What is the key difference between Firecrawl MCP Server and Lean Reader?

Firecrawl MCP Server belongs to the Search & Data Extraction category with local stdio execution, while Lean Reader belongs to the Search & Data Extraction category with local stdio execution.

How do I install Firecrawl MCP Server or Lean Reader in Claude Desktop or Cursor?

Copy the mcpServers JSON configuration snippet provided on this page into your claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json file and restart your AI client.

Are Firecrawl MCP Server and Lean Reader free or paid?

Firecrawl MCP Server operates under a Freemium model (API Key required). Lean Reader operates under a Free / Open Source model (No auth required).

Which MCP server has more tools and community activity?

Firecrawl MCP Server lists 25 tools with 5 views and 7,495 GitHub stars. Lean Reader lists 0 tools with 0 views and 0 GitHub stars.

Can I use both Firecrawl MCP Server and Lean Reader together in the same MCP host?

Yes! MCP hosts like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and VS Code support configuring multiple servers under the mcpServers object simultaneously.

Side-by-Side Model Context Protocol Comparison

Firecrawl MCP Server vs Lean Reader

In-depth architectural comparison of the Firecrawl MCP Server and Lean Reader MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

At a Glance & Executive Verdict

Firecrawl MCP Server

Search & Data Extraction · Local stdio

Quality: 90/100 (Excellent) | Auth: API Key required

Lean Reader

Search & Data Extraction · Local stdio

Quality: 37/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required

Verdict Summary: Choose Firecrawl MCP Server if you need specialized Search & Data Extraction tools running via a local process. Choose Lean Reader if your workspace requires Search & Data Extraction integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Firecrawl MCP Server when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Freemium).
You have access to required keys: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY.
Primary tools included: firecrawl_scrape, firecrawl_map, firecrawl_search.

Explore Firecrawl MCP Server Details

Choose Lean Reader when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Lean Reader Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Firecrawl MCP Server firecrawl VerifiedSearch & Data Extraction	Lean Reader Search & Data Extraction
Summary	Official Firecrawl server to search the web and scrape, crawl, map, and extract structured data from any site for LLMs. Handles JS-rendered pages, PDFs, and batch jobs; hosted remote MCP with OAuth or self-host.	Token-minimized URL-to-clean-text reader for LLMs, with a token-savings receipt.
Category & Scope

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Firecrawl MCP Server Tools (25)

firecrawl_scrape

Retrieve and extract content from one supplied URL through Firecrawl. Use this when the request identifies a page and needs its content or defined fields. It can return markdown, HTML, links, screenshots, branding data, a targeted answer, or JSON matching a supplied schema; JSON is useful when the requested result has defined fields, while markdown preserves readable page content. This tool operates on a known page. For a set of pages use `firecrawl_crawl`, and to discover page URLs use `firecrawl_map` or `firecrawl_search`. Options include JavaScript render delay, cache age, main-content filtering, PII redaction, and lockdown cache-only retrieval. Browser actions may change the live page when interactive actions are enabled. Firecrawl may reuse recently indexed content instead of refetching the page, and the reuse window varies by domain. Set `maxAge: 0` to force a live fetch, or a smaller `maxAge` to bound how stale reused content may be. A successful response does not by itself confirm that the state it describes is still current. Returns the selected content formats and page metadata.

firecrawl_map

Enumerate URLs indexed under one website through Firecrawl without fetching each page's content. Use this when the request asks for a site's URL inventory, when several relevant pages must be located, or when the desired page URL is unknown. An optional `search` term narrows the URL list, while sitemap, subdomain, query-parameter, and result-limit options control coverage. Returns matching URLs rather than page bodies. Retrieve one page with `firecrawl_scrape`; collect content across multiple pages with `firecrawl_crawl`.

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

Firecrawl MCP Server Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl-firecrawl-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "firecrawl-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "YOUR_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Lean Reader Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lean-reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "lean-reader"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Firecrawl MCP Server is categorized under Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Lean Reader belongs to Search & Data Extraction using local stdio subprocess. Select Firecrawl MCP Server when you need capabilities focused on search & data extraction and Lean Reader when you require tools for search & data extraction.

More alternatives to Firecrawl MCP Server More alternatives to Lean Reader Search & Data Extraction category hub