Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run
fastCRW vs Scrapfly
Scrapfly scores 74.5 (BB) on agent readiness against fastCRW's 64.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. fastCRW leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community. Both do scraping.
Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 501 scrapers comparisons
Which one, for what
fastCRW B
Best for Agents that want Firecrawl-style scrape, crawl, map, search and extract at lower per-page cost, or a small self-hosted engine.
Ahead on
- Agent ergonomics, 91 against 80
- Maintenance & community, 93 against 84
Also in its favour
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Scrapfly loses 3 points for them
Watch for
The status page shows a live check and an uptime objective but no incident history
Scrapfly BB
Best for An agent that needs scrape, screenshot, extraction, crawl and a hosted browser from one key, with errors it can branch on.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 85 against 50
- Security & auth, 75 against 40
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 75 against 60
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
Watch for
The open-source MCP server registers 62 tools at once, a heavy tools/list
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Reliability Scrapfly +35
fastCRW 50
Graded on the hosted lines, for the hosted API and MCP server an agent would call; the self-hosted engine would read higher on the local lines. fastcrw.com/status is a first-party page with a live health check and a 99.9% monthly uptime objective, but no components with history (10 of 20). It lists no incidents and keeps no history we could read (5). Concurrency per plan is published, 3 on Free to 150 on Scale, while the request-rate guard above it is deliberately unpublished (12 of 15). The rate-limits page documents Retry-After and X-RateLimit headers, gives exponential backoff code, and separates 429 (retry) from 402 (stop). No idempotency keys for crawl, extract or monitor starts (13 of 15). Pricing mentions an SLA only as 'Premier + SLA' on Enterprise, with no terms, and the terms promise no uptime (0). The hosted service is sold on paid plans with no beta label, though the engine is at 0.41.0 (10). 10 + 5 + 12 + 13 + 0 + 10 = 50.
Scrapfly 85
scrapfly.io/status answers with Statuspage's status JSON, which names its page as scrapfly.statuspage.io. That page has 25 components and incident history back to 2022, read through its history feed on 1 November. The 1 October check read only the overall state and found no history (20, was 10). The newest incident is a Scrapium rendering fault on 21 May 2026, so nothing is posted in the 90 days from 3 August (30, was 5). Concurrency per plan is published (5 on Discovery to 100 on Enterprise) and each project has a configurable per-minute throttle (15). The error catalogue marks every code retryable or not and has three ERR::THROTTLE codes, but we found no Retry-After header or backoff guidance on the errors or throttling pages (10 of 15). The terms disclaim uptime and no uptime SLA is published, and the pricing page's SLA mentions cover support response on Enterprise (0). The Scrape API is GA. Vault and alerting are beta, outside the main surface (10). 20+30+15+10+0+10 = 85.
Security & auth Scrapfly +35
fastCRW 40
The hosted MCP server publishes RFC 9728 metadata naming its own authorisation server, with PKCE S256, dynamic client registration and one scope, mcp:tools, and the API takes revocable Bearer keys from the dashboard. No key scopes or second scope found (22). The authentication page documents fastcrw.com/mcp/<API_KEY> as a way in, a key in the URL path, so less 10 (12 of 30). Tools mostly read, and data-source calls check approvals, but there is no read-only key or confirmation step for monitors (8 of 20). Managed LLM extraction, summaries and answers wrap scraped text in a nonce fence (crates/crw-extract/src/untrusted.rs), and the hardening guide treats pages as untrusted, but the MCP docs give agents no guidance on scraped content (7 of 15). Each response reports creditsUsed; no per-call log in the docs (5 of 15). SECURITY.md names security@fastcrw.com and GitHub private reporting with a 48-hour acknowledgement, and CI runs CodeQL and OpenSSF Scorecard. security.txt answers 404, and no bounty or certification found (8 of 20). 12 + 8 + 7 + 5 + 8 = 40.
