Apify vs Firecrawl
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Apify starts at $19/mo and Firecrawl starts at $19/mo. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
At a glance
Best for
Category
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Actor marketplace
- Scheduled scraping
- Proxy management
- Crawlee library
- MCP server for agents
- Scrape to markdown
- Site crawling
- Web search endpoint
- Schema-based extraction
- MCP server
| Feature | Apify | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Web scraping platform with thousands of ready-made scrapers | API that turns websites into clean markdown for AI apps |
| Category | Data & analytics | Data & analytics |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $19/mo | $19/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Made by | Apify | Firecrawl |
| Based in | Czechia | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
|
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Pricing compared
Apify starts at $19/mo and Firecrawl starts at $19/mo. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
5 plans
Free
Free
- $5 monthly usage credit
- $0.20 per compute unit
- Community support
Starter
$19/mo
- $19 prepaid usage, then pay as you go
- Chat support
- Bronze Store discount
Scale
$199/mo
- $199 prepaid usage
- $0.16 per compute unit
- Priority chat support
Business
$999/mo
- $999 prepaid usage
- $0.13 per compute unit
- Account manager
Enterprise
Custom
- Custom usage and pricing
- Custom scraping solutions
6 plans
Free
Free
- 1,000 credits per month
- 2 concurrent requests
Hobby
$19/mo
- 5,000 credits per month
- 5 concurrent requests
Standard
$99/mo
- 100,000 credits per month
- 25 concurrent requests
Growth
$399/mo
- 500,000 credits per month
- 50 concurrent requests
- Priority support
Scale
$749/mo
- 1,000,000 credits per month
- 100 concurrent requests
Enterprise
Contact sales
- Custom credits and concurrency
- SLA, SSO, zero-data retention
Prices in USD, checked Oct 28, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Apify
- Huge library of ready scrapers
- Handles proxies and scaling
- Free monthly credits
- Actor quality varies
- Costs rise with heavy use
Firecrawl
- Output is ready for LLMs
- Simple, well-documented API
- Open-source core
- Credits go fast on big crawls
- Some sites still block it
Which one should you choose?
Choose Apify if you want:
- Huge library of ready scrapers
- Handles proxies and scaling
- Free monthly credits
Watch out: actor quality varies.
Choose Firecrawl if you want:
- Output is ready for LLMs
- Simple, well-documented API
- Open-source core
Watch out: credits go fast on big crawls.
Apify vs Firecrawl FAQ
What is the difference between Apify and Firecrawl?
Apify: Web scraping platform with thousands of ready-made scrapers. Firecrawl: API that turns websites into clean markdown for AI apps. Both are data & analytics tools.
Is Apify or Firecrawl cheaper?
Apify starts at $19/mo and Firecrawl starts at $19/mo. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Do Apify and Firecrawl have free plans?
Apify: Yes. Firecrawl: Yes.
Who makes Apify?
Apify is made by Apify, based in Czechia.
Who makes Firecrawl?
Firecrawl is made by Firecrawl, based in United States.
Which should I choose, Apify or Firecrawl?
Choose Apify if you value huge library of ready scrapers and handles proxies and scaling. Choose Firecrawl if you value output is ready for llms and simple, well-documented api.