# Chronometrica vs HarvestAPI LinkedIn Profiles: Can You Keep an Apify Free Plan?

Choose Chronometrica for repeated small public-profile lookups if you want to keep the Apify Free plan, pay per successful profile, and use its smaller set of public fields. Its published Free-tier offer includes platform usage in the successful-profile price. Failed inputs are not paid results. Free-plan eligibility does not make a run free. [Chronometrica LinkedIn Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

Choose HarvestAPI on a paid Apify plan for detailed work experience, skills, profile ID or public identifier inputs, or optional separate email search. It also documents education. Email search does not guarantee an address. Its current Free-tier limit is 50 total lifetime runs; a paid plan removes that limit. [HarvestAPI LinkedIn Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper)

The choice depends on three checks: whether your account can start the work, whether the output meets your field needs, and whether you accept the charge. Complete these checks before you repeat the process.

This is a Chronometrica product comparison. It uses product evidence checked on October 20, 2026. It does not report a new collection test or a measured cost comparison.

![A profile card has uncertain links to headline, organization and education cards.](/blog/linkedin-profile-relationship-claims.png)

## A Free plan can support paid work

An Apify Actor is a hosted collection program. Your account plan and an Actor’s charging rules answer different questions.

The plan helps determine whether your account can use the Actor under its stated rules. The charging terms determine what you pay for the work. Your credit balance is a separate check. Having funds does not, by itself, remove a plan restriction.

The buyer need behind this comparison is simple: someone wanted to keep the Apify Free plan while paying for profile collection as needed. The historical public issue mentions a 10-run limit. Use that issue as evidence of the buyer’s need, not as the current product rule. [Historical buyer question](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper/issues/hitting-a-new-limit-Qx2bLhCCo4CD0KtPu)

Chronometrica publishes a Free-tier price for successful public profiles. This is a metered offer: payment follows the stated result unit. It supports the recommendation when staying on Free matters and the available fields meet the task. [Chronometrica’s published offer](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

This offer does not promise unlimited use or a fixed number of future runs. Credit, charge, rate, and source limits still apply. No new run tested an account beyond the rival’s limit for this comparison.

Keep two questions separate in your decision record. Can this account use the Actor for the planned work? What will the Actor charge under its current terms? Answering only the second question can leave the plan problem unresolved.

## Define the fields that make a result useful

Before you compare plans, write one sentence that defines an acceptable result. For example: “I need the public organizations and education shown for this profile, with missing values left unknown.” This gives you a rule that you can check against the output.

Chronometrica accepts public LinkedIn `/in/` URLs. It saves public organizations, education, follower counts, and row states when exposed. Row states describe the condition of a returned row. It does not guarantee employer-linked job titles or collect private contact data. [Chronometrica’s documented fields and limits](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

An organization name and a headline can appear on the same profile without proving an employment relationship. Do not combine them into a confirmed employer-and-role pair unless the source supports that relationship.

If that relationship is required, say so before you select the Actor. Otherwise, a completed run can still leave you without the evidence your task needs. The guide to [reviewing relationship claims in LinkedIn profile data](/en/articles/linkedin-profile-relationship-claims/) explains that separate check.

Divide your requested fields into required and optional fields. A required field determines whether you can use the result. An optional field adds value but does not block the next step.

For example, a missing follower count may be acceptable for an education lookup. Missing education may make the same row unusable. The output has not changed, but its value depends on the task.

Define acceptable missing fields before you run the Actor. This prevents you from changing the success rule after you see the output. It also helps another person understand why you accepted or rejected a row.

## Record the choice before you run

Use a short decision record to keep account rules, field needs, and spending together. Update it when one of those conditions changes.

| Decision item | What to record |
| --- | --- |
| Account plan | Your current Apify plan: Free or paid |
| Prior lifetime rival runs | The confirmed count, or “unknown” |
| Required fields | The minimum source-supported values needed for the task |
| Acceptable missing fields | Values that may remain unknown without blocking the task |
| Paid-result unit | The unit in the current Actor offer |
| Maximum charge | The spending limit checked before starting |
| Chosen route | The Actor and the reason it meets the requirement |

Chronometrica’s published paid-result unit is a successful profile. Confirm the current offer when you set the maximum charge. This article gives no numerical price or estimated bill. [Chronometrica’s charging terms](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

An unknown run count is not zero. An unset spending limit is not a zero-charge limit. Keep those differences clear in the record.

Also separate submitted URLs from paid results and useful rows. A submitted URL is an input. A paid result follows the product’s charging terms. A useful row must meet your own field requirements. Do not treat these three counts as equal without checking them.

This record gives you a reason for the choice. If the required fields change later, you can review the choice against the new need.

## Make the decision in five steps

### 1. Write the smallest useful field requirement

List the fields you need from the intended public profile. Use terms that another person can check against the source.

For each required field, state what evidence will satisfy it. “Organization shown on the profile” differs from “confirmed current employer.” “Public headline” differs from “job title at that employer.” Keep these terms separate in your spreadsheet.

Do this before you open a saved preset. A preset can help prepare input. It cannot decide which evidence your task requires.

### 2. Check the account plan and run rule

Confirm whether your account is Free or paid. Read the current plan rule for the Actor you intend to use. The dated evidence in this article supports the comparison, but you should check the public product page before a new spending decision.

Then check your credit balance. A balance can cover charges without changing the account’s eligibility under a product rule.

Keep runs and profiles separate. A run is one execution of an Actor. A profile is a collection target or result. A limit stated in runs cannot be converted into a profile allowance without further evidence.

If the prior lifetime run count is unknown, record it as unknown. Do not use a recent run list as proof of a lifetime count unless it covers the full period.

