Firecrawl review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Web search, scrape and crawl API that returns LLM-ready data
Black Friday: is there a Firecrawl sale?
Firecrawl report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for turning web pages into clean text for AI apps
Firecrawl searches, scrapes and crawls pages into Markdown or JSON, and its core is open source. The free plan is 1,000 credits a month, and the pricing steps up quickly, with JSON output costing 4 extra credits a page and some features only on the hosted cloud.
Who Firecrawl is for
- Fits if you feed web pages into an LLM and want Markdown back
- Works for people happy to self-host the open-source core
Who Firecrawl is not for
- Tight if you stay free: 1,000 credits, 2 concurrent requests and low rate limits
- Watch out: JSON, Question and Highlight formats add 4 credits a page
- Watch out: Agent, Browser and the managed dashboards are Cloud only, not in the open-source version
- Pricey if you scale: $83 for 100,000 credits and $333 for 500,000, and pay-as-you-go is for paid plans only
Why Firecrawl gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for money$16 a month on yearly billing for 5,000 credits, inside the cheapest quarter of this category ($19). Standard jumps to $83 for 100,000.
- CFree plan and trialA free plan with 1,000 credits a month and no card, but only 2 concurrent requests and low rate limits.
- BFeaturesSearch, scrape, crawl, map and interact, with SDKs and an open-source core. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core scraping job.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. It is a developer API, with keys and code to set up.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, but it plugs into LangChain, Claude, ChatGPT and Ollama and has SDKs.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Firecrawl's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/firecrawl#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/firecrawl.svg" alt="Firecrawl: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Firecrawl stands among SERP and SEO data APIs
Firecrawl's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 39 of the 48 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 5.
It stands best on features (B, above 33 of 48) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
Its paid plans start at $16 a month, against a middle price of $29 for the category: 3 of the 33 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 49 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, cut by the letter each got. Firecrawl’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 29 of 48, level with 14
- CFree plan and trialAbove 3 of 48, level with 39
- BFeaturesAbove 33 of 48, level with 14
- CEase of useAbove 1 of 48, level with 45
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 12 of 48, level with 36
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 34 SERP and SEO data APIs. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Firecrawl, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Firecrawl you would be making search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 39 of the 48 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade. It costs $192 a year. Firecrawl is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- Search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
- An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
- It plugs into other products, LangChain, Claude and ChatGPT among them, and has an API.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Firecrawl’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Firecrawl?
Firecrawl is an API that searches the web and scrapes pages into Markdown, JSON or screenshots for language models and agents. Endpoints cover search, scrape, map, crawl and browser interaction. The core project is open source and can be self-hosted, while the paid cloud adds more features.
Worth knowing
- Per-page cost rises with format: JSON, Question and Highlight formats add 4 credits per page on Scrape and Crawl.
- The docs say Agent, Browser, managed dashboards, enhanced proxy paths and enterprise controls are Cloud-only.
- Pay-as-you-go (credits added in $5 steps up to a monthly limit you set) is for paid plans only.
- A page that returns an error status such as 403 or 404 still costs 1 credit.
Key features
- Search with page content
- Searches the web and returns full page content from the results, not only links. Costs 2 credits per 10 results.
- Scrape to Markdown or JSON
- Turns a URL into Markdown, structured JSON, screenshots or other formats. A basic scrape costs 1 credit per page.
- Crawl and map
- Crawl follows a site page by page at 1 credit per page. Map lists a site's URLs for 1 credit per call.
- Interact
- Scrapes a page, then clicks, fills forms or navigates it from AI prompts or code, at 2 credits per browser minute.
- Open-source core
- The core scrape, crawl, map and search APIs can be self-hosted with Docker Compose, per the docs.
- SDKs and shared credits
- Python, Node.js, cURL and CLI examples are shown. One credit balance is shared across all endpoints.
Firecrawl pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Firecrawl has a free plan, and paid plans start at $16 per month for 5,000 credits, billed annually ($19 billed monthly).
- Starts at
- $16 per month for 5,000 credits, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)
- Free plan
- 1,000 credits a month, no card needed, 2 concurrent requests and low rate limits.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 credits a month (500 searches or 1,000 pages scraped), 2 concurrent requests. |
| Hobby | $16per month for 5,000 credits, billed annually ($19 billed monthly) | 5 concurrent requests, basic support, and extra credits at 1,000 per $5. |
| Standard | $83per month for 100,000 credits, billed annually ($99 billed monthly) | 25 concurrent requests, standard support, extra credits at 2,000 per $5. |
| Growth | $333per month for 500,000 credits, billed annually ($399 billed monthly) | 50 concurrent requests, priority support, extra credits at 2,500 per $5. |
| Scale | $599per month for 1,000,000 credits, billed annually ($749 billed monthly) | 100 concurrent requests, priority support, extra credits at 5,000 per $5. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom credits and concurrency, dedicated support and SLA, SSO, zero-data retention. |
Read from firecrawl.dev on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Firecrawl before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Annual discountAnnual billing saves about 2 months
Annual prices are lower than monthly (Standard $83 against $99 a month); the homepage banner says 2 months free when billed annually.
Stated on firecrawl.dev
Works with
Firecrawl alternatives
- Firecrawl vs Tavily
Free plan · from $30/mo
- Firecrawl vs Apify
Free plan · from $19/mo
- Firecrawl vs ScrapingBee
Free trial · from $19/mo
- Firecrawl vs ZenRows
Free plan · from $16/mo
- Firecrawl vs Scrapfly
Free trial · from $30/mo
Common questions
Does Firecrawl have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Firecrawl is listed for Web.
Does Firecrawl have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Firecrawl is listed for Web.
Is Firecrawl open source?
Yes. Firecrawl is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Does Firecrawl have an API?
Yes. Firecrawl offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.