Scrapfly 75
OAuth 2 on the hosted MCP with dashboard revocation, open to all plans. API keys are per project, live or test, and since 15 April 2026 can be restricted to products (30). The canonical API form puts the key in the key query parameter and the MCP also accepts ?key=, so less 10 (20 of 30). Product-restricted keys, confirm=true on every mutating vault and alert tool, info_api_key off in server-key mode, and the self-hosted HTTP server binds loopback by default. Since v1.4.0 Cloud Browser sessions are scoped to the API key that opened them (15 of 20). The source gates mutating vault tools behind a preview step because prompt injection can reach them and redacts keys from CDP URLs. We found no user-facing guidance on untrusted page content (8 of 15). Monitoring shows every call as a log with its error, credit cost line by line and Unblocker state, with replay, per the 24 October release notes, as well as per-domain metrics and alerting. The 1 October check couldn't confirm per-request logs (15, was 10). security.txt valid until 30 April 2027, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA claims on the pricing page, and a public SOC 3 report since 21 April 2026. No bug bounty found (17 of 20). 20+15+8+15+17 = 75.
Transparency & trust Scrapfly +15
fastCRW 60
The engine and MCP server are AGPL-3.0 and the SDKs MIT, while the hosted control plane is closed under terms that name no legal entity (25 of 30). The terms say crawled data is handled transiently with zero data retention for approved accounts, but the privacy policy is undated, names no controller, gives no retention periods and mentions no DPA (10 of 30). The CHANGELOG flags breaking changes, deprecated v2 extract routes return a warning on every response, and the October 2026 402 change is dated in the docs, with no standing notice policy (10 of 20). Local data-source telemetry is disclosed with an opt-out. The privacy policy names Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Ads and an X pixel, but infrastructure and search providers are unnamed and no data location is given (8 of 20). 25 + 10 + 10 + 8 = 53.
Scrapfly 75
Closed service with terms updated 2026-09-30 under US law. SDKs are BSD 2-Clause, and the MCP source is public with no LICENSE file and ISC in package.json (15 of 30). Privacy policy updated 14 May 2026 with a published DPA and HIPAA BAA, but retention is as long as necessary, and the retention of scraped content isn't stated (18 of 30). Release notes date deprecations and removals, for example Scrapium v153 dropping legacy network interception on 11 September. No standing deprecation policy found (15 of 20). Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Cloud are named, with SCC and Data Privacy Framework transfers, but there's no full subprocessor list (10 of 20). The release notes still date each CDP removal, most recently Storage.getRelatedWebsiteSets in Scrapium v156 on 26 October. Not otherwise re-read on 1 November. 15+18+15+10 = 58.
Agent ergonomics fastCRW +11
fastCRW 91
11 compact MCP tools, two of them the data-source tools added in 0.41.0. Content is capped near 15,000 characters with truncated: true and a resume offset, and map returns at most 100 URLs by default (20 of 25). Formats, main-content filtering, include and exclude selectors, maxLength, startIndex, limit and crawl depth and page caps (20). Errors carry errorCode values such as anti_bot, insufficient_credits and llm_not_available with a retry table, though an anti-bot wall answers HTTP 200 with success: false (19 of 20). Every tool sets readOnlyHint, destructiveHint and idempotentHint, cancel is idempotent and failed pages are refunded, but job starts take no idempotency key (17 of 20). Only url is required, with official Python and TypeScript SDKs (15). 20 + 20 + 19 + 17 + 15 = 91.
Scrapfly 80
The open-source server registers 62 tools by default in v1.4.0 (5 web scraping, 2 account, 9 Cloud Browser sessions, 17 page interaction, 2 WebMCP, 15 credential vault, 12 alerts), all at once, and the docs list a smaller core. There's a code path to mount interaction tools per session, but registration is always-on for clients that don't refetch. On the API side, format=markdown and the extraction API keep responses small, and since v1.4.0 the scrape tools report api_cost and cost_details (10 of 25). Output format, extraction templates, crawler limits and 100-URL batches (15 of 20). Error codes an agent can branch on, with retryable and billed flags (20). Tools carry readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint, and mutating vault and alert tools need confirm=true after a preview (20). web_get_page works with a URL alone, and official SDKs exist for Python, TypeScript, Go and Rust (15). 10+15+20+20+15 = 80.
