ScrapeSelect

Head-to-head

Firecrawl vs Apify

Firecrawl Firecrawl API is cheaper at two of the three volumes. 100,000 pages: Apify Apify Platform is $163/mo on Starter, Firecrawl Firecrawl API is $399/mo on Growth; 500,000 pages: Firecrawl Firecrawl API is $399/mo on Growth, Apify Apify Platform is $739/mo on Scale; 2 million pages: Firecrawl Firecrawl API is $1,749/mo on Scale, Apify Apify Platform is $2,682/mo on Business. All prices are for 20% JavaScript, medium bot protection, US targets, 40 concurrent requests, monthly billing.

Pricing checked Nov 14, 2026 · 0.1.0 · cost wins Firecrawl 2 – Apify 1

MetricFirecrawl Firecrawl API

Scraping API · Credits

Apify Apify Platform

Scraping platform · Compute units

Cost for the same workload
100,000 pagesper month

$399

Growth · $3.99 per 1K pages

$163

Starter · $1.63 per 1K pages

Cheaper at this volume

500,000 pagesper month

$399

Growth · $0.798 per 1K pages

Cheaper at this volume

$739

Scale · $1.48 per 1K pages

2 million pagesper month

$1,749

Scale · $0.8745 per 1K pages

Cheaper at this volume

$2,682

Business · $1.34 per 1K pages

BillingCreditsCompute units
Capabilities
JavaScript renderingYesYes
Country targetingYesYes
Premium proxyYesNot documented
ScreenshotYesNot documented
Cookie persistenceYesNot documented
Json outputYesNot documented
Residential proxyNot documentedYes
Sticky sessionNot documentedYes
Self managed codeNot documentedYes
Limits
max queued jobs
  • 50,000 jobs · free
  • 50,000 jobs · hobby
  • 50,000 jobs · standard
  • 100,000 jobs · growth
  • 200,000 jobs · scale
  • 200,000 jobs · enterprise
Not documented
requests per minute
  • 10 requests · free
  • 100 requests · hobby
  • 500 requests · standard
  • 5,000 requests · growth
  • 10,000 requests · scale
Not documented
max concurrent runsNot documented
  • 5 · free
  • 32 · starter
  • 128 · scale
  • 256 · business
Things to know
Billing notes
  • One credit per scraped page. JSON extraction adds 4 credits/page; PDF parsing adds 1 per PDF page; Zero Data Retention adds 1; question, query, highlights, audio and video formats add 4 each; PII redaction adds 4; the prompt-injection check adds 4 (or 5 when the scrape fails after the check).
  • Enhanced proxy is free (+0 credits); basic and enhanced requests both cost 1 credit.
  • Search costs 2 credits per 10 results (rounded up) plus scrape costs for results that are scraped. Map costs 1 credit per call. Interact costs 2-7 credits per browser minute with a one-minute minimum. Agent has 5 free runs per day, then dynamic pricing.
  • A scrape that returns no document costs 0 credits. A 403 or 404 returned as a document costs 1 credit. Threat protection adds 2 credits per scanned URL.
  • Plan credits reset monthly and do not roll over, except annual Scale (1 month) and annual Enterprise (2 months). Purchased credits stay until used and expire if the subscription is cancelled.
  • Pay-as-you-go needs a paid plan. Credits are bought in $5 increments and a user-set monthly cap applies; the temporary overage buffer is headroom, not kept credits.
  • X/Twitter URLs use the Grok API and cost 30 credits for a typical request (34 with JSON). LinkedIn URLs are served by third-party providers at their credit cost.
  • Location sets an appropriate proxy if one is available and emulates the country's language and timezone; it is not a guarantee that every country has an exit IP.
  • The subscription price is prepaid platform usage; compute, proxy and storage are drawn from it and extra usage is billed as overage on paid plans.
  • Compute is billed by RAM-time whether or not a page succeeds, so failed attempts cost money.
  • Pages per compute unit are not published as a price. Apify's own Website Content Crawler README reports roughly 0.8 CU per 1,000 pages over raw HTTP and 2-20 CU per 1,000 pages with a headless browser; the cost engine uses these as labelled assumptions.
  • Annual billing is 10% off; exact annual prices were not verifiable in the static page.
  • Store Actors can instead be priced per event/result by their developers; not modelled here.
  • Free-plan concurrency conflicts between the pricing page (5) and the limits doc (25).

“Not documented” means the provider's pages don't say, not that the capability is missing. Estimates use list prices and exclude promotions and taxes; the provider's checkout is authoritative.

Cheapest at each volume

  • 100k: Apify Apify Platform — $163/mo on Starter
  • 500k: Firecrawl Firecrawl API — $399/mo on Growth
  • 2M: Firecrawl Firecrawl API — $1,749/mo on Scale

Switch to Apify when…

  • It documents residential proxy, which the other does not.
  • It documents sticky session, which the other does not.
  • It documents self managed code, which the other does not.
  • You want to run the crawler and browsers yourself.

Stay with Firecrawl when…

  • It is cheaper for this workload: $399/month versus $739/month.
  • It documents premium proxy, which the other does not.
  • It documents screenshot, which the other does not.
  • It documents cookie persistence, which the other does not.

Firecrawl vs Apify FAQ

Is Firecrawl cheaper than Apify?

It depends on volume. 100,000 pages: $399/mo on Growth vs $163/mo on Starter; 500,000 pages: $399/mo on Growth vs $739/mo on Scale; 2 million pages: $1,749/mo on Scale vs $2,682/mo on Business. Prices are list prices for 20% JavaScript, medium bot protection, US targets, 40 concurrent requests, monthly billing, checked Nov 14, 2026.

What is the difference between Firecrawl and Apify?

Firecrawl bills by credits; Apify bills by compute units. The capability and limit tables above list the documented differences; billing notes list the add-ons that change the headline price.

Which is better for JavaScript-heavy pages?

For Firecrawl Firecrawl API, JavaScript rendering is documented as supported. For Apify Apify Platform, JavaScript rendering is documented as supported. The cheaper option at your volume is in the cost table above.

Can I switch from Firecrawl to Apify?

The APIs are not drop-in replacements: endpoints, parameters and billing units differ. Check each product's docs before switching; this page compares published prices and documented capabilities, not migration effort.

More ways to compare

Product pages list the official sources and check dates. The methodology explains what the cost engine does and does not model.