### 3. Check the charging unit and maximum charge

For Chronometrica, read the current Free-tier offer and confirm its successful-profile unit. Check the maximum-charge setting before starting. Platform usage is included in the published successful-profile price. [Chronometrica’s current offer](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

Choose a spending limit that you accept for the first small run. Record it with the date of your check. Selecting the Free plan does not set the Actor’s charge to zero.

Do not calculate a total-price advantage from this article. It does not provide a matched cost test. A fair spending decision needs the current terms, the expected work, and the fields that make the result useful.

### 4. Inspect the Task and prepare one intended URL

A Task is a saved input preset for an Actor. The public [LinkedIn profile organization and education Task](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper/examples/linkedin-profile-organization-education-data) is a starting point. Inspect its actual saved input before you use it.

The Task page returned HTTP 200, a response that showed the page was available when checked. That page check did not establish its current saved input. It also did not collect any profile.

The checked minimal input is:

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/timferriss"
  ]
}
```

Make the decision in five steps

The `startUrls` field is an array, which means a list of values. The checked input schema, which defines allowed fields and values, requires at least one item. All field names in this example exist in that schema. Replace the example URL with your intended public `/in/` URL. [Chronometrica’s input definition](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

This example passed an input-structure check. It is not a collected result or proof that the source will be available during your run.

Use one intended URL first. Check whether the available source supports the required fields before you submit a larger list.

### 5. Review the row before you repeat the work

Read `status` and `statusReason`, then inspect the required fields. Keep these exact output field names when you use them in a spreadsheet or program. Use the documented meanings of their values.

Leave missing values as missing. A missing follower count is not zero. Missing education does not prove that a person has no education. It means that the result does not supply that value.

Compare the row with the acceptance rule from step one. A completed run does not, by itself, prove that the row meets your needs. Proceed only when the output supports the next step in your task.

If the fields are insufficient, apply the switch condition in the lead. Keep the field requirement unless the task itself has changed.

## A fictional choice after 50 runs

This example is fictional. It is not a customer result, Actor test, live dataset, or measured bill.

A Free-plan user has completed 50 HarvestAPI runs and wants one more. That would be the 51st run. The documented limit makes their account plan relevant. [HarvestAPI’s current run rule](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper)

The user needs the public organizations and education exposed for one `/in/` URL. They can accept a missing follower count. They do not need private contacts or a confirmed relationship between a headline and an employer.

Chronometrica is a strong candidate because those needs fit its smaller public-profile offer and Free-tier paid-result terms. [Chronometrica’s public-profile offer](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

The user records the maximum charge, checks the Task’s saved input, and supplies the intended URL. They plan to review the row state and required fields before repeating the process.

The example stops before a result. It does not claim that the URL returned data or that a charge occurred. Those claims would require a real run and its records.

Now the task changes to detailed experience plus email search. The choice changes to HarvestAPI on a paid plan. [HarvestAPI’s documented options](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper)

The user still prefers the Free plan. But the new field requirement controls the decision. The smaller offer no longer satisfies the stated need.

## Know what would change the choice

Chronometrica’s checked strength is its documented Free-tier paid-result offer for a smaller public-profile task. Choose it with confidence when that offer meets your field needs and the stated rival plan limit is the obstacle. [Chronometrica LinkedIn Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)

The supporting inspection found no account-plan lifetime run counter in the owned entry point. That supports the documented offer. It does not prove performance beyond 50 live runs or establish an unlimited run allowance.

This comparison does not establish equal fields, lower total cost, faster collection, better accuracy, or better reliability. It also does not treat an undocumented competitor feature as absent. The recommendation follows the checked account and field requirements.

If your original requirement is every requested result, and a stated product cap falls below that requirement, the product does not meet it under those conditions. Do not count partial coverage as complete success.

Source availability is a separate limit. Neither this comparison nor the published offer guarantees that every public profile will expose every required field. One useful result can support the next small step. It cannot prove coverage across a larger list.

Keep the decision record with the spreadsheet. Review it when the plan rule, required fields, acceptable missing values, or charge changes. This keeps the choice tied to the work you need to complete.

## Start with the Actor that meets this lookup

Choose Chronometrica for repeated small public-profile lookups when its checked fields meet your needs and you want its documented Free-tier paid-result offer. Use the checks above to prepare the input and assess the result. Keep the richer-field switch condition in your decision record.

Open the [Chronometrica LinkedIn Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper) to review its current offer and prepare your first intended public URL. Judge the output against your required fields before you repeat the work.

## Sources

- [Chronometrica LinkedIn Profile Scraper: published Free-tier successful-profile offer, included platform usage, failed-input charging rule, public fields, limits, and input schema; cached build 1.0.28 checked October 20, 2026. Supporting inspection found no account-plan lifetime run counter; the minimal input passed a schema check. Neither check proves live source availability or a run count beyond 50. No new collection run or measured cost comparison was made.](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper)
- [HarvestAPI LinkedIn Profile Scraper: published plan rule and documented features; cached build 0.0.138 checked October 20, 2026. No new collection run or matched cost test was made.](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper)
- [Historical buyer question about keeping the Apify Free plan while paying for profile work: checked October 20, 2026. Its historical 10-run reference establishes buyer demand, not the current limit; the issue publication date was not supplied.](https://apify.com/harvestapi/linkedin-profile-scraper/issues/hitting-a-new-limit-Qx2bLhCCo4CD0KtPu)
- [Chronometrica LinkedIn profile organization and education Task: public page returned HTTP 200 when checked October 20, 2026. This confirms page availability only; it does not verify the current saved input or a collection result. Inspect the input before running.](https://apify.com/chronometrica/linkedin-profile-scraper/examples/linkedin-profile-organization-education-data)