Crawlora vs Steel

Compare Crawlora's structured public web data APIs with Steel's open-source cloud browser infrastructure built for AI agents.

Strukturiertes JSONPlattform-APIsVerwaltete AusführungAbrechnung nach Credits

Crawlora APIs durchsuchen Playground ausprobieren Preise ansehen

Benchmark

Crawloras eigene Scraping-Zuverlässigkeit, gemessen

Bevor wir Crawlora unten in der Tabelle mit Steel vergleichen, hier die eigene Performance von Crawlora: Wir haben Crawloras /web/scrape Endpunkt einmal gegen eine geschichtete Stichprobe von 30 öffentlichen URLs (Docs, E-Commerce und durch Anti-Bot-Maßnahmen geschützte Seiten) ausgeführt, mit umgangenem Cache. 21/30 Anfragen lieferten verwertbaren Inhalt zurück.

This is Crawlora's own measured reliability on a single disclosed run — not a head-to-head benchmark against Firecrawl, Scrapfly, or any other named competitor. We don't hold API keys for competitor products and won't publish a number for a tool we haven't actually run.

Intern durchgeführter Benchmark, ausgeführt am August 10, 2026. Zuletzt geprüft am 2026-08-10. Vollständige Methodik und Ergebnisse pro URL.

Erfolgsquote

70%

21 von 30 untersuchten URLs, 200 + verwertbares Markdown

Mediane Latenz

2.9s

Nur erfolgreiche Anfragen; Ø 5.1s

Erfolgsquote bei schwerer Stufe

80%

8/10 durch Anti-Bot-Maßnahmen geschützte Seiten (LinkedIn, Instagram, Ticketmaster…)

Stichprobengröße

Öffentliche URLs, je eine Anfrage, 45s Timeout

Kurzfazit

Wähle basierend auf der Produktform, die du brauchst

Crawlora is structured data API infrastructure — supported platforms return normalized JSON for a fixed, documented credit weight per call. Steel is browser infrastructure billed by the meter (browser-hours, proxy GB, CAPTCHA solves) — you get a live, controllable Chrome session and write your own automation and extraction on top.

Wähle Crawlora, wenn...

You want Google Maps, Amazon, TikTok, or another supported platform back as normalized JSON without opening a browser session first.
You don't want three separate usage meters (browser-hours, proxy GB, CAPTCHA-solve count) — Crawlora bills a fixed, documented credit weight per successful endpoint call, e.g. 3 credits for a Bing Search request.
You want an MCP server and Playground you can point an agent at today, without writing CDP connection or cookie-persistence code yourself.
You'd rather not choose a session length in advance — Steel caps sessions at 15 minutes on its entry plan and 1 hour on Scale; Crawlora's endpoint calls have no session-length ceiling to plan around.

Wähle Steel, wenn...

You need direct, hosted browser sessions compatible with Puppeteer, Playwright, or Selenium via a one-line endpoint change.
You're building autonomous AI agents that need to control a real browser — fill forms, click through flows, log into auth-walled sites — not call a fixed endpoint.
You want an open-source core (steel-browser, 7.5K+ GitHub stars) you can inspect or self-host instead of depending entirely on a hosted API.

Schnellvergleich

Crawlora vs. Steel: Funktionsvergleich

Nutze diese Tabelle als Ausgangspunkt, um Crawlora gegen Steel zu bewerten, und prüfe dann die aktuellen Details auf den offiziellen Seiten beider Anbieter, bevor du eine Produktionsentscheidung triffst.

Preisstand geprüft: 2026-09-25.