Maintenance & community fastCRW +9
fastCRW 93
v0.41.0 on 4 November 2026, matching the registry and npm (30). 16 dated releases in the 90 days from 8 August, from 0.37.0 to 0.41.0 (20). Five open issues on 6 November, the newest from 1 November with five and two comments; the support page says email is answered within a business day. Reply authors weren't read (18 of 25). In the official MCP registry as io.github.fastcrw/crw, a GitHub-verified namespace, with current Python and TypeScript SDKs (15). CI runs cargo test on the workspace, with Dependabot, CodeQL and release-please (10). 30 + 20 + 18 + 15 + 10 = 93.
Scrapfly 84
Scrapium v156 in the release notes on 26 October 2026 and MCP v1.4.0 on 15 October (30). MCP tags v1.3.1 to v1.3.3 (26 and 27 August), v1.3.4 (8 September) and v1.4.0 (15 October), SDKs 0.12.0 on 8 September, and dated release notes on 14, 24 and 26 August, 11, 23 and 25 September, 7, 24 and 26 October (20). Dated release notes most weeks and a support address. We couldn't read GitHub issues, since github.com refuses our reader (12 of 25). In the official MCP registry as io.scrapfly.mcp/mcp under the vendor's domain, though the entry still lists 1.0.0, and the SDKs are current (15). MCP moved to Go 1.27 on 23 October. Its CI runs only a reference check and the npm publish, while the TypeScript SDK runs tests in CI (7 of 10). 30+20+12+15+7 = 84.
Payments & pricing Scrapfly +5
fastCRW 35
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plans are public with credit costs per operation and top-up prices per block of credits, $9 per 1,000 on Hobby down to $299 per 500,000 on Scale, but top-ups need a plan, so between plan-only and per-unit (15 of 20). 500 one-off credits with no card, plus up to 500 from onboarding tasks (20). Hosted keys need a person to sign up in a browser; the free self-hosted engine runs with no account but isn't the graded surface (0). 0 + 15 + 20 + 0 = 35.
Scrapfly 40
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Credit costs per request type (1 datacentre, 5 with rendering or Unblocker, 25 residential, 60 full-page screenshot) and plan prices are public. Unblocker surcharges per target aren't published, but cost_budget caps them (20). 1,000 free credits, no card, no time limit (20). A person signs up in a browser. OAuth still needs an account (0). Plan prices and the 1,000 free credits with no card re-read on the pricing page on 1 November. 0+20+20+0 = 40.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | fastCRW | Scrapfly | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 50 | 85 | Scrapfly +35 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 91 | 95 | Scrapfly +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 91 | 80 | fastCRW +11 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 40 | 75 | Scrapfly +35 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 35 | 40 | Scrapfly +5 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 93 | 84 | fastCRW +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 60 | 75 | Scrapfly +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| Total | B 64.3/100 | BB 74.5/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | fastCRW | Scrapfly |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Nanofy OÜ | Scrapfly (Joam Intelligence, LLC) |
| Hosted endpoint | https://fastcrw.com/mcp | https://api.scrapfly.io/scrape |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | none |
| Tools exposed | 11 | 62 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | io.github.fastcrw/crw | io.scrapfly.mcp/mcp |
| Last release | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-04-04 | 2026-09-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-05-14 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 1.2k stars, 881 npm/wk | 14 stars, 21k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |
How the scores have moved
fastCRW
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
fastCRW
Agents get 11 compact, annotated MCP tools with bounded output, a public OpenAPI spec, refunds on failed pages and a free self-hosted engine. The hosted service has no status history, publishes no SLA terms, names its operator only on the support page, and documents an MCP address with the API key in the URL path.
Scrapfly
The error catalogue documents HTTP status, retry behaviour and billing for over 100 codes, and the Statuspage history shows no incident since May 2026. The MCP server loads 62 tools at once, and the API's canonical form puts the key in the URL.
