Top Firecrawl Alternatives for AI Web Scraping in 2026

Firecrawl became the go-to web scraping tool for AI developers almost overnight — 107K+ GitHub stars, clean markdown output, JavaScript rendering, and tight LangChain integration made it the default choice for converting web pages into LLM-ready content. But pricing has climbed. The Standard plan at $83/month for 100K credits is workable, but Growth at $333/month for 500K credits stings. If you need Firecrawl alternatives that deliver the same clean content extraction at better prices (or with more capabilities), this guide covers the top options in 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Firecrawl's pricing ranges from free (500 one-time) to $599/mo for 1M credits, with steep jumps between tiers
• Several alternatives match or exceed Firecrawl's content quality at lower per-page costs
• SearchHive combines scraping with search and research, eliminating the need for multiple APIs
• Open-source self-hosted options eliminate per-request costs entirely for teams with infrastructure
• The best choice depends on your volume, JavaScript rendering needs, and whether you also need search

1. SearchHive — ScrapeForge: Scraping as Part of a Complete API

SearchHive's ScrapeForge API is a direct Firecrawl alternative that extracts clean content from any URL — but it lives inside a platform that also includes search (SwiftSearch) and research synthesis (DeepDive).

Pricing: Unified credit system. Free 500 credits, Starter $9/mo (5K credits), Builder $49/mo (100K credits), Unicorn $199/mo (500K credits). 1 credit = $0.0001.

Why it's a strong Firecrawl alternative: ScrapeForge handles JavaScript rendering, markdown conversion, and structured data extraction — the same core features Firecrawl provides. But instead of paying $83/month for 100K scraped pages on Firecrawl's Standard plan, SearchHive gives you 100K credits for $49/month. Those credits work for search, scraping, and research interchangeably.

import requests

# Single page extraction — clean markdown output
response = requests.post(
    "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/scrapeforge",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={
        "urls": ["https://example.com/blog/post"],
        "format": "markdown",
        "render_js": True,
        "extract": {
            "type": "article",
            "fields": ["title", "author", "date", "body", "tags"]
        }
    }
)

page = response.json()["results"][0]
print(f"Title: {page['data']['title']}")
print(page["markdown"][:500])

# Batch scraping — multiple pages in one request
urls = [
    "https://example.com/page-1",
    "https://example.com/page-2",
    "https://example.com/page-3"
]

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/scrapeforge/batch",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={
        "urls": urls,
        "format": "markdown",
        "render_js": True
    }
)

for result in response.json()["results"]:
    print(f"{result['url']}: {len(result['markdown'])} chars")

/compare/firecrawl

2. Jina AI Reader — Lightweight Content Extraction

Jina Reader converts any URL to clean markdown or text using a simple URL-based API. No JSON body needed.

Pricing: Free tier, Pro plan from $0.60/1K pages

Jina is dead simple — append any URL to https://r.jina.ai/ and get markdown back. At $0.60/1K pages, it's the cheapest cloud option. No batch processing, no JavaScript rendering control, no structured extraction. But for simple "give me this page as markdown" use cases, it's fast and cheap.

Best for: Quick prototyping and simple content extraction where cost matters most.

3. Apify — Full Web Scraping Platform

Apify provides a marketplace of pre-built scraping actors (crawlers, scrapers, parsers) that can handle complex scraping scenarios beyond single-page extraction.

Pricing: Free 500 credits, Starter $49/mo, Advanced $149/mo, Business $499/mo

Apify is more of a scraping platform than a direct Firecrawl alternative. Its Web Scraper actor can crawl entire sites, handle pagination, and store results. But it's more complex to set up and the per-page cost for simple extraction is higher than Firecrawl or SearchHive.

Best for: Teams that need full site crawling with scheduling, storage, and actor marketplace access.

4. ScrapingBee — Proxy Rotation + Rendering

ScrapingBee focuses on bypassing anti-bot measures through proxy rotation and headless browser rendering.

Pricing: Free 1,000 credits, Freelancer $49/mo (150K), Startup $99/mo (500K+), Enterprise custom

ScrapingBee's strength is anti-detection — rotating residential proxies, stealth browser rendering, and CAPTCHA handling. At $49/mo for 150K credits, the per-page cost is competitive, but you're paying for proxy infrastructure, not content quality.

Best for: Scraping sites with aggressive anti-bot protection (Cloudflare, DataDome).

5. ZenRows — Anti-Bot Bypass Specialist

ZenRows specializes in bypassing WAF protections (Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai) and solving CAPTCHAs.

Pricing: Developer $69/mo (250K basic + 10K protected), Startup $129/mo (1M basic + 40K protected)

ZenRows' pricing model separates "basic" from "protected" requests — JS rendering costs 5x, premium proxies cost 10x. For simple scraping, the effective rate is very low ($0.10/1K basic). But protected requests (the ones you actually need for tough sites) are significantly more expensive.

Best for: Teams specifically fighting anti-bot protections. /compare/zenrows

6. Crawlee (Open Source) — Self-Hosted Alternative

Crawlee by Apify is an open-source Node.js/Python web scraping library with browser automation, proxy rotation, and queue management.

Pricing: Free (self-hosted)

No per-request costs, but you run the infrastructure. Requires managing headless browsers, proxies, and scaling. Best for teams with existing server infrastructure who want full control and zero API costs.

Best for: Large-scale scraping operations where running your own infrastructure is cheaper than any cloud API.

7. ScrapFly — Enterprise Scraping API

ScrapFly provides a scraping API with rendering, proxy rotation, and anti-bot bypass built in.

Pricing: Free 1,000 API credits, plans from $25/mo

Solid middle-ground option with competitive pricing for JS rendering and proxy-enabled requests. Fewer AI-specific features than Firecrawl or SearchHive.

Best for: Teams that need a straightforward scraping API with proxy support.

Comparison Table

Recommendation

SearchHive's ScrapeForge is the best Firecrawl alternative for most developers. It matches Firecrawl's core features (JS rendering, markdown output, structured extraction) at roughly half the cost, and the unified credit system means your balance covers search, scraping, and research from one account. The $49/mo Builder plan gives you 100K credits — equivalent to what Firecrawl charges $83 for on Standard.

For teams that specifically need to bypass Cloudflare or DataDome protection, ZenRows or ScrapingBee are better specialized tools. For budget-conscious developers who just need markdown conversion, Jina Reader at $0.60/1K pages is hard to beat.

Get started with SearchHive's free tier — 500 credits, no credit card, full ScrapeForge access. See the docs for scraping examples and migration guides.