Vergleichstabelle für Crawlora und Steel
Kategorie	Crawlora	Steel
Primary product type	Developer-first structured web data API (470+ platforms)	Open-source cloud browser infrastructure for AI agents (steel-browser)
Output	Normalized JSON per documented endpoint	A live, controllable Chrome session — you extract what you need yourself
Browser control	No direct browser-session control	Full Puppeteer/Playwright/Selenium-compatible sessions via a 1-line endpoint change
Anti-bot handling	Managed proxy routing and retry/fallback behind supported endpoints	Auto CAPTCHA solving (billed per 1k solves) plus proxy and browser-fingerprint controls
Max session length	Per-request, no persistent session to size	15 minutes (Launch), 1 hour (Scale), up to 24 hours only on Enterprise
Concurrent sessions	Rate-limited per plan (5-1,000 req/min), not a separate axis	10 (Launch), 100 (Scale), 1,000+ (Enterprise)
Observability	Playground request/response testing	Session Viewer for live or recorded session debugging
Open source	Closed, hosted API	steel-browser core is open source on GitHub (7.5K+ stars), hosted or self-managed
Auth-walled sites	Not a general capability	Auto Sign-In gives agents access to logged-in sites; requires a $10 paid-balance deposit on Launch
Billing unit	A fixed, documented credit weight per successful endpoint call (e.g. 3 credits for a Bing Search request)	Three metered rates: browser-hours ($0.10→$0.08/hr), proxy bandwidth ($10→$6/GB), CAPTCHA solves ($3→$1/1k), plus $5/1k for the /scrape, /screenshot, /pdf Browser Tools
Entry plan	Free tier, 2,000 credits/month, no card required	Launch: $0/mo + usage, $30 one-time usage credits (valid 90 days)
Popular plan	Growth: $29/mo for 100,000 credits	Scale: $250/mo + usage, $100 in usage credits included every month
Agent-native workflows	Hosted MCP tools across the full catalog	Direct browser sessions agents drive themselves; not an MCP-first product

Details

Detaillierter Vergleich

Die Wahl zwischen Crawlora und Steel hängt vom Ausgabeformat, der Zielabdeckung, dem Entwickler-Workflow und davon ab, wie viel Infrastruktur dein Team betreiben möchte.

One credit meter vs. three usage meters

Crawlora charges a fixed, documented credit weight per successful endpoint call — the same weight whether the target fought back or not. Steel meters three things separately: browser-hours ($0.10/hr on Launch, $0.08/hr on Scale), proxy bandwidth ($10/GB down to $6/GB), and CAPTCHA solves ($3 down to $1 per 1,000), plus a flat $5 per 1,000 calls to its /scrape, /screenshot, and /pdf Browser Tools. A worked example: a 1-hour agent session on Scale that solves 50 CAPTCHAs and pulls 0.5GB of proxy bandwidth costs roughly $0.08 (the hour) + $0.05 (50 solves at $1/1k) + $3.00 (0.5GB at $6/GB) ≈ $3.13, drawn from the $100 of monthly credits Scale includes before anything is billed on top.

Session limits you'd only find in the docs

Steel's marketing highlights 'up to 24-hour long sessions,' but its own pricing/limits page caps max session time at 15 minutes on Launch and 1 hour on Scale — the 24-hour ceiling is an Enterprise-only feature, alongside Stealth Browser and reserved browser pools. If your agent needs a session that outlives an hour, budget for Enterprise pricing, not the $250/mo Scale plan. Crawlora has no session to size in the first place: each endpoint call is a single request-response round trip.

Fixed endpoints vs. open-ended agent tasks

Crawlora fits well-defined, repeatable data needs from supported platforms — Google Maps, Amazon, TikTok, and 470+ others return normalized JSON on the first call. Steel fits open-ended tasks: an agent booking a flight, filling a form, or navigating a site no one has built an endpoint for, where Session Viewer lets you watch or replay what the browser actually did.

Open-source core and the numbers behind it

steel-browser, Steel's underlying engine, is open source on GitHub with 7.5K+ stars — a genuine reason to pick Steel over closed cloud-browser vendors if you want to inspect or self-host the browser layer. Steel's own homepage claims 800B+ tokens scraped and 1,000,000+ browser hours served through the hosted product, with an average session start time under 1 second when the client is in the same region. None of that changes what you extract from a session — you still own the parsing code on top — but it's a useful signal of production maturity.

Responsible public web data access

Crawlora is designed for responsible public web data workflows. It should not be used for private or protected data, and no comparison page should be read as a guarantee that every target will succeed. Review provider terms, target-site rules, and your own compliance requirements before production use.

Use supported endpoints and documented request parameters.
Treat blocked, challenged, or unusable upstream responses as workflow signals.
Review Crawlora Terms and each provider's official documentation before launch.

Wann Crawlora die bessere Wahl ist

Your source is already a supported endpoint, so a fixed per-call credit beats tracking three separate usage meters.
You want structured JSON on the first response instead of a browser session you then parse yourself.
Your agent needs MCP tools and a Playground today, not a CDP connection you wire up by hand.

Wann Steel die bessere Wahl sein kann

You need direct browser control for open-ended automation or agent tasks outside any fixed catalog.
You want Puppeteer/Playwright/Selenium compatibility with hosted sessions and Session Viewer debugging.
You value an open-source browser core you can inspect or self-host, and can budget Enterprise pricing for sessions over an hour.

