Firecrawl
$19/ month
Hobby · billed monthly
- Included
- 5,000 credits / month
- Basic scrape or crawl
- 1 credit / page
- Free tier
- 1,000 credits / month
- Annual billing
- $16 / month, billed annually
Firecrawl vs Exa: choose the right API for tasks that need web data
Firecrawl
- What it is
- A web scraping and crawling API that turns website pages into data for AI applications.
- Best for
- Capturing known URLs and collecting linked pages from a website.
- Typical output
- Page content in Markdown or HTML.
Exa
- What it is
- A web search API that finds relevant sources and retrieves their content for AI applications.
- Best for
- Discovering relevant sources for a question, with domain and date filters.
- Typical output
- Source URLs, page text and relevant highlights.
Need both?
Paste this prompt into your agent.
set up https://glasser.ai/SKILL.md
Show me how to use Firecrawl and Exa together through Glasser.What Firecrawl and Exa can do
| Capability | Firecrawl | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Search the web | ||
| Read page content | ||
| Crawl & map sites | Not covered here | |
| Get cited answers | Not covered here |
Limits & data comparison
| Compare by | Firecrawl | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Limits | Search & scrape: 100 requests / min Hobby: 20 crawl submissions / min; 5 concurrent browsers | Search: 10 / sec; Contents: 100 / sec Default team limits; deep search modes: 5 / sec |
| Data volume | 10,000 pages / crawl by default Set a lower crawl limit to control page usage | Up to 100 URLs / Contents request Search: up to 100 results, depending on search type |
| Data fields | Title, description, language, source URL and page status Optional screenshots, links and schema-based JSON | Title, URL, author and publication date when available Optional summaries, links and image links |
| Collection & context controls | Crawl depth, URL paths and HTML tag filters Main-content extraction and query-guided highlights | Domain and publication-date filters Text-length limits, query-guided highlights and optional subpages |
| Execution & Reliability | Synchronous scrape; asynchronous crawl with polling or webhooks Scrape timeout: 60s default, adjustable from 1–300s. Inspect crawl status and the Crawl Errors endpoint for reported page failures and robots.txt blocks. | Search & Contents return results in the same request Contents live-crawl timeout: 10s default, adjustable up to 90s. Check per-URL statuses and error details to identify failed fetches. |
| Freshness | Default cache window: 48 hours maxAge: 0 fetches fresh; minAge: 1 uses cache only (404 if absent) | Cached content first; fetch live if absent maxAgeHours: 0 fetches fresh; 1–720 sets cache age; −1 uses cache only |
Firecrawl vs Exa pricing
Exa
$7/ 1,000 searches
Auto Search
- Included
- Up to 10 results / search
- Contents
- $1 / 1,000 pages per content type
- Free tier
- $10 credit / month
- Signup bonus
- $10 credit
Monthly cost example
3,000 web searches + 2,000 page extractions
| Monthly usage | Direct APIs | Through Glasser |
|---|---|---|
| 3,000 Exa Auto searches | $21.003,000 × $0.007 | $21.003,000 × $0.007 |
| 2,000 Firecrawl page extractions | $19.00Hobby monthly plan · 5,000 credits | $2.142,000 × $0.001071 |
| Monthly total | $40.00 | $23.14 |
Inputs and outputs
Firecrawl
- InputA public page URL
- OperationScrape the page
- OutputMarkdown and HTML
Exa
- InputA research question
- OperationSearch and request highlights
- OutputLinks and relevant passages
Still unsure? Choose based on your task
Build a documentation corpus
You know the documentation site and need its linked pages as reusable content. Start with Firecrawl Crawl to collect the pages for your knowledge base.
Find sources for a research question
You need relevant publications or pages, then useful passages to ground an answer. Start with Exa Search and the filters that match the question.
Compare products and pricing
Use Exa Search to discover relevant products, then Firecrawl Scrape to collect their feature and pricing pages for your comparison.
Why Use Firecrawl and Exa Through Glasser?
One API Key
Access both providers with one Glasser key.
One Balance
Use one shared balance for both providers.
Pay as You Go
Pay per use, with no Glasser subscription.
Agent-Ready Integration
Connect your agent via Skill, MCP or CLI.
Questions before you choose
Can I use Firecrawl and Exa together in one AI agent?
Yes. Your agent can use Exa to find relevant URLs, then Firecrawl to capture selected pages. Glasser provides access to supported endpoints under one account and shared balance, without separate provider accounts. Your agent coordinates the calls.
Can my agent automatically choose between Firecrawl and Exa?
A connected agent that supports tool use can search Glasser’s endpoints, inspect their inputs and prices, and select an operation for your task. The agent makes that choice based on your instructions and the endpoints it can access. You can specify a provider or require approval before paid calls.
Can I use Glasser with Claude Code, Codex and ChatGPT?
Yes. For local Claude Code and Codex tasks, Glasser recommends the Skill plus CLI; MCP is also supported. ChatGPT connects through Glasser’s MCP integration, with no local CLI installation. Follow the setup guide for your client and check your balance to confirm the connection for free.
Does Glasser provide every Firecrawl or Exa feature?
The endpoints on Glasser expose specific operations and supported inputs. For example, the basic Firecrawl scrape endpoint here supports Markdown and HTML capture, with no browser actions, PDF parsing or AI formats. Inspect the selected endpoint before relying on a provider feature.
Is using Glasser always cheaper than going direct?
It depends on your workload. Small workloads can fit the providers’ direct free tiers, and larger workloads can favor a subscription. The example above shows savings for its stated volumes and credit assumptions. Compare the same operations, result counts and billing period, including any free credits you can use.
How do I control API spending through Glasser?
Search and Inspect are free. Ask your agent to show the price and planned volume, then wait for approval before paid calls. Start with small batches and review each Run’s final charge; unsuccessful Runs can still be chargeable under the endpoint’s rules. Your balance, including signup credit, is shared across providers.