head to head · open source
Steel vs firecrawl-mcp-server
Steel has 7,668 GitHub stars, 982 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. firecrawl-mcp-server has 7,489 stars, 891 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped today. Steel leads on adoption by 2% (7,668 vs 7,489 stars). Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; firecrawl-mcp-server is written in JavaScript under MIT. Steel has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, firecrawl-mcp-server 12%. firecrawl-mcp-server 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
| Steel | firecrawl-mcp-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 982 | ⑂ 891 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Steel if
- You weight community size — 7.7K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick firecrawl-mcp-server if
- You want the firecrawl-mcp-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and firecrawl-mcp-server fits your workflow better
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 →
About firecrawl-mcp-server
Firecrawl MCP Server is the official Model Context Protocol server that gives Cursor, Claude, and other MCP compatible AI clients search, scraping, and page interaction against the live web.
read the full firecrawl-mcp-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Steel or firecrawl-mcp-server more popular?
Steel has 7,668 GitHub stars and firecrawl-mcp-server has 7,489. Steel has the larger community by that measure.
Are Steel and firecrawl-mcp-server free?
Both are open source. Steel is licensed under Apache-2.0 and firecrawl-mcp-server under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Steel and firecrawl-mcp-server?
Steel is written in TypeScript and firecrawl-mcp-server in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Steel or firecrawl-mcp-server?
Choose Steel if you want the larger community (7,668 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose firecrawl-mcp-server if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.