Surya vs 
Firecrawl
Surya vs Firecrawl compared for 2026 — features, license, ease of use, performance and which one to choose. Modern OCR with layout detection vs Turn websites into LLM-ready Markdown.
Updated regularly · curated by OpenSourceAI.tech
Surya vs Firecrawl at a glance
| Spec | Surya | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document AI & OCR | Document AI & OCR |
| Type | OCR toolkit | Web scraping for LLMs |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Runs locally | Yes | Self-hosted |
| Primary language | Python | TypeScript |
| Ease of use | Intermediate | Beginner |
| Best for | developers who need OCR beyond plain text | developers feeding web content to models |
| GitHub stars | — | — |
How Surya and Firecrawl score
| Criterion | Surya | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|
| Popularity | n/a | n/a |
| Maintenance | n/a | n/a |
| Ease of use | 3.5 | 5.0 |
| Privacy | 5.0 | 4.5 |
| License freedom | 3.5 | 3.5 |
Scores are computed automatically from public signals — GitHub stars (popularity), recent commit activity (maintenance), license type (freedom), local-first design (privacy) and onboarding complexity (ease of use). Indicative, not a verdict.
What each one is
Surya
Surya is a modern OCR toolkit providing text recognition in 90+ languages plus layout analysis, reading order and table detection.
- 90+ languages with strong accuracy
- Layout, reading order and table detection
- Runs locally on modest GPUs
Firecrawl
Firecrawl crawls websites and returns clean Markdown or structured data built for LLM consumption, handling JavaScript rendering and anti-bot pages.
- Clean Markdown output built for LLMs
- Handles JavaScript-heavy sites
- Simple API, self-hostable
Key differences
Surya is oCR toolkit, while Firecrawl is web scraping for LLMs. Their licenses differ (GPL-3.0 vs AGPL-3.0), which matters if you ship a commercial product. Surya leans more intermediate-friendly, whereas Firecrawl is more suited to beginner users. They also differ in how they run (Yes vs Self-hosted). In short, Surya fits developers who need OCR beyond plain text, and Firecrawl fits developers feeding web content to models.
Which should you choose?
Choose Surya for developers who need OCR beyond plain text. Choose Firecrawl for developers feeding web content to models.
There is rarely one winner — many setups use both. The right pick depends on your hardware, your team's skills, and whether you value simplicity or control.
Frequently asked questions
Is Surya or Firecrawl easier to use?
Firecrawl is generally the easier of the two to get started with, while Surya rewards more setup with more control.
Are Surya and Firecrawl free?
Surya is free and open source (GPL-3.0), and Firecrawl is free and open source (AGPL-3.0). Neither charges for the core software.
Can I run Surya and Firecrawl locally?
Surya: yes · Firecrawl: self-hosted. Both can be used without sending your data to a third-party cloud where their setup allows.
Surya vs Firecrawl — which should I pick in 2026?
Choose Surya for developers who need OCR beyond plain text. Choose Firecrawl for developers feeding web content to models.
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