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
Webshare offers a capped free shared datacenter tier, paid proxy-count terms and monthly residential GB. Firecrawl offers a recurring free page-credit allowance and managed scrape, search, crawl and MCP tools. Their free tiers test different things: network connectivity and web-data output.
Published entry offers, reviewed 2026-09-14
Choose how much fetching, rendering and extraction your team wants to own. Fetch the same permitted pages and extract the same fields: one route returns an API result, while the other leaves the HTTP client and parser with your team.
| Decision | Firecrawl | Webshare | ProxyLane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example route for this job | FirecrawlScrape API (Markdown/structured output) | WebshareResidential proxy gateway | ProxyLaneResidential proxy gateway for your own fetcher or browser; no managed scraping API |
| Charging basis | Product-specific requests, results or credits | Traffic allowance; confirm the selected GB or port plan | 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. | Ten shared datacenter proxies are free with a limited monthly bandwidth allowance. Paid datacenter and static residential plans charge by proxy count on monthly or yearly terms; rotating residential charges for a chosen monthly GB allowance. Check plan limits and fair-use 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. | Download a proxy list from the dashboard or API; the API supports username or source-IP authorization, and residential lists use the backbone endpoint mode. | 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. | Try the free datacenter tier for basic connection testing; a residential evaluation needs a paid monthly GB plan. | 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. | Use a listed proxy or residential backbone endpoint in your own browser; the free shared IPs may be blocked by some sites. | 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. | Use the official API or webshare-cli to obtain proxy endpoints for an MCP browser/fetch tool you operate; its free datacenter tier is distinct from paid residential traffic. | 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. | Choose count-based datacenter/ISP or GB-based residential capacity and verify bandwidth, thread and fair-use limits at the intended plan size. | 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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Webshare's free shared datacenter proxies can verify client authentication and routing within their monthly bandwidth cap, though some sites may block those IPs. Firecrawl's free credits can test whether Scrape returns usable content from the actual page set. For a residential comparison, move Webshare to its paid monthly GB backbone endpoint and run the same URLs through your crawler, measuring assets, retries and parsed fields against Firecrawl's selected scrape format and credits.
If the task requires site discovery, Firecrawl Map, Search and Crawl tools add managed steps; Webshare's proxy-list API downloads exits for a crawler you operate. Count complete discovered and extracted records on a bounded site section. Webshare static residential/datacenter plans instead count proxies on monthly or yearly terms, a different route for fixed identity. Firecrawl Search and browser Interact draw credits differently from basic page scraping, so choose the actual workflow before comparing either free allowance or paid plan.
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.
$7per GB
Free: 10 shared datacenter proxies with 1 GB/month. Rotating residential starts at a 1 GB monthly plan advertised at $3.50/month under a 50% discount ($7 list rate).
$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), Webshare at $7 per GB (1 GB monthly plan at list rate). Billing units differ, so compare the cost of a usable record on the same workload, not the headline rate.
Choose how much fetching, rendering and extraction your team wants to own. Firecrawl: Scrape API (Markdown/structured output). Webshare: Residential proxy gateway.
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 Webshare. Get 350 MB of residential traffic with sticky sessions up to 72 hours. Keep any unused traffic for later.