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docs: Synthetic start event improvements
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sources/platform/actors/publishing/monetize/pay_per_event.mdx

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@@ -144,20 +144,22 @@ We recommend using the synthetic Actor start event in PPE Actors. It benefits bo
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Starting an Actor takes time, and creates additional cost for the Actor creator, because the profit equals revenue minus platform costs.
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One of the options to charge for the time spent on starting the Actor is to charge an “Actor start” event. Let’s say $1 for 1000 Actor starts. Unfortunately, this makes your Actor comparably expensive with other tools on the market (outside of [Apify Store](/platform/console/store)) that do not incur this startup cost.
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One of the options to charge for the time spent on starting the Actor is to charge an “Actor start” event. Let’s say $1 for 1000 Actor starts. Unfortunately, this makes your Actor comparably expensive with other tools on the market (outside of [Apify Store](/platform/console/store)) that do not incur this startup cost.
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We want to make it easier for Apify Store creators to stay competitive. To do that, we have the Apify Actor synthetic start event `apify-actor-start`.
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We want to make it easier for Actor creators to stay competitive, but also help them to be profitable. Therefore, we have the Apify Actor synthetic start event `apify-actor-start`.
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Users of your Actor are charged one event for each GB of memory used by the Actor (at least one event per run). We _strongly_ suggest setting the price of this event to $0.0001 to remain competitive in the Store and attractive for your customers. If you define this event, you also save 5 seconds of Actor runtime from each Actor run, which won't be deducted from your payout profits.
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#### How the synthetic start event works
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:::note Automatic charging of synthetic start event
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You must _not_ manually charge for the synthetic start event (`apify-actor-start`) in your Actor code.
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If you attempt to charge this event yourself, the operation will fail.
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This event is _always_ charged automatically by the Apify platform whenever your Actor starts or is resurrected.
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:::
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- The Apify Actor start event is **automatically enabled** for all new PPE Actors. For existing Actors, you can enable it in Apify Console.
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- Apify **automatically charges** the event.
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- You must _not_ manually charge for the synthetic start event (`apify-actor-start`) in your Actor code. If you attempt to charge this event yourself, the operation will fail.
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- The price of the event is **$0.00005**, which equals **$0.05 per 1,000 starts**.
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- The number of events charged **depends on the memory** of the Actor run. Up to and including 1 GB of RAM, the event is charged once. Then it's charged once for each extra GB of memory. For example:
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- 128 MB RAM: 1 event, $0.00005
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- 1 GB RAM: 1 event, $0.00005
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- 4 GB RAM: 4 events, $0.0002
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- You can increase the price of the event if you wish, but you **won't get more free compute**.
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- You can delete the event if you wish, but if you do, you will **lose the free 5 seconds** of compute.
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#### Synthetic start event for new Actors
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#### Synthetic start event for existing Actors
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If you have existing Actors, you can add this event manually in Apify Console.
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If you have existing Actors, you can add this event manually in Apify Console in the Publication tab.
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#### Synthetic start event for Actors with start event
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Your Actor might already have a start event defined, such as `actor-start` or another variant of the event name. In this case, you can choose whether to use the synthetic start event or keep the existing start event.
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If you want to use the synthetic start event, remove the existing start event from your Actor and add the synthetic start event in Apify Console.
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If you want to use the synthetic start event, remove the existing start event from your Actor and add the synthetic start event in Apify Console in the Publication tab.
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### Set memory limits
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