Firecrawl MCP Server vs Web Retrieval MCP

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`.