# Introduction to the Apify platform

**Learn all about the Apify platform, all of the tools it offers, and how it can improve your overall development experience.**

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The [Apify platform](https://apify.com) was built to serve large-scale and high-performance web scraping and automation needs. It provides easy access to compute instances ([Actors](https://pr-2390.preview.docs.apify.com/academy/getting-started/actors.md)), convenient request and result storages, proxies, scheduling, webhooks and more - all accessible through the **Console** web interface, [Apify's API](https://pr-2390.preview.docs.apify.com/api/v2.md), or our [JavaScript](https://pr-2390.preview.docs.apify.com/api/client/js) and [Python](https://pr-2390.preview.docs.apify.com/api/client/python) API clients.

## Category outline

In this category, you'll learn how to become an Apify platform developer from the ground up. From creating your first account, to developing Actors, this is your one-stop-shop for understanding how the platform works, and how to work with it.

## First up

We'll start off this category light, by showing you how to create an Apify account and get everything ready for development with the platform. [Let's go!](https://pr-2390.preview.docs.apify.com/academy/getting-started.md)