Introducing the Firecrawl Skill + CLI for Agents. Learn more →
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2 Months Free — Annually
Firecrawl vs. Exa
Firecrawl is extraction-first with flat pricing and automatic JS rendering.
Exa focuses on semantic search with embeddings-based discovery.
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Used by over 500,000 developers
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Trusted by 80,000+
companies of all sizes
companies of all sizes
Choose Firecrawl
Choose Firecrawl when you need extraction-first architecture with predictable flat pricing. It combines search and extraction in one API call, handles JavaScript automatically at no extra cost, and offers structured data extraction with natural language prompts.
Choose Exa
Choose Exa when you need embeddings-based semantic search for discovering conceptually similar content. Note that Exa focuses on search and discovery. For structured extraction critical to most AI use cases, you'll need additional tooling.
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Why Firecrawl
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Half a million developers
love Firecrawl
Power your AI apps with clean web data from any website.
Search and extract web data in one API call with flat, predictable pricing (1 credit = 1 page)
Learn more
Firecrawl /agent gathers data from hard-to-reach places with no URLs required. Just describe what you need
Learn more
Parallel Agents batch hundreds of queries simultaneously for lead enrichment and competitive research
Learn more
Firecrawl vs. Exa: Key Differences
| Feature | Firecrawl | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Primary approach | Extraction-first with search capabilities | Semantic search with embeddings-based discovery |
| Output formats | Markdown, JSON, HTML, screenshots, links, summary, branding | Parsed HTML, text snippets, semantic matches |
| JavaScript rendering | Automatic (included in all plans) | Automatic (Contents API) |
| Entry pricing | $16/month (3,000 credits, flat rate) | $49 for 8,000 credits (variable consumption) |
| Best for | Web scraping, structured extraction, RAG pipelines, AI agents, deep research | Semantic discovery, Find Similar queries, research workflows |
| Intelligent waterfall enrichment | Yes (Spark-1 Fast → Spark-1 Mini auto-upgrade) | No |
| Open source / Self-hosted | Yes (fully open source) | No (closed source, cloud-only) |
Last updated: Feb 04, 2026 • See full matrix ↓
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Use cases and benchmarks
RAG pipelines
RAG & AI agents. Firecrawl combines search and extraction in one API call, returning clean markdown or structured JSON ready for RAG ingestion. No separate calls needed for discovery and extraction.
Dynamic content
JavaScript-heavy sites. Firecrawl uses pre-warmed headless Chromium to render SPAs and dynamic content automatically at no extra cost. Complete pages extracted even when content loads client-side.
Structured extraction
Structured extraction. Firecrawl supports JSON Schema and natural language prompting for extraction. Describe what you need in plain English and get structured data back without writing selectors.
Parallel processing at scale
Parallel processing at scale. Firecrawl's Parallel Agents let you batch hundreds or thousands of /agent queries simultaneously.
Firecrawl vs. Exa: Full comparison matrix
Here's a complete feature overview of Firecrawl vs. Exa.
