Compare/Head to head

Apify vs Firecrawl

Same facts, side by side: starting price, free tier, MCP, API and what each one is actually built for.

Starting price

Apify

$19/mo Free tier

Actor marketplace and scraping platform with MCP. Free includes $5 usage; paid Starter is $19/mo plus pay-as-you-go.

Where Apify fits

Builders running scrapers and agents in the cloud
GTM teams buying ready-made Store Actors
Desks that want MCP to search and run Actors
Startups that will start on Free with $5 usage

Web scrape, crawl, search and interact API with a hosted MCP server, and now Directory: more than 240 million professional profiles your AI agent can search for free inside ChatGPT or Claude. Free plan available; Hobby is $19/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly.

Where Firecrawl fits

Recruiters sourcing candidates by title, company and location from inside ChatGPT or Claude
Builders who need markdown or JSON from URLs
Agents that call Firecrawl over MCP
Teams that will grow into Standard at $83/mo yearly

At a glance

Detail	Apify	Firecrawl
Starting price	$19/mo	$16/mo
Free tier	✓Yes	✓Yes
MCP server	✓Yes	✓Yes
Public API	✓Yes	✓Yes
Listed under	Lead generation, Sourcing	Lead generation, Sourcing
Capterra	4.8 from 538 reviews	Not enough reviews

Where they pull apart

Apify

Stands out: Hosted MCP at mcp.apify.com plus a Store of ready-made Actors, on a prepaid usage meter with overage billed on paid plans.

Watch out: Unused prepaid usage expires each cycle. Usage beyond Starter's $19 is billed on the next invoice, and residential proxy costs extra per GB.

Not the right fit for

Buyers who need unused credits to roll over
Non-technical teams that will not operate Actors

Firecrawl

Stands out: Directory searches across 240M+ professional profiles cost no credits, so a recruiter can explore and refine a candidate search in ChatGPT or Claude and spend credits only when pulling full profile and work contact details. Every account gets 1,000 free credits a month with no card, shared with the scrape, crawl and search API.

Watch out: Hobby is 5,000 credits a month. Search costs 2 credits per 10 results, Directory profile and contact lookups also draw on credits, and extra credits come in $5 increments. Directory finds and researches people; it has no outreach sequencing or ATS of its own.

Not the right fit for

Non-technical users who will not use an AI assistant or an API
Recruiters who want a point and click search screen with sequences built in
Crawl jobs that need millions of pages on day one

Pros and cons

Apify

Free plan with $5 usage, no card
Starter $19/mo plus overage
Hosted MCP at mcp.apify.com

Prepaid usage expires each month
Overage on paid plans can surprise finance
Residential proxy is billed per GB extra

Firecrawl

Free Directory searches across 240M+ profiles
Works inside ChatGPT and Claude via the Firecrawl plugin
Free 1,000 credits a month, no card
Hosted MCP plus REST API

Profile and contact lookups spend credits
Search uses 2 credits per 10 results
Hobby allows 5 concurrent requests
Credits roll over only on Scale and up

What each one costs

Apify

$19/mo

Free is $0 with $5 a month of platform usage. Starter is $19/mo plus pay-as-you-go, Scale $199/mo and Business $999/mo, each including that amount of prepaid usage, with lower compute-unit rates on higher plans. Unused prepaid usage expires at the end of each cycle, extra usage is billed on the next invoice, and proxies and extra resources are add-ons. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 4 Nov 2026

Firecrawl

$16/mo

Free includes 1,000 credits a month. Hobby is $16/mo billed annually, or $19 monthly, for 5,000 credits. Standard is $83/mo billed annually ($99 monthly), Growth $333/mo ($399 monthly) and Scale $599/mo ($749 monthly). Enterprise is custom. Paid plans can top up credits in $5 increments. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 4 Nov 2026

Common questions

Is Apify cheaper than Firecrawl?

Firecrawl starts lower, at $16/mo against $19/mo for Apify. That is the entry plan on each side, so the real number depends on seats and the tier you land on.

Can you try Apify or Firecrawl for free?

Apify and Firecrawl carry a free tier on our listing.

Does Apify or Firecrawl have an MCP server?

Apify and Firecrawl ship a first party MCP server, so an AI assistant can work the product directly.

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Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 4 Nov 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?