Herd vs Firecrawl: Flexible Browser Automation and Data Extraction

Firecrawl is a specialized web scraping and crawling tool designed primarily for extracting and cleaning web content, especially for use with LLMs. While Firecrawl offers powerful crawling capabilities, Herd provides a more comprehensive browser automation solution with greater flexibility and control over the browsing experience.

Quick Comparison

Key Differences in Depth

Primary Focus and Capabilities

Firecrawl:

• Specialized in high-quality web content extraction
• Optimized for converting websites to clean markdown
• Focused on crawling through website links
• Built primarily for LLM data ingestion
• Limited interactive capabilities

Herd:

• Complete browser automation platform
• Full interactive control of browser actions
• Supports Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera
• Supports both data extraction and automation workflows
• General-purpose browser control
• Rich interaction with web applications

Infrastructure and Execution Model

// Install the Herd SDK
npm install @monitoro/herd

// Connect to your existing browser
import { HerdClient } from '@monitoro/herd';

const client = new HerdClient('your-token');
await client.initialize();
const devices = await client.listDevices();
const device = devices[0];

// Full browser automation capabilities
const page = await device.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');

Data Extraction Approaches

Firecrawl:

• Specializes in converting HTML to clean markdown
• Automatically handles JavaScript rendering
• Built-in content cleaning and formatting
• Output optimized for LLM consumption
• Limited customization of extraction patterns

Herd:

• Flexible data extraction patterns
• CSS selector-based extraction
• Support for complex nested data structures
• Raw data access and custom transformations
• Complete control over extraction logic

Use Case Comparisons

Website Content Extraction

// Using Herd for content extraction
const client = new HerdClient('your-token');
await client.initialize();
const devices = await client.listDevices();
const device = devices[0];

const page = await device.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com/article');

// Extract structured content with control over the format
const articleData = await page.extract({
  title: '.article-title',
  author: '.author-name',
  published: {
    _$: '.publish-date',
    pipes: ['parseDate']
  },
  content: '.article-body',
  tags: {
    _$r: '.tag',
    text: ':root'
  }
});

console.log(articleData);
await client.close();

Interactive Web Automation

// Using Herd for interactive web automation
const client = new HerdClient('your-token');
await client.initialize();
const devices = await client.listDevices();
const device = devices[0];

const page = await device.newPage();

// Navigate to a web application
await page.goto('https://app.example.com/dashboard');

// Fill out a form
await page.click('.create-new-button');
await page.type('#title-input', 'New Project');
await page.type('#description-input', 'This is a test project created by automation');
await page.select('#category-select', 'development');

// Upload a file
const fileInput = await page.$('input[type="file"]');
await fileInput.uploadFile('/path/to/local/file.pdf');

// Submit the form
await page.click('.submit-button');

// Wait for confirmation and extract result
await page.waitForSelector('.success-message');
const confirmationText = await page.$eval('.success-message', el => el.textContent);
console.log('Form submitted successfully:', confirmationText);

await client.close();

Multi-Page Crawling

// Using Herd for custom crawling
const client = new HerdClient('your-token');
await client.initialize();
const devices = await client.listDevices();
const device = devices[0];

const page = await device.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com/products');

// Extract all product links
const productLinks = await page.extract({
  links: {
    _$r: '.product-card a',
    url: { attribute: 'href' }
  }
});

// Custom crawling logic with full control
const productDetails = [];
for (const { url } of productLinks.links) {
  // Navigate to each product page
  await page.goto(url);
  
  // Extract detailed information
  const product = await page.extract({
    name: '.product-name',
    price: '.product-price',
    description: '.product-description',
    inStock: '.stock-status'
  });
  
  productDetails.push(product);
  
  // You can implement custom logic: only continue if conditions are met
  if (productDetails.length >= 10) break;
}

console.log(productDetails);
await client.close();

Migration Guide: From Firecrawl to Herd

Transitioning from Firecrawl to Herd is straightforward. Here’s a guide to help you migrate:

Installation Steps

1. Sign up for a Herd account
2. Install the Herd browser extension in Chrome, Edge, or Brave (Firefox and Safari not supported)
3. Register your browser as a device in the Herd dashboard

2. Code Migration

3. Implementing Markdown Conversion

If you specifically need markdown output like Firecrawl provides:

// Helper function to convert extracted HTML to markdown
function htmlToMarkdown(html) {
  // Use a library like turndown
  const turndownService = new TurndownService();
  return turndownService.turndown(html);
}

// Extract with Herd and convert to markdown
const content = await page.extract({
  body: {
    _$: '.article-content',
    attribute: 'innerHTML'
  }
});

Why Choose Herd Over Firecrawl?

1. Comprehensive Browser Control

Herd provides full browser automation capabilities:

• Complete interactive control beyond just crawling
• Support for complex user interactions
• Ability to automate any browser-based workflow
• Full access to browser APIs and capabilities

2. Flexible Authentication and Sessions

Herd’s approach offers significant authentication advantages:

• Use your existing authenticated browser sessions
• No need to implement login flows
• Support for complex authentication scenarios
• Access to secure content without credential management

3. Customizable Extraction and Processing

Herd gives you complete control over data extraction:

• Custom extraction patterns for any website structure
• Flexible transformation of extracted data
• Support for complex nested data extraction
• Processing options beyond just markdown conversion

4. Broader Use Case Support

Herd supports a wider range of automation scenarios:

• Form submission and interactive workflows
• File uploads and downloads
• Conditional logic based on page content
• Testing and verification workflows

Get Started with Herd Today

Ready to try a more flexible alternative to Firecrawl? Get started with Herd:

1. Create a Herd account
2. Install the browser extension
3. Connect your browser
4. Run your first automation

Discover how Herd can provide enhanced capabilities for both content extraction and browser automation, giving you more control and flexibility than specialized crawling tools like Firecrawl.