| Feature | Firecrawl | Exa | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
Primary approach | Extraction-first with search, crawling, and /agent | Semantic search with embeddings-based discovery | Firecrawl delivers clean, structured data ready for AI pipelines. Exa focuses on finding pages but leaves extraction to you. |
When it matters Most AI use cases need extracted data, not just links. Extraction is the critical step. Trade-offs Firecrawl handles the full pipeline. Exa requires additional tooling for extraction. | |||
Output formats | Markdown, JSON, HTML, screenshots, links, summary, branding | Parsed HTML, text snippets, semantic matches | Firecrawl offers more format options for different downstream uses. Exa focuses on search-optimized outputs. |
When it matters Important when you need specific formats for RAG pipelines or downstream processing. Trade-offs More formats provide flexibility. Fewer formats are simpler but less adaptable. | |||
JavaScript rendering | Automatic (included in all plans) | Automatic (Contents API) | Both handle JavaScript-rendered pages automatically. No extra configuration needed for dynamic content. |
When it matters Critical for modern SPAs, React/Vue sites, and JavaScript-heavy content. Trade-offs Both handle JS rendering well. Main difference is pricing model (flat vs. variable credits). | |||
Search capabilities | Built-in /search with scraping, plus /agent for autonomous data gathering with parallel processing of hundreds or thousands of queries simultaneously | Semantic Search, Find Similar, Answer, Research, Websets APIs | Firecrawl's /agent autonomously searches, navigates, and extracts with no URLs required. Exa returns search results you still need to process. |
When it matters When you need end-to-end data collection, not just discovery. Trade-offs Firecrawl completes the job. Exa's semantic features require additional extraction steps. | |||
Schema extraction | Natural language prompts + JSON Schema | Not available (returns search results, not structured extractions) | Firecrawl can extract structured data directly. Exa requires additional processing for structured output. |
When it matters Essential for building structured datasets and automated pipelines. Trade-offs Built-in extraction reduces pipeline complexity. Search-only output requires more downstream work. | |||
Credit model | Flat rate (1 credit = 1 page) | Variable consumption (75-750+ credits/search) | Firecrawl: know your costs upfront. Exa: costs can spike unpredictably with complex queries. |
When it matters Critical for budgeting. Unpredictable costs make scaling risky. Trade-offs Firecrawl's flat pricing eliminates billing surprises. Exa's variable model can blow budgets. | |||
Concurrency control | Plan-based limits (2 to 100+ concurrent browsers) | 5 requests/second rate limit | Firecrawl scales to 100+ concurrent operations. Exa caps at 5 req/sec regardless of plan. |
When it matters Production workloads need throughput. 5 req/sec is a bottleneck at scale. Trade-offs Firecrawl grows with your needs. Exa's fixed limits constrain high-volume use cases. | |||
Batch API | Yes (async jobs + webhooks + Parallel Agents) | No (request-response only) | Firecrawl processes thousands of URLs asynchronously with Parallel Agents. Exa requires you to orchestrate sequential requests. |
When it matters Large-scale data collection is impractical without batch processing. Trade-offs Firecrawl handles scale natively. Exa requires external orchestration for batch workloads. | |||
Find Similar | Use /agent with descriptive prompts for similar discovery | Core feature (feed one URL, get 20 similar pages) | Firecrawl's /agent can discover and extract similar content with natural language. Exa's Find Similar returns links only. |
When it matters Discovery is only useful if you can extract the data. Firecrawl does both. Trade-offs Firecrawl's approach is more flexible and includes extraction. Exa's Find Similar is simpler but limited to discovery. | |||
Free tier | 500 credits (500 pages guaranteed) | 1,000 credits (variable, may yield far fewer results) | Firecrawl: 500 credits = 500 pages, guaranteed. Exa: 1,000 credits might only get you 1-13 searches depending on complexity. |
When it matters Predictable free tier lets you properly evaluate the product. Trade-offs Firecrawl's smaller number goes further. Exa's larger number is misleading due to variable consumption. | |||
Entry pricing | $16/month (3,000 pages guaranteed) | $49 for 8,000 credits (actual pages vary widely) | Firecrawl: $16 gets you 3,000 pages. Exa: $49 might get 10-100+ searches depending on query complexity. |
When it matters Budget predictability matters for startups and early projects. Trade-offs Firecrawl is cheaper and predictable. Exa's credit packs are more expensive with uncertain value. | |||
High-volume pricing | $83/month (100k pages, self-service) | Enterprise pricing (contact sales, no public pricing) | Firecrawl: scale instantly with transparent pricing. Exa: wait for sales calls and negotiations. |
When it matters Production deployments can't wait for sales cycles. Trade-offs Firecrawl lets you scale today. Exa's enterprise process adds friction and delays. | |||
SDKs & integrations | Python, Node.js, Rust, Go + LangChain, LlamaIndex, Lovable, n8n, Zapier, Make, MCP | Python, Node.js, Rust, Go + LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI | Firecrawl integrates with more no-code platforms (n8n, Zapier, Make) for broader accessibility. |
When it matters No-code integrations let non-developers build data pipelines. Trade-offs Firecrawl works for developers and no-code users. Exa is developer-only. | |||
Intelligent waterfall enrichment | Yes (Spark-1 Fast → Spark-1 Mini auto-upgrade) | No | Firecrawl tries instant retrieval first, then auto-upgrades to full agent research only when needed, optimizing cost and speed. |
When it matters Reduces costs by using the fastest method first, only escalating for complex queries. Trade-offs Firecrawl optimizes automatically. With Exa, you pay the same regardless of query complexity. | |||
Open source / Self-hosted | Yes (fully open source, self-host available) | No (closed source, cloud-only) | Firecrawl can be self-hosted for full control over data and infrastructure. Exa is cloud-only with no self-hosting option. |
When it matters Critical for enterprises with data residency requirements, air-gapped environments, or cost optimization at scale. Trade-offs Firecrawl offers flexibility and data sovereignty. Exa requires trusting their cloud infrastructure. | |||
Click any row to see when it matters and trade-offs
Firecrawl vs. Exa: Benchmarks
Real-world performance comparison of Firecrawl vs. Exa.
