head to head · open source
Crawl4AI vs Steel
Crawl4AI has 83,892 GitHub stars, 8,679 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Steel has 7,668 stars, 982 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Crawl4AI leads on adoption by 994% (83,892 vs 7,668 stars). Crawl4AI is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Crawl4AI has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. 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 | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 7.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 982 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Crawl4AI if
- You weight community size — 84K 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 Steel if
- You want the Steel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Steel fits your workflow better
About Crawl4AI
Crawl4AI is an open source web crawler and scraper designed to prepare website content for large language model (LLM) workflows. It lives in the Python ecosystem and targets data extraction for RAG, agents, and AI pipelines. Unlike many tools that require API keys or paid subscriptions, Crawl4AI provides direct, self hosted access to web content with output structured specifically for LLM consumption.
read the full Crawl4AI overview →
About Steel
Steel is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed browser API written in TypeScript that gives AI agents and applications cloud browser sessions, so teams can automate the web without building browser infrastructure from scratch.
read the full Steel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crawl4AI or Steel more popular?
Crawl4AI has 83,892 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,668. Crawl4AI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Crawl4AI and Steel free?
Both are open source. Crawl4AI is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Crawl4AI and Steel?
Crawl4AI is written in Python and Steel in TypeScript. 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 Steel?
Choose Crawl4AI if you want the larger community (83,892 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.