# Firecrawl vs Context7: license, pricing and features compared (October 2026)

Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/firecrawl-vs-context7 · Last verified: 2026-10-26 · Published: 2026-10-25 · Author: Agentic Weekly (operated independently from Texas, US) · Evidence: Evidence: Context7 has a Tested entry; Firecrawl is Reported (scope on each tool page). The facts in the tables were read from each vendor's own pages and the public GitHub API on 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago) and are Reported. The What we measured section lists what we have actually run, with links to the test logs, and what we have not run yet; anything we could not confirm is marked as not captured.

**Our pick:** Pick Firecrawl for agents that need clean web content; pick Context7 for agents that hallucinate outdated library APIs. No overall winner: we have not benchmarked them against each other. **Updated:** 2026-10-26 (America/Chicago).

> Firecrawl and Context7 are both listed under MCP servers. License: Firecrawl is AGPL-3.0; Context7 is MIT. Context7 publishes source on GitHub (upstash/context7, 63,676 stars on Oct 25, 2026); we found no public repository for Firecrawl to compare against. Firecrawl is the better fit for: agents that need clean web content. Context7 is the better fit for: agents that hallucinate outdated library APIs. Facts were read from vendor and GitHub pages on Oct 25, 2026 and are Reported; what we ran ourselves is under What we measured.

## What we measured

We have run Context7 ourselves but not the other tool, so no head-to-head result exists yet. Everything else on this page is Reported from vendor and GitHub pages.

Table: Our own tests for Firecrawl and Context7

| Test | Firecrawl | Context7 |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-on test log (install and a real task) | Not tested yet. What we will run: start the server, list its tools and call each five times, with latency and failure counts. | Tested: Context7 MCP Context7 4.4.4, Oct 25, 2026: passed. Context7 MCP 4.4.4 started locally in 462 ms but its tool calls go to a hosted API: resolve-library-id took about 1.2 s per call and returned React documentation matches. [Full test log](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests/context7-mcp) |

How we test and label results: [methodology](https://theagenticweekly.com/methodology#testing-rig). All test logs: [test hub](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests).

## Firecrawl vs Context7 at a glance

Firecrawl and Context7 are both listed under MCP servers. Firecrawl: Web data API: search, scrape and crawl for AI agents. Context7: Up-to-date, version-specific library docs served to coding agents.

Table: Firecrawl and Context7 side by side (vendor pages and GitHub, 2026-10-25)

|  | Firecrawl | Context7 |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Firecrawl | Upstash |
| Listed under | MCP servers | MCP servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Not captured on the pages we read |
| Free tier | Free plan with a monthly credit allowance | Pricing not read |
| Paid plans | Standard listed at $83 per month billed annually; higher tiers and extra credit packs exist | Not read |
| Platforms | API, SDKs, MCP, self-host | MCP server and SDK |
| Public repository | Not captured on the pages we read | upstash/context7: 63,676 stars, last push Oct 23, 2026 UTC (GitHub API, Oct 25, 2026) |
| Latest release we saw | v2.11.608, Oct 25, 2026 | @upstash/context7-sdk 0.6.0, Oct 23, 2026 |
| Evidence | Reported from vendor pages | Tested (scope on its tool page) |

## How Firecrawl and Context7 differ

- License: Firecrawl is AGPL-3.0; Context7 is MIT.
- Context7 publishes source on GitHub (upstash/context7, 63,676 stars on Oct 25, 2026); we found no public repository for Firecrawl to compare against.
- Free tier: Firecrawl: Free plan with a monthly credit allowance. Context7: Pricing not read.
- Plans and prices differ and are not like-for-like (credits, seats and usage limits vary), so we do not name a cheaper tool. The Paid plans row above quotes each vendor's plan list as read on Oct 25, 2026.
- Firecrawl is "Freemium"; the entry for Context7 has no pricing model we could confirm (pricing not verified).

## Which should you pick?

- Pick Firecrawl if: agents that need clean web content. Skip it if: you need a license that avoids AGPL obligations for self-hosting.
- Pick Context7 if: agents that hallucinate outdated library APIs. Skip it if: your stack is internal-only code.

## Strengths and limits

Table: Strengths and limits as listed on each tool page

|  | Firecrawl | Context7 |
|---|---|---|
| Strengths | Open-source repository; Free plan | MIT license; Large following |
| Limits | AGPL license for self-hosting | Hosted service terms not read; Our test was one small task on a local 3B model; it does not show behaviour with hosted models or larger jobs |

## What we did not verify

- Firecrawl: Behavior in practice (we have not run this tool).
- Output quality, speed and reliability beyond the smoke tests listed under What we measured: not compared.

## FAQ

### Is Firecrawl or Context7 open source?

Firecrawl: AGPL-3.0. Context7: MIT. Licenses come from each project's GitHub repository or the vendor's own pages, read Oct 25, 2026; read the license text itself before redistributing or building a competing service.

### Does Firecrawl or Context7 have a free plan?

Firecrawl: Free: plan with a monthly credit allowance. Context7: Pricing not read. Checked Oct 25, 2026; prices and limits change, so confirm on each vendor's page.

### Which was updated more recently, Firecrawl or Context7?

Firecrawl's newest release we saw is v2.11.608 (Oct 25, 2026); Context7's is @upstash/context7-sdk 0.6.0 (Oct 23, 2026). Read Oct 25, 2026 from the official release page or repository; a newer date is not a quality ranking.

### What is the main difference between Firecrawl and Context7?

License: Firecrawl is AGPL-3.0; Context7 is MIT. Context7 publishes source on GitHub (upstash/context7, 63,676 stars on Oct 25, 2026); we found no public repository for Firecrawl to compare against.

## Sources

- [Firecrawl repository (GitHub)](https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [Context7 repository (GitHub)](https://github.com/upstash/context7) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [Context7](https://context7.com/) (fetched 2026-10-25)

## Related

- [Firecrawl facts and sources](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/firecrawl)
- [Context7 facts and sources](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/context7)
- [Alternatives to Firecrawl](https://theagenticweekly.com/alternatives/firecrawl)
- [MCP servers: all tools we track](https://theagenticweekly.com/best/mcp-servers)
- [You.com vs Firecrawl](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/you-com-vs-firecrawl)
- [Firecrawl vs Playwright MCP](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/firecrawl-vs-playwright-mcp)
- [Firecrawl vs Browser Use](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/firecrawl-vs-browser-use)
- [Context7 vs MCP reference servers](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/context7-vs-mcp-servers)
- [Context7 vs GitHub MCP Server](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/context7-vs-github-mcp-server)

## Changelog

- 2026-10-25: First published. Facts read from vendor pages and the GitHub API on 2026-10-25.

## How to cite

Agentic Weekly, "Firecrawl vs Context7: license, pricing and features compared (October 2026)", last updated 2026-10-26, https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/firecrawl-vs-context7