Choose Firecrawl if
- Agents that need scrape/search/crawl tools over one shared credit balance
- Small recurring website ingestion with a published free monthly allowance
Firecrawl offers managed page, search, crawl and browser-interaction tools billed in credits. IPRoyal offers residential GB as pay-as-you-go or subscription traffic with configurable sticky TTL. An agent gathering public pages and a browser preserving an account session impose different continuity and billing requirements.
Published entry offers, reviewed 2026-09-14
Compare usable output and required integration work under each API contract. Request the same permitted pages with equivalent rendering and output requirements; validate the returned fields before comparing the bill.
| Decision | Firecrawl | IPRoyal | ProxyLane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example route for this job | FirecrawlScrape API (Markdown/structured output) | IPRoyalWeb Unblocker | ProxyLaneResidential proxy gateway for your own fetcher or browser; no managed scraping API |
| Charging basis | Product-specific requests, results or credits | Product-specific requests, results or credits | Prepaid GB that never expires |
| How you pay | The free tier refreshes 1,000 credits monthly. Paid plans include monthly credits, with pay-as-you-go top-ups in $5 increments under a configurable limit. Basic scrape/crawl/map costs one credit per page; search costs two per ten results, browser Interact two per minute, and structured formats can add credits. Included-credit rollover depends on plan. | Residential GB can be bought pay-as-you-go or by renewing subscription, with bulk and subscription discounts. Purchased pay-as-you-go traffic is described as non-expiring under standard conditions, but account-specific activity rules may apply; other proxy types have separate per-IP or time-based terms. | 350 MB trial for $1.95, then prepaid packages from $6.50/GB for 1 GB down to $2.50/GB for 1 TB. Unused traffic never expires. |
| Integration work | Send authorized requests to Firecrawl's Scrape/Crawl/Search endpoints or configure the official MCP server with an API key via the hosted URL or local FIRECRAWL_API_KEY environment variable. Choose basic Markdown or higher-credit structured/browser modes per job. | Configure geo, rotation and TTL in the dashboard, then copy an HTTP(S)/SOCKS5 proxy list into a script or browser. The residential account API uses a bearer token and a separate resi-api.iproyal.com/v1 base URL. | HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 endpoints on three regional gateways: Europe, the Americas and Asia. Export proxy lists in 8 formats for scripts, scrapers and antidetect browsers. |
| A small or irregular job | Use the 1,000-credit monthly free tier for simple pages and compare the $19 Hobby plan only after pricing search, structured output or browser minutes separately. | A small residential pay-as-you-go order avoids a recurring plan; check account activity terms if you expect to hold the balance for a long time. | Start with the 350 MB trial for $1.95 or a 1 GB package. Unused traffic never expires. |
| Browser workflow | Use Interact for managed browser minutes when clicks are needed; a basic scrape credit does not buy the same interactive work. | Set a sticky residential TTL and proxy credentials on your own browser; budget for page assets and allow for peer churn. | Sticky sessions from 1 second to 72 hours, with a named session ID for each browser profile. |
| Connecting an agent | Connect the first-party hosted or local MCP server and cap paid-plan top-ups before allowing autonomous crawl or extract loops. | Route your MCP fetch or browser tool through an IPRoyal proxy, as its Claude guide describes; the residential account API manages orders/sessions, while Web Unblocker is separately billed. | Point your agent's fetcher or browser tool at the proxy endpoint. ProxyLane supplies the network, not a hosted browser. |
| A growing production workload | Track credits across endpoints, rate/concurrency limits and rollover terms; higher tiers change both quota and throughput. | Subscriptions and bulk purchases change the residential GB rate; check renewal and top-up settings before converting a one-off job into a recurring fleet. | Target by country, region, city, ZIP, ISP or ASN across 195 countries. Larger packages lower the rate to $2.50/GB. |
| Check before moving |
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For a public-site ingestion task, compare Firecrawl Scrape or Crawl with your crawler using IPRoyal residential credentials on the same bounded URL set. Count usable pages, retries, transferred GB and Firecrawl credits; Search and Interact have different units from a basic page scrape. IPRoyal's stored pay-as-you-go traffic has possible account-activity conditions, and its subscription renews, while Firecrawl's Hobby, Standard and Growth included credits do not roll over. Model the actual schedule.
For a multi-page account workflow, configure IPRoyal's sticky TTL in a browser you operate and test a complete visit, including peer-change recovery. The TTL is a setting, not a guarantee that the same residential peer stays online. Firecrawl Interact is a managed browser action billed by minute, but a basic scrape result is not that session. Script the actual clicks and output before comparing Firecrawl browser credits with IPRoyal browser asset GB.
ProxyLane offers premium residential IPs with ultra-low fraud scores, from ethically sourced, real devices.
Test your workload for $1.9598.7%
of 1,000 sampled IPs rated low risk by Scamalytics
Low risk: scores 0–19 on Scamalytics’ 0–100 scale. Aggregate sample result; individual countries vary.
Advertised starting offers use different products and billing units. Price the matched route before choosing a plan.
$19per month
Free: 1,000 credits/month, no card. First paid Hobby: $19/month billed monthly or $16/month billed annually for 5,000 credits/month; $5 top-ups on a paid plan provide 1,000 Hobby credits. Prices effective September 4, 2026.
$7.35per GB
Residential: $7.35 for 1 GB pay-as-you-go, or $7 for 1 GB on a renewing subscription; no general free residential trial.
$1.95350 MB trial
350 MB trial for $1.95. Packages from $6.50/GB for 1 GB down to $2.50/GB for 1 TB, with traffic that never expires.
Try 350 MB for $1.95Same targets, same fields. Compare the cost of each usable record. Worksheet
Same targets on both routes
Not just 200 responses
Minimums, expiry, add-ons
Keep a rollback ready
From $2/GB. Buy the traffic you need, keep it until you use it.
Test our IP quality: 350 MB$1.95
For your first requests
per GB · Traffic never expires
For projects taking shape
per GB · Traffic never expires
For everyday workflows
per GB · Traffic never expires
For growing workloads
per GB · Traffic never expires
For bigger operations
per GB · Traffic never expires
For high-volume data
per GB · Traffic never expires
For your business, at your scale
Let's build your setup together
Firecrawl starts at $19 per month (5,000 credits), IPRoyal at $7.35 per GB (1 GB pay-as-you-go). Billing units differ, so compare the cost of a usable record on the same workload, not the headline rate.
Compare usable output and required integration work under each API contract. Firecrawl: Scrape API (Markdown/structured output). IPRoyal: Web Unblocker.
Yes. The 350 MB trial costs $1.95 and runs on the same residential network as paid packages. Unused traffic never expires.
Country, region, city, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting across 195 countries. Sessions can rotate on every request or stay sticky from 1 second to 72 hours, over HTTP(S) or SOCKS5.
No. ProxyLane is a residential proxy network for the client, scraper or browser you already run. Your team keeps control of fetching, rendering and parsing.
Run the targets you would send to Firecrawl or IPRoyal. Get 350 MB of residential traffic with sticky sessions up to 72 hours. Keep any unused traffic for later.