Firecrawl vs Browser Use vs MarkItDown
3 tools side by side on public signals only.
Updated : the last week a score, rank or safety result on this page changed.
- #1Firecrawlmaintenance 80 · adoption 81 · docs 6978No issues found
- #2Browser Usemaintenance 49 · adoption 69 · docs 6962Caution
- #3MarkItDownmaintenance 16 · adoption 83 · docs 6954No dependencies scanned
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 tool whose automated scan found no issues.
Pick Browser Use if
- You need a permissive open-source licence (MIT).
Pick MarkItDown if
- You want the more widely adopted option (adoption 83).
- You need a permissive open-source licence (MIT).
Safety side by side
Automated scan, 2 Nov 2026. Not a manual audit.
- No issues foundFirecrawlNo issues found in this week’s scan
- CautionBrowser UseSkill/agent file instructs piping a remote script into a shell: skills/cloud/references/quickstart.md
- No dependencies scannedMarkItDownCode checks clean, no lockfile to check
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
- Browser Use: Skill/agent file instructs piping a remote script into a shell: skills/cloud/references/quickstart.md — curl -fsSL https://browser-use.com/profile.sh | sh
- MarkItDown: code and instruction-file checks found nothing, but there is no runtime lockfile or manifest, so dependencies were not checked
Repo facts
Yellow = the higher value, where higher is better.
| Fact | Firecrawl | Browser Use | MarkItDown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 62 | 54 |
| Stars | 197,743 | 119,790 | 193,454 |
| Last push | 2 Nov | 2 Nov | 28 Oct |
| Releases, 90 days | 10+ | 7 | 4 |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | MIT |
| Open source | Open source | Open source | Open source |
| Language | TypeScript | Python | Python |
| Type | AI tool | AI tool | AI tool |
| Runs locally | yes | yes | yes |
| Hosted option | mentioned | unknown | unknown |
“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 Browser Use vs MarkItDown
Answers use this week's StackGrade data.
Firecrawl, Browser Use or MarkItDown: which scores higher on StackGrade?
Highest to lowest in Week 45: Firecrawl 78, Browser Use 62, MarkItDown 54 out of 100. The score combines maintenance, adoption and docs (percentiles of public GitHub signals): Firecrawl 80, 81 and 69; Browser Use 49, 69 and 69; MarkItDown 16, 83 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, Browser Use or MarkItDown 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; Browser Use: Caution, skill/agent file instructs piping a remote script into a shell: skills/cloud/references/quickstart.md; MarkItDown: No dependencies scanned, code checks clean, no lockfile to check. “No dependencies scanned” means the code checks were clean but there is no lockfile, so dependencies could not be checked; it is not a clean bill. It is an automated scan, not a manual audit.
Which is more widely used, Firecrawl, Browser Use or MarkItDown?
By GitHub stars: Firecrawl 197,743, MarkItDown 193,454, Browser Use 119,790. Adoption score (percentile among all 52 tracked tools): Firecrawl 81, Browser Use 69, MarkItDown 83. Stars are one public signal and do not measure real-world use.
Which licences do Firecrawl, Browser Use and MarkItDown use?
Firecrawl: AGPL-3.0; Browser Use: MIT; MarkItDown: MIT. Read each licence text before commercial use.
Should I pick Firecrawl, Browser Use or MarkItDown?
Pick Firecrawl if recent activity and releases matter most to you (maintenance 80); you want the tool whose automated scan found no issues. Pick Browser Use if you need a permissive open-source licence (MIT). Pick MarkItDown if you want the more widely adopted option (adoption 83); you need a permissive open-source licence (MIT). This comes from measured public data and licences only, not from hands-on testing.
Full comparison table, every criterion
| Firecrawlfirecrawl/firecrawl | Browser Usebrowser-use/browser-use | MarkItDownmicrosoft/markitdown | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 62 | 54 |
| Rank | #1 overall · #1 in use case | #15 overall · #2 in use case | #22 overall · #3 in use case |
| Maintenance (30%) | 80 | 49 | 16 |
| Adoption (30%) | 81 | 69 | 83 |
| Docs (20%) | 69 | 69 | 69 |
| Community (20%) | not measured | not measured | not measured |
| Safety | No issues found | Caution
| No dependencies scanned |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | MIT |
| Open source | Open source | Open source | Open source |
| Language | TypeScript | Python | Python |
| Stars | 197,743 | 119,790 | 193,454 |
| Last push | |||
| Type | AI tool | AI tool | AI tool |
| Runs locally | yes (README: "npx -y f") | yes (README: "uv add") | yes (README: "pip install") |
| Hosted option | mentioned (README: "cloud version") | unknown | unknown |
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