdev apify