head to head · open source
firecrawl vs OpenBB
firecrawl has 181,627 GitHub stars, 9,834 forks, 621 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenBB has 73,153 stars, 7,565 forks, 117 open issues and last shipped yesterday. firecrawl leads on adoption by 148% (181,627 vs 73,153 stars). firecrawl is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; OpenBB is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. firecrawl has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, OpenBB 10%. firecrawl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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
| firecrawl | OpenBB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 182K | ★ 73K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 7.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick firecrawl if
- You weight community size — 182K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenBB if
- You want the OpenBB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenBB fits your workflow better
About firecrawl
Firecrawl is an open source web context API that enables AI agents to search, scrape, and interact with websites at scale. It lives in the AI and data extraction ecosystem, providing structured, LLM ready outputs from unstructured web content. Built in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL 3.0, it supports both self hosting and a hosted service via firecrawl.dev.
read the full firecrawl overview →
About OpenBB
OpenBB is an open source data platform for investment professionals, built as the Open Data Platform (ODP) and extended by the OpenBB Workspace UI. It lives in the quantitative finance and AI agent ecosystem, integrating equity, crypto, derivatives, fixed income, economics, and options data from proprietary, licensed, and public sources.
read the full OpenBB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is firecrawl or OpenBB more popular?
firecrawl has 181,627 GitHub stars and OpenBB has 73,153. firecrawl has the larger community by that measure.
Are firecrawl and OpenBB free?
Both are open source. firecrawl is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and OpenBB has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between firecrawl and OpenBB?
firecrawl is written in TypeScript and OpenBB in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, firecrawl or OpenBB?
Choose firecrawl if you want the larger community (181,627 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose OpenBB if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.