Before you call either
fastCRW
- Connect to https://fastcrw.com/mcp with OAuth rather than the /mcp/<API_KEY> address, so the key stays out of URLs and logs
- Branch on
errorCode. Stop on 402 insufficient_credits or llm_not_available, and on 429 wait for Retry-After before retrying - Check
successas well as the HTTP status, since an anti-bot wall answers 200 withsuccess: falseanderrorCode: anti_bot - Pass
startIndexfrom a truncated result to read the rest of a long page instead of settingmaxLength: 0 - Use native /v1 routes for new work; /firecrawl/v2 is for Firecrawl SDK migrations and keeps the older 429 for empty balances
Scrapfly
- Send
X-Scrapfly-Api-Keyas a header rather thankey=so the key stays out of logs - Pass
unblocker=falseto the MCP web_scrape tool for plain pages, since it's on when omitted.aspis the deprecated alias - Set
cost_budgeton each scrape so an Unblocker upgrade can't blow through credits - Check
retryablein the error body before retrying, and stop onERR::THROTTLE::MAX_API_CREDIT_BUDGET_EXCEEDED - Use web_get_page for a simple fetch and save cloud_browser_open for pages that need clicks
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, fastCRW or Scrapfly?
Scrapfly scores 74.5 (BB) on agent readiness against fastCRW's 64.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. fastCRW leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community.
Do fastCRW and Scrapfly need an API key?
Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call fastCRW and Scrapfly without installing anything?
Yes. fastCRW has a hosted endpoint at https://fastcrw.com/mcp and Scrapfly at https://api.scrapfly.io/scrape.
Are fastCRW and Scrapfly open source?
fastCRW is open source (AGPL-3.0). No open-source release is listed for Scrapfly.
Other comparisons with fastCRW or Scrapfly
- Bright Data vs fastCRW
- Bright Data vs Scrapfly
- BrowserAct vs fastCRW
- BrowserAct vs Scrapfly
- Context.dev vs fastCRW
- Context.dev vs Scrapfly
- Crawl4AI vs fastCRW
- Crawl4AI vs Scrapfly
- fastCRW vs Decodo Web Data API
- fastCRW vs Diffbot
- fastCRW vs jevcrawl
- fastCRW vs Jina Reader
- fastCRW vs Microlink
- fastCRW vs Olostep
- fastCRW vs Outcrawl
- fastCRW vs Oxylabs Web Scraper API
- fastCRW vs Scrape.do
- fastCRW vs ScrapeGraphAI
- fastCRW vs Scrapeless
- fastCRW vs ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
- fastCRW vs ScraperAPI
- fastCRW vs Scrapewise
- fastCRW vs ScrapingAnt
- fastCRW vs ScrapingBee
- fastCRW vs Scrapingdog
- fastCRW vs Spider
- fastCRW vs WebScraping.AI
- fastCRW vs ZenRows
- fastCRW vs Zyte API
- Decodo Web Data API vs Scrapfly
- Jina Reader vs Scrapfly
- Microlink vs Scrapfly
- Olostep vs Scrapfly
- Outcrawl vs Scrapfly
- Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs Scrapfly
- Scrape.do vs Scrapfly
- ScrapeGraphAI vs Scrapfly
- Scrapeless vs Scrapfly
- ScraperAPI vs Scrapfly
- Scrapewise vs Scrapfly
- Scrapfly vs ScrapingAnt
- Scrapfly vs ScrapingBee
- Scrapfly vs Scrapingdog
- Scrapfly vs Spider
- Scrapfly vs WebScraping.AI
- Scrapfly vs ZenRows
- Scrapfly vs Zyte API
- fastCRW vs Firecrawl MCP
- fastCRW vs Qovia
- fastCRW vs ScrapeAtlas
- fastCRW vs SoldFetch
- Diffbot vs Scrapfly
- Qovia vs Scrapfly
- ScrapeAtlas vs Scrapfly
- Scrapfly vs SoldFetch
- Apify MCP Server vs fastCRW
- Apify MCP Server vs Scrapfly
- jevcrawl vs Scrapfly
- Firecrawl MCP vs Scrapfly
- ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator vs Scrapfly
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/crw-vs-scrapfly.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/crw.json·/api/v1/tools/scrapfly.json - From a terminal
anchor compare crw scrapfly(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "crw", "b": "scrapfly"}at/mcp, no key