Bewertungs-Checkliste

Fragen, die vor der Entscheidung zu beantworten sind

Vergleiche Crawlora und Steel anhand deines tatsächlichen Workflows und Wartungsaufwands, nicht nur anhand der Feature-Labels auf den ersten Blick.

Does your target already have a documented Crawlora endpoint, or do you need to navigate a site no one has built a schema for?
Can you predict your session length — Steel caps Launch at 15 minutes and Scale at 1 hour, with 24-hour sessions reserved for Enterprise?
Would you rather track one credit meter per endpoint call, or three metered rates (browser-hours, proxy GB, CAPTCHA solves)?
Do you need Session Viewer-style debugging of a live browser, or is a Playground request/response log enough?
Does your workflow need Auto Sign-In to an authenticated site, which Steel gates behind a $10 paid-balance deposit on its free plan?
Is an open-source, self-hostable browser core (steel-browser) a requirement, or is a hosted-only API acceptable?
What is the cost per successful workflow once you add up credits, browser-hours, proxy GB, and CAPTCHA solves — not just the plan's headline price?

FAQ

Fragen zu Crawlora vs. Steel

Diese Steel-Vergleichsantworten verwenden vorsichtige Formulierungen und sollten anhand der offiziellen Seiten beider Anbieter auf aktuelle Produkt- und Preisdetails überprüft werden.

Is Crawlora a Steel alternative?

Yes, but narrowly — only where Steel's target happens to be one of Crawlora's 470+ documented endpoints. Steel exists specifically to give an agent a real, controllable Chrome session, so anything that needs form-filling, login flows, or navigation outside a fixed schema stays Steel's job, not Crawlora's.

What is Steel?

Steel is an open-source cloud browser API for AI agents — hosted, Puppeteer/Playwright/Selenium-compatible Chrome sessions with auto CAPTCHA solving, proxy and fingerprint controls, Session Viewer debugging, and Auto Sign-In for authenticated sites.

Does Crawlora give me direct browser control?

No. Crawlora exposes structured endpoints and uses browser-backed rendering behind supported APIs, but it doesn't expose a controllable session the way Steel's CDP-compatible sessions do.

How long can a Steel session run?

Steel's own pricing page caps max session time at 15 minutes on the $0/mo Launch plan and 1 hour on the $250/mo Scale plan. The '24-hour long sessions' Steel markets on its homepage is an Enterprise-only ceiling, along with Stealth Browser and reserved browser pools.

Is Steel open source?

Yes — Steel's browser engine (steel-browser) is open source on GitHub with 7.5K+ stars, in addition to the hosted cloud product. Crawlora's API is closed and hosted only.

How does pricing compare?

Crawlora bills a fixed, documented credit weight per successful endpoint call — the Growth plan is $29/mo for 100,000 credits. Steel meters three things separately on its $250/mo Scale plan: browser-hours at $0.08/hr, proxy bandwidth at $6/GB, and CAPTCHA solves at $1/1,000, plus $5/1,000 for its Browser Tools endpoints, drawn from $100 in included monthly credits. Model your session length, proxy usage, and CAPTCHA rate before comparing headline prices.

Can I use Crawlora and Steel together?

Yes. Some teams use Crawlora for supported structured endpoints and Steel for custom browser automation or agent tasks outside Crawlora's catalog.

Does Steel handle CAPTCHAs and anti-bot detection?

Yes — auto CAPTCHA solving is billed at $3 per 1,000 solves on Launch, dropping to $1 per 1,000 on Scale, alongside proxy and browser-fingerprint controls. Launch requires a $10 paid-balance deposit before CAPTCHA solving or Steel-provided proxies unlock; free credits don't count toward that deposit.

Geprüfte Quellen

Zuletzt geprüft: August 19, 2026. Preise und Funktionen der Konkurrenz können sich ändern. Prüfe die offizielle Seite jedes Anbieters für die aktuellsten Details.

Probiere Crawlora als deine Steel-Alternative aus

Durchsuche die Endpunkt-Dokumentation, führe im Playground eine Anfrage gegen eine Plattform aus, die Steel nicht abdeckt, und vergleiche die Credit-basierte Preisgestaltung, bevor du entscheidest, ob Crawlora zu deinem Workflow passt.

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