Firecrawl

firecrawl/firecrawlReviewed by AI

What it does

Firecrawl searches the web, reads pages (including ones built with JavaScript) and returns clean Markdown, JSON or screenshots for AI agents. It can crawl whole sites, click through pages and parse PDFs. It is for developers building AI tools, used through code libraries (Python, Node.js and others), a CLI or an MCP server. The easiest path is the hosted service with an API key; running your own copy needs Docker and several services. The cloud version has extra features not in the open-source code. Users are responsible for respecting websites' rules.

How easy it is to install

B · installer plus one simple step · Web

Windows D
macOS D
Linux D
Web B

The easiest route is the web: sign up at firecrawl.dev and try it in the browser playground with an API key, no install. Running it on your own Windows, Mac or Linux machine is much harder: there are no ready downloads, and the docker-compose stack starts Redis, RabbitMQ, Postgres and a Playwright browser service.

Numbers on GitHub

Stars: 197,415on Oct 31, 2026
Downloads: —all releases
Growth: +1,711stars in 5 days

Stars over time

Facts

Runs on: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux
You need to install: Docker
To build from source: Docker
Disk space: not determined
Accounts or keys: Firecrawl cloud API key (hosted service; not needed when you run your own copy), OpenAI or compatible LLM endpoint (AI extraction features when you run your own copy)
Cost: Freemium · Running your own copy of the AGPL code is free; the hosted service at firecrawl.dev uses an API key and credits (prices not stated in the README) and has extra features.
License: AGPL-3.0 (Copyleft)
Can replace: Bright Data, Browserbase
Last update: Oct 31, 2026

Risk signals (4)

Attentionself host no auth by default
docker-compose.yaml: 'USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION: ${USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION:-false}', 'HOST: "0.0.0.0"' and ports '"${PORT:-3002}:${INTERNAL_PORT:-3002}"' — the API you run yourself is published on the network without authentication unless configured; the default Postgres password is 'postgres'.
AI review
Infocloud has extra features
README: 'The cloud version at firecrawl.dev includes additional features'.
AI review
Infoscraping terms responsibility
README: 'It is the sole responsibility of end users to respect websites' policies when scraping.'
AI review
Infolatest code fetched at setup
README agent setup: 'npx -y firecrawl-cli@latest init --all --browser' and 'curl -s https://firecrawl.dev/agent-onboarding/SKILL.md' pull the newest CLI and instructions at install time, not a pinned version.
AI review

Evidence is shown in its original language.

What Radar could not check

Whether the Docker stack you run yourself builds and runs on Windows with Docker Desktop.
Real memory use when running it yourself; the compose file allows up to 8 GB for the API and 4 GB for the browser service.
Which features are missing from the open-source version compared with the cloud service.
Real cost of the hosted service for a given number of pages.
Whether the free tier of the hosted playground is enough for real work.