head to head · open source
scrapy vs crw
scrapy has 65,180 GitHub stars, 12,093 forks, 394 open issues and last shipped yesterday. crw has 1,208 stars, 97 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. scrapy leads on adoption by 5,296% (65,180 vs 1,208 stars). scrapy is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause; crw is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. scrapy has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, crw 8%. scrapy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (crawler), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| scrapy | crw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 97 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick scrapy if
- You weight community size — 65K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause 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 scrapy
.. logo image:: :target: :alt: Scrapy :width: 480px .. version image:: :target: :alt: PyPI Version .. python version image:: :target: :alt: Supported Python Versions .. tests image:: :target: :alt: Tests .. coverage image:: :target: :alt: Coverage report .. conda image:: :target: :alt: Conda Version .. deepwiki image:: :target: :alt: Ask DeepWiki Scrapy is a web scraping framework to extract structured data from websites. It is cross platform, and requires Python 3.10+. It is maintained by Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub) and many other contributors . .. many other contributors: .. Scrapy: .. Zyte: Install with…
read the full scrapy 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…
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Extraction & Web Scraping projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Extraction & Web Scraping field.
Frequently asked questions
Is scrapy or crw more popular?
scrapy has 65,180 GitHub stars and crw has 1,208. scrapy has the larger community by that measure.
Are scrapy and crw free?
Both are open source. scrapy is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and crw under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between scrapy and crw?
scrapy 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, scrapy or crw?
Choose scrapy if you want the larger community (65,180 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose crw if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.