| Metric | Firecrawl | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage (Success Rate) | 77.2% | 69.2% |
| Quality (F1 Score) | 0.638 | 0.508 |
| Recall | 0.639 | 0.487 |
| P95 Latency (ms) | 3387 | 4441 |
Checked 1,000 URLs for content recall and whether each tool retrieved at least 10% of the expected content, using the Firecrawl scrape-content-dataset-v1 dataset.
Last updated: Jan 13, 2026
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Community
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People love
building with Firecrawl
Discover why developers choose Firecrawl every day.
Firecrawl is an open-source framework that takes a URL, crawls it, and conver..."
Upload a CSV of emails and..."
Firecrawl is an open-source framework that takes a URL, crawls it, and conver..."
Upload a CSV of emails and..."
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FAQs
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FAQ
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Frequently
asked questions
Everything you need to know about this comparison.
General
Yes. Firecrawl's /search and /agent handle discovery and extraction in one step, which is what most AI applications actually need. While Exa focuses on embeddings-based semantic search, Firecrawl delivers the complete pipeline: search, extract, and structure data ready for your AI. For most use cases, Firecrawl's approach is more practical since you get clean, structured output rather than just search results you still need to process.
Based on benchmark tests, Firecrawl achieved 77.2% coverage and 0.638 F1 score versus Exa at 69.2% coverage and 0.508 F1 score. Firecrawl is extraction-first, while Exa is search-first.
Technical
Firecrawl uses flat pricing: 1 credit = 1 page ($83/100k credits). Exa uses variable pricing: credits consumed vary by query complexity (75-750+ credits/search), with $49 for 8,000 credits. Firecrawl's flat rate is more predictable for budgeting.
Parallel Agents let you batch hundreds or thousands of /agent queries simultaneously. Upload a CSV with company names or URLs, write one prompt, and watch cells populate in real-time.
Integration
Yes. Firecrawl is fully open source and can be self-hosted for complete control over your data and infrastructure. This is ideal for enterprises with data residency requirements, air-gapped environments, or teams looking to optimize costs at scale. Exa is closed source and cloud-only with no self-hosting option.
Firecrawl is the better choice for RAG pipelines. It returns full markdown content ready for chunking and embedding, with structured extraction via natural language prompts or JSON Schema. You get the complete pipeline (search, extract, and structure) in one API call. Exa returns search results that still need processing before they're usable in your RAG system.
Advanced
Both Firecrawl and Exa handle JavaScript rendering automatically. Exa's Contents API renders JS-heavy pages. The main difference is pricing: Firecrawl uses flat credits while Exa's credit consumption varies by query complexity.
You could, but Firecrawl is already an excellent all-in-one web data solution with five main endpoints: /scrape, /search, /map, /crawl, and /agent. Most teams find Firecrawl handles their entire pipeline (discovery, extraction, and structuring) without needing additional tools. If you specifically need Exa's Find Similar feature, you could use it for discovery and then pass URLs to Firecrawl for extraction.
Why Firecrawl?
The world's most comprehensive web data API. Our custom browser stack and semantic index deliver superior data quality across any website, handling more content types and edge cases than any competitor.
JavaScript rendering, dynamic content, and robust request handling built-in.
Process millions of pages with automatic rate limiting, caching, and distributed infrastructure.
Optimized scraping engine with parallel processing and smart caching for instant results.
Comprehensive docs, SDKs for all major languages, and dedicated support to help you succeed.
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Pricing
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