Firecrawl vs Crawl4AI
Updated : the last week a score, rank or safety result on this page changed.
- Maintenance 30%8037
- Adoption 30%8156
- Docs 20%6969
- Community 20%, not measured yet––
Firecrawl scores 26 points higher. Firecrawl leads on maintenance and adoption.
What this does not tell you
Scores are percentiles of public GitHub signals. Nobody here tested these tools hands-on, so the higher score is not a verdict on which suits your project. Yellow marks the higher value.
Which one fits you
From measured data and licences, not from testing.
Pick Firecrawl if
- Recent activity and releases matter most to you (maintenance 80).
- You want the more widely adopted option (adoption 81).
- You want the tool whose automated scan found no issues.
Pick Crawl4AI if
- You need a permissive open-source licence (Apache-2.0).
Safety side by side
Automated scan, 2 Nov 2026. Not a manual audit.
- No issues foundFirecrawlNo issues found in this week’s scan
- CautionCrawl4AI29 critical-severity known vulnerabilities in runtime dependencies (OSV)
Why different labels?
A label partly reflects how much of each tool is visible and scannable, not only how risky it is. A tool without a lockfile cannot get a dependency check.
- Firecrawl: no issues found
- Crawl4AI: 29 critical-severity known vulnerabilities in runtime dependencies (OSV)
Repo facts
Yellow = the higher value, where higher is better.
| Fact | Firecrawl | Crawl4AI |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 52 |
| Stars | 197,743 | 86,744 |
| Last push | 2 Nov | 1 Nov |
| Releases, 90 days | 10+ | 6 |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Open source | Open source | Open source |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Type | AI tool | AI tool |
| Runs locally | yes | yes |
| Hosted option | mentioned | mentioned |
“Runs locally” and “Hosted option” are read from each README automatically (or from the official docs where noted); “unknown” means no evidence was found, not that it is absent.
Questions about Firecrawl vs Crawl4AI
Answers use this week's StackGrade data.
Firecrawl or Crawl4AI: which scores higher on StackGrade?
Firecrawl scores 26 points higher in Week 45: Firecrawl 78, Crawl4AI 52 out of 100. The score combines maintenance, adoption and docs (percentiles of public GitHub signals): Firecrawl 80, 81 and 69; Crawl4AI 37, 56 and 69. Community (20% weight) is not measured yet. It is not a hands-on test, so a higher score does not say which tool suits your project.
Is Firecrawl or Crawl4AI safer to use?
Safety labels from the automated scan of 2 Nov 2026: Firecrawl: No issues found, no issues found in this week’s scan; Crawl4AI: Caution, 29 critical-severity known vulnerabilities in runtime dependencies (OSV). It is an automated scan, not a manual audit.
Which is more widely used, Firecrawl or Crawl4AI?
By GitHub stars: Firecrawl 197,743, Crawl4AI 86,744. Adoption score (percentile among all 52 tracked tools): Firecrawl 81, Crawl4AI 56. Stars are one public signal and do not measure real-world use.
Which licences do Firecrawl and Crawl4AI use?
Firecrawl: AGPL-3.0; Crawl4AI: Apache-2.0. Read each licence text before commercial use.
Should I pick Firecrawl or Crawl4AI?
Pick Firecrawl if recent activity and releases matter most to you (maintenance 80); you want the more widely adopted option (adoption 81); you want the tool whose automated scan found no issues. Pick Crawl4AI if you need a permissive open-source licence (Apache-2.0). This comes from measured public data and licences only, not from hands-on testing.
Full comparison table, every criterion
| Firecrawlfirecrawl/firecrawl | Crawl4AIunclecode/crawl4ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 52 |
| Rank | #1 overall · #1 in use case | #26 overall · #4 in use case |
| Maintenance (30%) | 80 | 37 |
| Adoption (30%) | 81 | 56 |
| Docs (20%) | 69 | 69 |
| Community (20%) | not measured | not measured |
| Safety | No issues found | Caution
|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Open source | Open source | Open source |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Stars | 197,743 | 86,744 |
| Last push | ||
| Type | AI tool | AI tool |
| Runs locally | yes (README: "npx -y f") | yes (README: "pip install") |
| Hosted option | mentioned (README: "cloud version") | mentioned (README: "Crawl4AI Cloud") |
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