head to head · open source
Crawl4AI vs Automa
Crawl4AI has 86,783 GitHub stars, 9,043 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Automa has 21,705 stars, 2,344 forks, 377 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Crawl4AI leads on adoption by 300% (86,783 vs 21,705 stars). Crawl4AI is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Automa is written in Vue under a custom or non-standard licence. Crawl4AI has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Automa 11%. Crawl4AI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Crawl4AI | Automa | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 87K | ★ 22K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-03-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Crawl4AI if
- You weight community size — 87K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Automa if
- You want the Automa feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Automa fits your workflow better
About Crawl4AI
🚀🤖 Crawl4AI: Open source LLM Friendly Web Crawler & Scraper. 🚀 Crawl4AI Cloud API — Closed Beta (Launching Soon) Reliable, large scale web extraction, now built to be drastically more cost effective than any of the existing solutions. 👉 Apply here for early access We’ll be onboarding in phases and working closely with early users. Limited slots. Crawl4AI turns the web into clean, LLM ready Markdown for RAG, agents, and data pipelines. Fast, controllable, battle tested by a 50k+ star community. ✨ Check out latest update v0.9.3 ✨ New in v0.9.3 : Security release. Closes five coordinated disclosure advisories…
read the full Crawl4AI overview →
About Automa
Automa An extension for automating your browser by connecting blocks. Auto fill forms, do a repetitive task, take a screenshot, or scrape website data — the choice is yours. You can even schedule when the automation will execute! Downloads Chrome Web Store Firefox Add ons Marketplace Browse the Automa marketplace where you can share and download workflows with others. Go to the marketplace & 187; Automa Chrome Extension Builder Automa Chrome Extension Builder (Automa CEB for short) allows you to generate a standalone chrome extension based on Automa workflows. Go to the documentation & 187; Project setup Before…
read the full Automa overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crawl4AI or Automa more popular?
Crawl4AI has 86,783 GitHub stars and Automa has 21,705. Crawl4AI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Crawl4AI and Automa free?
Both are open source. Crawl4AI is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Automa has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Crawl4AI and Automa?
Crawl4AI is written in Python and Automa in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Crawl4AI or Automa?
Choose Crawl4AI if you want the larger community (86,783 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Automa if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.