head to head · open source
Crawl4AI vs crw
Crawl4AI has 86,783 GitHub stars, 9,043 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped yesterday. crw has 1,208 stars, 97 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Crawl4AI leads on adoption by 7,084% (86,783 vs 1,208 stars). Crawl4AI is written in Python under Apache-2.0; crw is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. Crawl4AI has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, crw 8%. Crawl4AI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 7 topic tags (ai, ai-agents, crawler, data-extraction), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | crw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 87K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 97 |
| 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 crw if
- You want the crw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and crw 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 crw
fastCRW Turn URLs into clean markdown or structured JSON with one engine for search, scrape, map, crawl, and extract. Run it locally as a small Rust binary or use the managed API. Get 1000 free credits → · Install · Docs No credit card. Continue with GitHub. One command install Runs local and free, no account needed. To use the Cloud, paste your key into the same command and it installs the binary, connects the key, and registers the MCP server with the AI coding tools you already have: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and Windsurf are picked up automatically when they are already set up; nothing…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crawl4AI or crw more popular?
Crawl4AI has 86,783 GitHub stars and crw has 1,208. Crawl4AI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Crawl4AI and crw free?
Both are open source. Crawl4AI is licensed under Apache-2.0 and crw under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Crawl4AI and crw?
Crawl4AI is written in Python and crw in Rust. 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 crw?
Choose Crawl4AI if you want the larger community (86,783 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose crw if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.