Comparison of web scraping APIs in 2026 — Firecrawl vs Crawl4AI vs Bright Data vs HashScraper

Which crawling API is right for your project?

Reading Time: 15 minutes | As of January 2026

Key Summary

With the era of AI agents, the crawling API market is explosively growing. The support for MCP (Model Context Protocol) services is increasing, transitioning from the era where developers directly created crawlers to the era of fetching data with just one API call.

This article compares the 4 most notable crawling APIs in 2026:

Table of Contents

1. Overview of 4 Services
2. Price Comparison
3. Performance Comparison: Anti-bot Circumvention
4. Real-world Testing on Korean Sites
5. MCP Support Comparison
6. Detailed Feature Comparison
7. Recommendations by Use Case
8. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Overview of 4 Services

2. Price Comparison

Monthly Subscription Basis

Since Crawl4AI is open-source, the software cost is free. However, server hosting costs are incurred separately.

Please check the latest information on pricing on each service's official website, as the crawling API market is rapidly changing, and pricing plans are subject to frequent adjustments.

Price per Request Comparison

Based on 10,000 requests:

The HashScraper Pro plan ($99) includes 55,000 requests, so using only 10,000 requests may be overkill, but it has the lowest price per request.

Based on 50,000 requests:

3. Performance Comparison: Anti-bot Circumvention

The core differentiator of crawling APIs is the ability to circumvent anti-bot measures.

Level of Anti-bot Technology Support

Summary of Anti-bot Circumvention

안티봇 없음/약함  →  4개 서비스 모두 OK
Cloudflare       →  Bright Data, HashScraper
Akamai (쿠팡 등)  →  Bright Data, HashScraper
캡챠             →  Bright Data, HashScraper

Important: Firecrawl and Crawl4AI are optimized for sites with weak or no anti-bot measures. They do not work on sites protected by Akamai, such as Coupang and Nike.

4. Real-world Testing on Korean Sites

Results of real-world tests conducted by the HashScraper team in January 2026.

Test Environment

• Using default settings of each service
• Attempting crawling with each service on the same URL
• Success in at least 1 out of 3 attempts = , all failures =

Results

Analysis

• Sites with no or weak anti-bot measures: No issues with all 4 services
• Akamai/Cloudflare protected sites: Firecrawl, Crawl4AI fail → Only Bright Data, HashScraper succeed
• Korean e-commerce sites: HashScraper is the most stable (8 years of operation)
• Global e-commerce sites: Bright Data has the widest coverage

5. MCP Support Comparison

Status of connecting to AI agents (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf) with MCP:

Best Services for Free MCP Trial

1. Crawl4AI — Unlimited with self-hosting (Note: Not compatible with anti-bot sites)
2. Bright Data — 5,000 requests free per month (Most generous free allocation)
3. Firecrawl — 500 free requests
4. HashScraper — 100 free requests (one-time)

If you are trying MCP for the first time, it is recommended to start with Crawl4AI (free) or Bright Data (5,000 requests) and switch to Bright Data or HashScraper if you need anti-bot sites.

6. Detailed Feature Comparison

Crawling Features

Output Formats

Developer Experience

7. Recommendations by Use Case

AI/RAG Application Development

"AI 앱에서 웹 데이터를 활용하고 싶다"

추천: Firecrawl 또는 Crawl4AI
이유: Markdown 출력이 LLM 입력에 최적화, 
      /extract로 LLM 기반 데이터 추출 가능

Korean E-commerce Data Collection

"쿠팡, 네이버 쇼핑 데이터를 수집하고 싶다"

추천: HashScraper
이유: Akamai/캡챠 우회, 파싱된 JSON, 가격 대비 성능
대안: Bright Data (글로벌 사이트도 필요한 경우)

Large-scale Global Web Data Collection

"전 세계 사이트에서 대량 데이터를 수집해야 한다"

추천: Bright Data
이유: 195개국 IP, 최대 인프라, 엔터프라이즈급 안정성
대안: Firecrawl (안티봇이 약한 사이트 위주)

Personal Projects / Learning

"무료로 크롤링을 배우고 싶다"

추천: Crawl4AI
이유: 완전 무료, 오픈소스, 학습에 최적
대안: Firecrawl 무료 500건으로 API 경험

Social Media Data Collection

"인스타그램, 트위터 데이터가 필요하다"

추천: HashScraper (한국) 또는 Bright Data (글로벌)
이유: 소셜미디어는 안티봇이 강력 → Firecrawl, Crawl4AI 불가

AI Agent + Korean Sites

"Claude에게 쿠팡/네이버 데이터를 조회하게 하고 싶다"

추천: HashScraper MCP
이유: MCP 지원 + 한국 안티봇 우회 = 유일한 조합
대안: Bright Data MCP (고가)

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which service is the most popular?

Based on GitHub stars, Firecrawl (78K+) and Crawl4AI (51K+) are the most popular. However, GitHub stars indicate developer interest, and the actual business usage scale is largest for Bright Data.

Q: Should I use only one service?

No. It is more efficient to combine multiple services based on your use case. For example, Firecrawl for general sites, HashScraper for Korean anti-bot sites.

Q: If I self-host Crawl4AI, does it circumvent anti-bot measures?

No. Crawl4AI is a crawling framework, not an anti-bot circumvention service. It is difficult to access sites protected by security measures like Akamai, Cloudflare using Crawl4AI alone.

Q: Isn't Firecrawl's Stealth Proxy an anti-bot circumvention feature?

Firecrawl's Stealth Proxy can bypass basic bot detection, but its effectiveness is limited against Akamai Bot Manager or advanced anti-bot measures. It still doesn't work on sites protected by Akamai like Coupang or Nike.

Q: If price is the most important factor?

• Free: Crawl4AI (self-hosted, no anti-bot support)
• Lowest paid price: Firecrawl $16/month (no anti-bot support)
• Lowest price with anti-bot: HashScraper $35/month
• Global enterprise: Bright Data $500/month+

Conclusion: Final Comparison at a Glance

One-sentence Conclusion:
- General web + AI: Firecrawl
- Free + Learning: Crawl4AI
- Global + Large-scale: Bright Data
- Korean sites + Cost-effectiveness: HashScraper

Korean Site Crawling, with just one API call

HashScraper MCP — Coupang, Naver, Instagram. Circumvents Akamai. Parsed JSON.

Start with 100 requests for free →

Contact: help@hashscraper.com

Related Articles

• Firecrawl vs HashScraper MCP — Detailed Comparison — Detailed comparison with Firecrawl
• Bright Data vs HashScraper — Detailed comparison with Bright Data
• Coupang Crawling 2026 Complete Guide — Everything about bypassing Akamai
• Adding Crawling Functionality to AI Agents — Tutorial on integrating with MCP servers