# Firecrawl alternative: per-page Markdown credits, paid in crypto

> Firecrawl alternative for 2026: web pages to Markdown from $0.07/1K pages, credits that never expire, robots.txt respected, no KYC, crypto.

- URL: https://webreaderapi.com/alternatives/firecrawl/
- Last updated: 2026-10-22
- Publisher: WebReaderAPI (https://webreaderapi.com)

Firecrawl is the reader API most comparison articles start with. This page sets its public plans next to WebReaderAPI's packs, lists what Firecrawl does that we do not, and maps its options to our endpoints for a move.

**Quick answer — What is a good Firecrawl alternative that I can pay for in crypto?**

**WebReaderAPI** turns public web pages, PDFs and whole sites into Markdown, sold as prepaid credits that never expire, paid in crypto with no KYC. At the prices on this page, set on 2026-10-22, 100,000 static pages cost $21.75; Firecrawl's Standard plan costs $99 a month for 100,000 credits. Firecrawl renders every page for one credit and adds JSON extraction, browser actions and a free tier that we do not offer.

## Firecrawl and WebReaderAPI at a glance

|  | WebReaderAPI (ours) | Firecrawl |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Billing | Prepaid packs; credits never expire | Monthly plans; plan credits reset each month; credits bought on top stay until cancellation |
| Smallest paid option | 10,000 pages for $3.75 | Hobby: 5,000 credits for $19 a month |
| Credits per page | 1 for a static page, 2 when a browser is needed | 1 per page, rendering included |
| Free tier | None | 1,000 credits a month, no card; keyless MCP within daily limits |
| Structured JSON extraction | Not offered | JSON format with a schema, +4 credits per page |
| Browser actions and screenshots | Not offered | Up to 50 actions per request; screenshot format |
| Site map endpoint | Not in version 1 | Map: 1 credit per call |
| robots.txt | Always respected; no override | Respected by default; ignoreRobotsTxt is Enterprise-only |
| Payment | BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC | Cards, debit cards and PayPal through Stripe |
| Identity checks | None: no ID, no selfie, no documents | None stated in its terms |
| Self-hosting | No | Core open source under AGPL-3.0 |

*Prices checked on October 22, 2026.*

Firecrawl facts from firecrawl.dev and docs.firecrawl.dev, read on 2026-10-22.

## How do the prices compare per 1,000 pages?

It depends on whether your pages need a browser. Firecrawl bills one credit per page in every case. WebReaderAPI bills one credit for a page whose HTML holds its text and two when it had to run a browser; with `render=auto`, the browser starts only when needed.

| Pages a month | Firecrawl (any page) | WebReaderAPI, static pages | WebReaderAPI, pages needing a browser |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $44 (Hobby $19 + 5,000 extra credits at $5 per 1,000) | $3.75 | 2 × $3.75 |
| 100,000 | $99 (Standard) | $21.75 | 2 × $21.75 |
| 1,000,000 | $749 (Scale; $599 a month billed yearly) | $74.25 | 2 × $74.25 |

At the prices on this page, set on 2026-10-22, both of our columns cost less than Firecrawl's monthly price at these three volumes. Two differences matter more than the totals: Firecrawl's plan credits reset each month while our packs keep their value, and Firecrawl's JSON extraction costs 5 credits per page in all, a feature we do not sell.

## When is Firecrawl the better choice?

Choose Firecrawl when you need more than clean Markdown from public pages:

- **Structured extraction.** Its JSON format returns fields that match a schema you send, for 4 extra credits per page. We return Markdown and metadata only.
- **Browser actions.** Click, wait, scroll and type before reading, up to 50 actions per request. We read pages as they load.
- **Screenshots, site maps and change tracking.** All are formats or endpoints on Firecrawl's side.
- **A free start.** 1,000 credits a month without a card, and keyless access through its MCP server, capped per IP address each day.
- **An ecosystem.** Its integrations page lists LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, n8n, Zapier and coding agents; OpenClaw ships Firecrawl as its bundled web_fetch provider.
- **Self-hosting.** The core is open source under AGPL-3.0.

Firecrawl also announced a $75M Series B on 22 September 2026, which funds a fast product roadmap.

## When is WebReaderAPI the better choice?

Choose WebReaderAPI if you want a plain reader with predictable costs and no card or identity checks.

- **Crypto, no KYC.** Top up from $25 in BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC. Account-number login; email is optional.
- **Credits that keep.** Prepaid credits never expire: unused pages stay on your account until you use them. A crawl you run twice a year does not pay for eleven idle months.
- **Errors cost nothing.** 1 credit = 1 page read without a browser; 2 credits when the page needs a browser to render JavaScript. A request that fails, or that a site's robots.txt refuses, is not charged. Firecrawl charges nothing when it returns no document, but a page that answers 403 or 404 still costs it one credit.
- **One rule for site owners.** Our crawler checks robots.txt on every read and honours `Content-Signal: ai-input=no`, with no setting to turn that off. Its User-Agent is published on [our crawler page](https://webreaderapi.com/bot/).
- **Price per page** at the volumes above, as of 2026-10-22.

