Automa vs Firecrawl
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Automa
Browser automation via drag-and-drop visual workflows
VS
Firecrawl
Turn websites into clean data for AI applications
| Feature | Automa | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,543 | ★ 162,961 |
| First released | 2021 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Zapier, UiPath | Apify |
Why pick each one
Choose Automa if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 21.5k GitHub stars
- Written in Vue
Choose Firecrawl if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 163k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Automa or Firecrawl better?
Neither is universally better. Firecrawl has the larger community, while Automa is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Automa and Firecrawl free and open-source?
Yes. Automa is licensed under MIT and Firecrawl under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Automa and Firecrawl with Docker?
Automa: check the project docs for container support. Firecrawl: yes.