Firecrawl vs io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp
Firecrawl is an MCP server published by firecrawl. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp is an MCP server published by microsoft. Marketplaces we read that list it: 4 (Official MCP Registry, Claude Code: claude-plugins-official, Cursor: cursor/plugins, Docker MCP Catalog). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-12. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:28e677a10704 Forks (GitHub): 905 Pulls (Docker Hub): 137 217 Stars (Docker Hub): 20 Stars (GitHub): 7 588 Not marked · First seen |
Listed Version: sha256:8771dc4666e7 Forks (GitHub): 3 239 Pulls (Docker Hub): 2 407 926 Stars (Docker Hub): 38 Stars (GitHub): 38 064 Not marked · First seen |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.0.82 Downloads/month (npm): 30 500 978 Downloads/week (npm): 6 524 222 Forks (GitHub): 3 239 Stars (GitHub): 38 064 Not marked · First seen |
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-official | Not listed | Listed Version: not stated Forks (GitHub): 4 247 Stars (GitHub): 37 724 Not marked · First seen |
| Cursor: cursor/plugins | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 1 066 Stars (GitHub): 11 026 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | Firecrawl | io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 4 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 7 588 (worse) | 38 064 (better) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 137 217 (worse) | 2 407 926 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 905 (worse) | 4 247 (better) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/firecrawl) | On your machine (@playwright/mcp) |
| Transport | stdio | stdio |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 26 | 23 |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 8, secrets among them: 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 1 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/mendableai/firecrawl-mcp-server | github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
Firecrawl
🔥 Official Firecrawl MCP Server - Adds powerful web scraping and search to Cursor, Claude and any other LLM clients.
io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp
Playwright Tools for MCP
How to run each
Firecrawl As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --env "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=<YOUR_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>" --transport stdio firecrawl -- docker run -i --rm -e FIRECRAWL_API_KEY mcp/firecrawlRequires: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY (secret)
io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --transport stdio playwright-mcp -- npx -y @playwright/mcpCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Only Firecrawl declares
firecrawl_agentfirecrawl_agent_statusfirecrawl_check_crawl_statusfirecrawl_crawlfirecrawl_extractfirecrawl_feedbackfirecrawl_interactfirecrawl_interact_stopfirecrawl_mapfirecrawl_monitor_checkfirecrawl_monitor_checksfirecrawl_monitor_create
Show the remaining 14
firecrawl_monitor_deletefirecrawl_monitor_getfirecrawl_monitor_listfirecrawl_monitor_runfirecrawl_monitor_updatefirecrawl_parsefirecrawl_research_inspect_paperfirecrawl_research_read_paperfirecrawl_research_related_papersfirecrawl_research_search_githubfirecrawl_research_search_papersfirecrawl_scrapefirecrawl_searchfirecrawl_search_feedback
Only io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp declares
browser_clickbrowser_closebrowser_console_messagesbrowser_dragbrowser_dropbrowser_evaluatebrowser_file_uploadbrowser_fill_formbrowser_handle_dialogbrowser_hoverbrowser_navigatebrowser_navigate_back
Show the remaining 11
browser_network_requestbrowser_network_requestsbrowser_press_keybrowser_resizebrowser_run_code_unsafebrowser_select_optionbrowser_snapshotbrowser_tabsbrowser_take_screenshotbrowser_typebrowser_wait_for
Both declare
None
Tool names as each marketplace publishes them. More tools is not better in itself: compare what each needs for the job.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: Firecrawl · What it can do: io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/cursor/plugins/blob/HEAD/.cursor-plugin/marketplace.json. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.