Crawl4AI

What is Crawl4AI?

Crawl4AI is an open-source Python library for crawling websites and returning clean Markdown that language models, RAG pipelines and AI agents can use. You can install it with pip and run it in your own process, run it as a Docker server, or use Crawl4AI Cloud, a hosted version that handles browsers, proxies and bot walls for you. Besides turning pages into Markdown, it extracts repeated patterns with CSS, XPath or LLM-based extraction, offers hooks, proxies, stealth modes and session reuse, and includes adaptive crawling that stops once enough information has been gathered. The cloud API adds endpoints to scrape a page, extract JSON, search the web, read Google's results page as data and answer questions with sources, plus an MCP server for coding agents. The library is free. On the cloud, the free tier gives 1,000 credits a month, and paid plans start at $10 a month for Starter, with Builder at $99 and Scale at $499.

Use cases

• Convert web pages to Markdown for RAG
• Extract structured JSON from websites
• Give AI agents web search and scraping
• Crawl many URLs in batches
• Read Google results pages as data
• Build data pipelines from public sites

Who it's for

• AI developers
• Data engineers
• Agent builders
• Researchers

Why use Crawl4AI

• The library is open source and free, so you can run it yourself without a key.
• The cloud removes the work of running browsers and buying proxies, and handles JavaScript-heavy pages automatically.
• One key covers scraping, extraction, search and question answering, which suits agent workflows.
• Credits are priced at $0.001 each, and a result already in the archive costs half.
• The same crawler runs locally, in Docker or in the cloud, so you can start free and move later.

Crawl4AI features

• Clean Markdown generation for LLMs and RAG
• CSS, XPath and LLM-based structured extraction
• Adaptive crawling that decides when enough has been gathered
• Hooks, proxies, stealth modes and session reuse
• Parallel and multi-URL crawling
• Docker server and command-line interface
• Cloud endpoints: scrape, extract, search, serp and answer
• MCP server for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and OpenCode
• Cloud regions in the EU, Singapore and the US
• Pay-as-you-go credits that never expire when bought as extras

Crawl4AI integrations

• Claude Code
• Codex
• Cursor
• Windsurf
• Gemini CLI
• OpenCode
• OpenClaw

How to get started with Crawl4AI

1. Install the library with pip and run crawl4ai-setup to install a browser, or use Docker.
2. Or verify your email on the cloud site to get a key with 1,000 free credits each month.
3. Call arun in Python, or send a request to the scrape endpoint, with the URL you want.
4. Receive clean Markdown, or ask for JSON extraction, search results or an answer with sources.
5. Connect the MCP server to your coding agent so it can fetch the web with the same key.

Crawl4AI limitations

• Cloud Free is limited to 10 requests a minute, 2 at a time and 1,000 credits a month
• Self-hosting means you run the browsers, proxies and infrastructure yourself
• Cloud prices and the free credit are described as soft launch and can change
• Proxy options cost more: isp is 2x and residential 4x the page price

Crawl4AI pricing

Yes, Crawl4AI has a free plan. Paid plans start at $10 per month, according to the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026.

Crawl4AI plans

• Free

  $0

  1,000 credits every month

  • 10 requests a minute
  • 2 at a time
  • No card required

• Starter

  $10 a month

  • 10,000 credits
  • 120 requests a minute
  • 10 at a time

• Builder

  $99

  • Higher allowance than Starter
  • Extra credits never expire

• Scale

  $499

  • Highest listed plan
  • Extra credits never expire

Plans as listed on the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026. Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

Crawl4AI alternatives

The main Crawl4AI alternatives listed on Debuly are Firecrawl, Browserbase, ScrapeGraphAI, Browser Use, Expand and Hyperbrowser. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. 

   Browser Use

   Cloud browsers and hosted web agents for AI, plus an MIT-licensed open-source browser agent, billed pay-as-you-go from $0.02 per hour.

   Developer platformsAutomation and agentsCoding
   PaidVisit Browser Use (official site)
2. 

   Browserbase

   Cloud platform of headless browsers, search and fetch APIs and agent runtime for building AI agents that browse and act on the web.

   Developer platformsAutomation and agentsCoding
   FreemiumVisit Browserbase (official site)
3. 

   Expand

   Web data API that fetches pages, files and videos as agent-ready Markdown, hidden JSON and citable snapshots

   Developer platformsResearch and searchAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit Expand (official site)
4. 

   Firecrawl

   Web data API for AI agents: search, scrape, crawl and interact with websites and get clean content back, with a free tier.

   Developer platformsResearch and searchAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit Firecrawl (official site)
5. 

   Hyperbrowser

   Cloud infrastructure that gives AI agents hosted Chrome sessions, isolated sandboxes, and web fetch, crawl and search APIs.

   Developer platformsAutomation and agentsCoding
   FreemiumVisit Hyperbrowser (official site)
6. 

   ScrapeGraphAI

   Web scraping API that returns structured data from any page using plain-language prompts, with crawl, search and change monitoring.

   Developer platformsAutomation and agentsResearch and search
   FreemiumVisit ScrapeGraphAI (official site)

Crawl4AI FAQ

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

• Logo: from crawl4ai.com · fetched 23 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: none collected yet, so a generated tile is shown.

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