## How do Firecrawl options map to the WebReaderAPI endpoints?

Single-page reads and crawls move over directly; extraction, actions and maps have no equivalent.

| Firecrawl | WebReaderAPI | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Scrape one page | `GET` or `POST /read` | Same idea: one URL in, one document out |
| `formats: ["markdown"]` (default) | `format=markdown` (default) | Main content only by default; `main_content=false` for the full page |
| `formats: ["html"]` | `format=html` | Cleaned HTML of the content; no raw HTML in version 1 |
| `formats: ["links"]` | `include_links=true` | Links returned as a list |
| `formats: ["json"]` with a schema | — | Run your own model on our Markdown |
| Actions, screenshot | — | Not offered |
| `timeout` in ms (default 60,000) | `timeout` in seconds (5 to 60, default 30) | |
| `maxAge` cache (default 2 days) | — | We keep no copy; each read fetches the page |
| Crawl with `limit` and `maxDiscoveryDepth` | `POST /crawl` with `limit` (up to 10,000) and `max_depth` | Results paged with a cursor |
| Map | — | Not in version 1 |
| `ignoreRobotsTxt` (Enterprise) | — | robots.txt is always applied |

*Python: the read you used to send as a scrape*

```python
import os

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://webreaderapi.com/api/v1/read",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["WEBREADER_API_KEY"]},
    params={"url": "https://example.com/changelog", "format": "markdown", "include_links": "true"},
    timeout=90,
)
if resp.status_code == 403:
    print("refused by robots.txt or by the site:", resp.json()["error"]["code"])
else:
    resp.raise_for_status()
    page = resp.json()
    print(page["title"], "-", page["credits_used"], "credit(s)")
    print(len(page.get("links", [])), "links")
    print(page["markdown"][:400])

```

## Will pages that Firecrawl could read also work here?

Most public pages will, with one difference in policy. Firecrawl's enhanced mode retries a request through what it calls enhanced proxies after a 401, 403 or 429 answer. WebReaderAPI does not retry around a refusal: when a site says no, you get `502 target_refused` with the site's own status, and no credit is used.

Run your 50 most important URLs through both services for a day before moving production traffic. Compare the Markdown, the `rendered` flag and the credits used; that tells you both the quality and the real price for your pages.

## Which pack replaces my Firecrawl plan?

Count your pages per month and how many of them need a browser. A Standard-sized workload of 100,000 pages fits 100,000 pages if the pages are static, or two of those packs if every page needs a browser. Credits never expire.

| Plan | Quantity | Price | Price per unit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Test | 10,000 pages | $3.75 | $0.38/1K pages |
| Build | 100,000 pages | $21.75 | $0.22/1K pages |
| Volume | 1,000,000 pages | $74.25 | $0.07/1K pages |
| Bulk | 5,000,000 pages | $350 | $0.07/1K pages |

In every plan: Main-content extraction · JavaScript rendering when needed · Failed and refused pages not charged · Credits never expire

**Before you pay**

- Minimum top-up $25. Top up once in crypto, then buy any plan from your balance.
- Your balance has no end date and can buy page credits at any time. If a pack costs less than the minimum top-up, the amount you added only to reach that minimum can be sent back on request within 30 days of the payment, in USDT or USDC, as long as you have not spent it. Any other balance is not refunded unless the law says otherwise.
- Credited once your payment is checked on the blockchain. Typical network confirmation time: BTC ≈ 20 min · USDT TRC-20 ≈ 1 min · USDT ERC-20 ≈ 5 min · USDC ERC-20 ≈ 5 min · ETH ≈ 5 min · SOL ≈ 1 min · LTC ≈ 15 min

## Firecrawl alternative: common questions

### Is there a free Firecrawl alternative?

Firecrawl itself has a free tier of 1,000 credits a month. Open-source tools such as Crawl4AI, MarkItDown and Trafilatura are free to run on your own servers; see [Crawl4AI or a hosted API](https://webreaderapi.com/compare/crawl4ai-vs-api/). WebReaderAPI has no free tier: its smallest pack is 10,000 pages for $3.75.

### Can I pay Firecrawl in crypto?

Its pricing page names Stripe, with cards, debit cards and PayPal, and no crypto option. WebReaderAPI takes BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC only, with no KYC.

### Does WebReaderAPI extract JSON with a schema like Firecrawl?

No. WebReaderAPI returns Markdown, text or cleaned HTML with metadata. If you need fields, pass our Markdown to the model of your choice with your schema; Firecrawl's JSON format does this for 4 extra credits per page.

### Do Firecrawl credits expire?

According to Firecrawl's billing documentation, plan credits reset each month and do not roll over by default; credits bought on top stay until used but expire if you cancel. WebReaderAPI credits never expire.

### Can I self-host Firecrawl instead?

Yes. Its core is open source under AGPL-3.0, and the README says it respects robots.txt by default. The hosted service adds features that the open-source version does not include.

## Sources

1. [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing) — Firecrawl (read 2026-10-22)
2. [Billing](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/billing.md) — Firecrawl docs (read 2026-10-22)
3. [Advanced scraping guide](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/advanced-scraping-guide.md) — Firecrawl docs (read 2026-10-22)
4. [Crawl](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/crawl.md) — Firecrawl docs (read 2026-10-22)
5. [Enhanced mode](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/enhanced-mode.md) — Firecrawl docs (read 2026-10-22)
6. [Integrations](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/integrations.md) — Firecrawl docs (read 2026-10-22)
7. [Firecrawl keyless launch](https://www.firecrawl.dev/blog/firecrawl-keyless-launch) — Firecrawl (read 2026-10-22)
8. [Introducing Alexandria and our Series B](https://www.firecrawl.dev/blog/introducing-alexandria-series-b) — Firecrawl (read 2026-10-22)
9. [firecrawl/firecrawl repository](https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl) — GitHub (read 2026-10-22)
10. [Web tools](https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/web) — OpenClaw docs (read 2026-10-22)

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WebReaderAPI: WebReaderAPI is a web reader API for AI agents that turns any public web page into clean Markdown, paid in crypto with no ID upload. Prepaid credits from $0.07/1K pages never expire, and robots.txt is respected. No KYC — no ID, no selfie, no documents. Pay in crypto.