--- title: "workflow vs firecrawl" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/durable-workflow-workflow-vs-firecrawl-firecrawl" tools: ["durable-workflow-workflow", "firecrawl-firecrawl"] --- # workflow vs firecrawl *GraphCanon updated Jul 15, 2026* ## Verdict Pick workflow when workflow is primarily PHP; firecrawl is TypeScript; pick firecrawl when firecrawl is primarily TypeScript; workflow is PHP. [workflow](https://durable-workflow.com) reports 1.2k GitHub stars, 70 forks, and 0 open issues, last pushed Jul 15, 2026. [firecrawl](https://firecrawl.dev) has 149k stars, 8.5k forks, and 395 open issues, last pushed Jul 11, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [workflow's repository](https://github.com/durable-workflow/workflow) and [firecrawl's repository](https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl). | | [workflow](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow.md) | [firecrawl](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Core package for defining and running durable workflows and activities. Supports long-running persistent workflows, retries, queues, parallel execution, workflow monitoring, dedicated storage connecti | The API to search, scrape, and interact with the web at scale. 🔥 | | Stars | 1,217 | 149,109 | | Forks | 70 | 8,524 | | Open issues | 0 | 395 | | Language | PHP | TypeScript | | Adopt for | - | FireCrawl is an API-driven toolkit built for conducting scalable searches, scraping tasks, and interactive operations with the web using AI agents. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 license requires that any changes to FireCrawl's source code also be made available as free software when the adapted version is used. | | Categories | AI Agents, Data & Retrieval, LLM Frameworks | AI Agents, Data & Retrieval | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [workflow](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow.md) | [firecrawl](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Open issues (now) | 0 | 395 | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: firecrawl - **Hosting:** self hosted - FireCrawl can be deployed on your infrastructure, giving you complete control over where and how the API interacts with web data. - **Requirements:** Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker - **Adopt for:** FireCrawl is an API-driven toolkit built for conducting scalable searches, scraping tasks, and interactive operations with the web using AI agents. - **License detail:** AGPL-3.0 license requires that any changes to FireCrawl's source code also be made available as free software when the adapted version is used. ## Choose when ### Choose workflow if… - workflow is primarily PHP; firecrawl is TypeScript. - License: workflow is MIT, firecrawl is AGPL-3.0. - Tags unique to workflow: background-jobs, bpm, bpmn, durable-functions. - Also covers LLM Frameworks. ### Choose firecrawl if… - firecrawl is primarily TypeScript; workflow is PHP. - License: firecrawl is AGPL-3.0, workflow is MIT. - FireCrawl can be deployed on your infrastructure, giving you complete control over where and how the API interacts with web data. - Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker. - Tags unique to firecrawl: ai-agents, crawler, scraping, search. - When you need to automate complex web interactions that require understanding context or content from multiple sources, leveraging its AI agent capabilities. ## When NOT to use workflow - AI Agents: Don't use an agent loop when a deterministic workflow would do; agents add latency, cost, and non-determinism. - Data & Retrieval: Skip a heavy ingestion framework when your corpus is small and static; a script plus the embedding API is enough. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## When NOT to use firecrawl - For lightweight scraping tasks where minimal data extraction is sufficient and speed is of utmost importance without the need for advanced AI analysis. - If you require open-source components under a license other than AGPL-3.0, as this license may impose certain restrictions on derivative works. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between workflow and firecrawl? workflow: Core package for defining and running durable workflows and activities. Supports long-running persistent workflows, retries, queues, parallel execution, workflow monitoring, dedicated storage connecti. firecrawl: The API to search, scrape, and interact with the web at scale. 🔥. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose workflow over firecrawl? Choose workflow over firecrawl when workflow is primarily PHP; firecrawl is TypeScript; License: workflow is MIT, firecrawl is AGPL-3.0; Tags unique to workflow: background-jobs, bpm, bpmn, durable-functions; Also covers LLM Frameworks. ### When should I choose firecrawl over workflow? Choose firecrawl over workflow when firecrawl is primarily TypeScript; workflow is PHP; License: firecrawl is AGPL-3.0, workflow is MIT; FireCrawl can be deployed on your infrastructure, giving you complete control over where and how the API interacts with web data; Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Tags unique to firecrawl: ai-agents, crawler, scraping, search; When you need to automate complex web interactions that require understanding context or content from multiple sources, leveraging its AI agent capabilities. ### When should I avoid workflow? AI Agents: Don't use an agent loop when a deterministic workflow would do; agents add latency, cost, and non-determinism. Data & Retrieval: Skip a heavy ingestion framework when your corpus is small and static; a script plus the embedding API is enough. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### When should I avoid firecrawl? For lightweight scraping tasks where minimal data extraction is sufficient and speed is of utmost importance without the need for advanced AI analysis. If you require open-source components under a license other than AGPL-3.0, as this license may impose certain restrictions on derivative works. ### Is workflow or firecrawl more popular on GitHub? firecrawl has more GitHub stars (149,109 vs 1,217). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are workflow and firecrawl open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (workflow: MIT, firecrawl: AGPL-3.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to workflow or firecrawl? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [workflow alternatives](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow/alternatives) and [firecrawl alternatives](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl/alternatives) ([workflow markdown twin](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow/alternatives.md), [firecrawl markdown twin](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/durable-workflow-workflow-vs-firecrawl-firecrawl.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, workflow or firecrawl? workflow: Very active. firecrawl: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for workflow and firecrawl? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [workflow trust report](/tools/durable-workflow-workflow/trust); [firecrawl trust report](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=durable-workflow-workflow`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=durable-workflow-workflow) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_