Mendable

license

AGPL-3.0(OSI, self-host core)

source

public

managed-cloud

firecrawl.dev with 'additional features' beyond OSS = open-core split

core-gated

gated(Fire-engine is closed and its source is in no public repo - the tree ships only a client at apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/fire-engine and .env.example calls FIRE_ENGINE_BETA_URL the fire engine closed beta. Screenshots and page actions are unavailable in the self-hosted stack because both require Fire-engine)

The AGPL-3.0 core is genuinely open, but a piece of the product is withheld from it, which is what keeps this at open core rather than open source. The gate has a name: Fire-engine, Firecrawl's own scraping engine, whose source is in no public repository. What firecrawl/firecrawl publishes under apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/fire-engine is only a client - index.ts, scrape.ts, checkStatus.ts, delete.ts, brandingScript.ts - pointed at a URL you have to be given, and apps/api/.env.example says as much in one line: "# set if you'd like to use the fire engine closed beta" above FIRE_ENGINE_BETA_URL=. The self-hosting guide then spells out what the open build cannot do without it: screenshots and page actions are "Not available in the default stack. Fetch and Playwright both report no support; both require Fire-engine", Fire-engine must be "run and configured separately; it is not included", and the agent, browser, interact and specialty product, audio and video formats need Cloud or another external service. The same .env.example shows the pattern twice more - the product format needs "an external product-extraction service", as do the audio and video formats. These are features of the product itself, kept out of the published source behind a closed beta, so the score stays at 4. The managed cloud advertising "additional features" would not on its own be enough to establish a gate; the evidence here is in the code.

• https://github.com/mendableai/firecrawl/blob/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-06-04

  AGPL-3.0 license text, Sideguide Technologies Inc.

• https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing recorded 2026-06-04

  6 paid managed-cloud tiers (Free/Hobby/Standard/Growth/Scale/Enterprise)

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firecrawl/firecrawl/main/apps/api/.env.example recorded 2026-08-12

  The gate, in the shipped configuration. "# set if you'd like to use the fire engine closed beta" immediately above FIRE_ENGINE_BETA_URL=. Two entries later, the product scrape format "extracts a structured product from a page's HTML via an external product-extraction service; point this at that service's base URL. If unset, requesting the product format returns a warning and no product (same pattern as the audio/video formats and AVGRAB_SERVICE_URL)."

• https://api.github.com/repos/firecrawl/firecrawl/contents/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/fire-engine recorded 2026-08-12

  The whole of Fire-engine in the public repo: branding-script, brandingScript.ts, checkStatus.ts, delete.ts, index.ts, scrape.ts. A request/poll/delete client against a remote base URL. The engine it calls is not in this repository or any other public one.

• https://docs.firecrawl.dev/contributing/self-host recorded 2026-08-12

  What the open build cannot do. Screenshots and page actions: "Not available in the default stack. Fetch and Playwright both report no support; both require Fire-engine." Fire-engine and advanced anti-bot behavior must be "run and configured separately; it is not included." Agent, browser, interact and feedback features and the specialty product, menu, audio and video formats require Firecrawl Cloud or a separate external service.

• https://api.github.com/repos/firecrawl/firecrawl recorded 2026-08-12

  Repo metadata: license spdx_id AGPL-3.0, default branch main, 165,882 stars, not archived. One license across the tree - the carve-out is not a directory under other terms but an engine that is absent from it.