# Firecrawl MCP vs ScraperAPI

> Firecrawl MCP scores 75.3 (BB) to ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D) for extraction. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.md (~3,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Firecrawl MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do extraction.

- Firecrawl MCP: grade BB, 75.3/100, rank #50 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/firecrawl-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/firecrawl-mcp.json
- ScraperAPI: grade D, 52.1/100, rank #739 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scraperapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scraperapi.json
- Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/web-scrapers/index.md
- All 167 scrapers comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/web-scrapers/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Firecrawl MCP (BB)

Good for: Agents that need the whole pipeline (find URLs, scrape to markdown, crawl, monitor) from one server, and for trying without an account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 67
- Agent ergonomics, 92 against 74
- Security & auth, 67 against 29
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 54

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Open source

Watch for: No x402 or other machine payment

### ScraperAPI (D)

Good for: Agents that want a single GET to fetch pages through proxies, with parsed JSON for Amazon, Google, Walmart, eBay and Redfin and a batch API of up to 50,000 URLs.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page is linked from the home, pricing, support or docs pages, although the pricing page lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Firecrawl MCP | ScraperAPI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 45 | Firecrawl MCP +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 67 | Firecrawl MCP +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 74 | Firecrawl MCP +18 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 29 | Firecrawl MCP +38 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 40 | Firecrawl MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 61 | Firecrawl MCP +26 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 54 | Firecrawl MCP +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.3 · BB** | **52.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Firecrawl MCP | ScraperAPI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Firecrawl (Mendable) | ScraperAPI (saas.group) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp` | `https://api.scraperapi.com` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 26 | 28 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-08-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-11-05 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-12-26 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 7.5k stars, 29k npm/wk | 5 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (8) | none |

## Verdicts

**Firecrawl MCP.** Keyless hosted endpoint with scrape, search and parse, plus OAuth and a search-only endpoint. No x402 or other machine payment.

**ScraperAPI.** One GET request with a key and a URL returns a page, and the MCP server's 28 tools carry read-only and destructive hints. No status page, OpenAPI file, security.txt or certification was found, and the documented default puts the API key in the URL query string.

## Before you call either

### Firecrawl MCP

1. Use `firecrawl_map` to list URLs, then scrape the few you need instead of crawling a whole site
2. On the keyless endpoint only scrape, search and parse work. A 429 carries a `signup_url` for the human
3. Ask for markdown only. JSON, question and highlight formats add 4 credits a page
4. Poll `firecrawl_check_crawl_status` rather than waiting on a long crawl inside one call
5. Check the URL before scraping. Dead pages still cost a credit

### ScraperAPI

1. Set the client timeout to 70 seconds. The API retries for that long before it returns 500, and a request cancelled earlier is still charged
2. Send the key as the `x-sapi-api_key` header to keep it out of URLs and logs
3. Pass `max_cost` on each request, or call `/account/urlcost` first, because domain and anti-bot surcharges vary from 1 to 75 credits
4. Use `output_format=markdown` or `text` to cut response size, and `autoparse=true` only on supported domains
5. On 429 reduce concurrency to the plan limit (5 on Free, 20 on Hobby). The request is rejected, not queued

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Firecrawl MCP or ScraperAPI?

Firecrawl MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Firecrawl MCP and ScraperAPI need an API key?

Firecrawl MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ScraperAPI needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Firecrawl MCP and ScraperAPI without installing anything?

Yes. Firecrawl MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp and ScraperAPI at https://api.scraperapi.com.

### Are Firecrawl MCP and ScraperAPI open source?

Firecrawl MCP is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for ScraperAPI.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "firecrawl-mcp", "b": "scraperapi"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare firecrawl-mcp scraperapi`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/firecrawl-mcp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scraperapi.json

## Other comparisons with Firecrawl MCP or ScraperAPI

- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Bright Data vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bright-data-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
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- [Firecrawl MCP vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)
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