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Firecrawl vs Crawl4AI · Crawl4AI costs less per plain page, and Firecrawl costs less on blocked sites

Notes from GTM teamsWritten by people who run outboundWe use the tools we recommend.Updated Oct 26, 2026

The short answer

Firecrawl is a hosted scraping API, a web service that fetches pages and returns clean text. Crawl4AI is a free open-source library you can self-host, which means you run it on your own servers. Crawl4AI also sells Crawl4AI Cloud, a hosted API in soft launch, a test phase where its prices “can change.” On October 26, 2026 prices, Crawl4AI Cloud costs less on plain pages and Firecrawl costs less on sites that block bots.

our pick

Our pick

Pick Crawl4AI Cloud if you scrape plain pages at volume. 100,000 plain pages cost $50 a month billed monthly on Crawl4AI Cloud and $99 a month billed monthly on Firecrawl. Pick the Crawl4AI library if you want to self-host for free under Apache-2.0. Pick Firecrawl if your sites block bots, or if you want scraping, search and browser minutes on one bill. Billed monthly, Firecrawl Standard and Crawl4AI Builder are both $99 a month. On sites that block bots, Standard covers 100,000 pages a month at 1 credit a page, and Builder covers 62,500 at 2 credits a page.

What each tool does

Firecrawl

Search APIs

Firecrawl reads web pages for your code and can also run searches. Both share one balance of credits.

Go to the website

Crawl4AI

Search APIs

Crawl4AI is a free open-source library you can self-host, which means you run it on your own servers. Crawl4AI also sells Crawl4AI Cloud, a hosted API in soft launch, a test phase where its prices “can change.”

Read our review

How the two tools compare

	Firecrawl	Crawl4AI
What it is	A hosted scraping API, a web service you call to fetch pages as clean text. One pool of credits covers scrape, crawl, search and browser minutes.	A free open-source library you self-host, which means you run it and its browsers on your own servers. Crawl4AI Cloud is its hosted API, in soft launch, a test phase where prices “can change.”
License and GitHub stars	AGPL-3.0, a license that can require you to share your changed source code with users who reach it over a network. 195.4k stars on October 26, 2026.	Apache-2.0, a permissive license that lets you use and change the code inside a product you sell. 86.3k stars on October 26, 2026.
Free start	1,000 credits a month on the Free plan. A credit is the unit Firecrawl bills by.	The library is free. The cloud gives 20 credits with no signup, then 1,000 credits a month after you verify your email.
Entry paid plan	Hobby, $16 a month billed yearly or $19 billed monthly, for 5,000 credits.	Starter, $10 a month billed monthly, for 10,000 credits. Extra credits cost $1 per 1,000.
Credits for a plain page	1 credit a page to scrape, crawl or map.	0.5 credits a page. Each credit is worth $0.001.
Credits for a real browser page, a page that needs a full browser to load	1 credit a page.	1 credit a page.
Credits for a site that blocks bots	1 credit a page. Firecrawl’s billing docs say an enhanced proxy is “Billed at the same 1 credit as a basic request.”	2 credits a page, Crawl4AI’s “hard site” price.
100,000 plain pages a month	Standard, $83 a month billed yearly or $99 billed monthly.	$50 a month billed monthly. Starter at $10 plus 40 extra blocks of 1,000 credits at $1 each.
100,000 real browser pages a month	Standard, $83 a month billed yearly or $99 billed monthly.	Builder, $99 a month billed monthly or $82.50 a month billed yearly, for 125,000 credits a month.
100,000 pages from sites that block bots	Standard, $83 a month billed yearly or $99 billed monthly.	Builder, $99 a month billed monthly or $82.50 a month billed yearly. Its 125,000 credits a month cover 62,500 of these pages at 2 credits a page.

How to pick one if you only have 10 seconds

The math: on October 26, 2026 prices, 20,000 plain pages cost $10 a month billed monthly on Crawl4AI Starter. Firecrawl needs Standard, $83 a month billed yearly or $99 billed monthly.
100,000 plain pages cost $50 a month billed monthly on Crawl4AI Cloud, against $99 billed monthly on Firecrawl.
100,000 real browser pages cost $99 a month billed monthly on either tool.
On sites that block bots, Firecrawl Standard covers 100,000 pages a month and Crawl4AI Builder covers 62,500. Both are $99 a month billed monthly.
Crawl4AI Cloud is in soft launch. Its price table says prices can change, so check it before you commit.
Billed yearly, Crawl4AI Builder is $82.50 a month, or $990 a year. Firecrawl Standard is $83 a month billed yearly.
Crawl4AI’s own comparison table prices Firecrawl at Hobby monthly, $19 for 5,000 pages, or $3.80 per 1,000. On Standard billed monthly, Firecrawl costs about $0.99 per 1,000 plain pages, or $99 for 100,000 pages.
Firecrawl adds 4 credits a page for JSON output, 1 for zero data retention and 4 for PII redaction, the removal of personal data such as names and emails.

Who should buy each one

Pick Firecrawl if

Your target sites block bots. Firecrawl bills them at 1 credit, the same as a plain page.
You want scraping, search and browser minutes under one bill.
You need JSON output, zero data retention or PII redaction as extras on the same credits.

Pick Crawl4AI if

You scrape plain pages at volume. Crawl4AI Cloud costs 0.5 credits a page.
You want to self-host for free under Apache-2.0 inside a product you sell.
You can accept soft launch prices that can change.

What users say

“Firecrawl got me unstuck. Crawl4AI gave me a cleaner boundary: search finds pages, Crawl4AI reads known URLs, the browser handles visual checks.”

“One of my team found a GitHub repo “crawl4ai” which I’m hoping will save on @firecrawl credits.”

Common questions

Is Crawl4AI free?▾

The library is free under Apache-2.0, and you run it yourself. Crawl4AI Cloud gives 1,000 credits a month free after email verification, and paid plans start at $10 a month billed monthly.

How much does Crawl4AI Cloud cost?▾

On October 26, 2026, Starter is $10 a month billed monthly for 10,000 credits, and Builder is $99 a month billed monthly for 125,000 credits. Crawl4AI Cloud also has a bigger Scale plan. The cloud is in soft launch, so prices can change.

Is Crawl4AI cheaper than Firecrawl?▾

On plain pages, yes. 100,000 plain pages cost $50 a month billed monthly on Crawl4AI Cloud and $99 a month billed monthly on Firecrawl. On sites that block bots, Firecrawl costs less.

Can Firecrawl be self-hosted?▾

Yes. Firecrawl’s code is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0. If you self-host it inside a product you sell, have someone check the AGPL terms first.

Which is cheaper for 100,000 pages?▾

On October 26, 2026 prices, pick Crawl4AI Cloud for plain pages at $50 a month billed monthly. For sites that block bots, Firecrawl Standard at $99 a month billed monthly covers 100,000 pages. Crawl4AI Builder at the same price covers 62,500 at 2 credits a page.

what to do next

What to do next

List your next 1,000 target URLs and mark each one plain, browser or blocked. If they are plain pages, run them on Crawl4AI Cloud’s free 1,000 credits. If they block bots, or you also need search and browser minutes, run them on Firecrawl’s Free plan and compare the output. Try Firecrawl Next · Firecrawl pricing prices every Firecrawl plan · Firecrawl vs Exa compares scraping with search · Apify vs Firecrawl compares two hosted scrapers. Prices are from Firecrawl pricing, Firecrawl billing docs and Crawl4AI Cloud pricing, checked October 26, 2026. Star counts and licenses are from the Firecrawl repo and the Crawl4AI repo, read October 26, 2026 at 09.48 IST.