# Firecrawl Government Index in 2026: price, limits and an alternative Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/firecrawl-government-index-alternative Firecrawl's Government & Legal Index searches 30 million US government pages: statutes, regulations, local codes and court opinions. Searches use no credits, up to 1,000 calls a day on the Free, Hobby and Standard plans. It returns ranked pages, and it covers the US. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Ask in plain words for every rule that meets your conditions, in the US or outside it. Each match is a row at 5¢, 15¢ or $1, and the request reruns hourly to yearly. [Describe your data](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-firecrawl-government-index-alternative&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fask%3Fq%3DEvery%2520Texas%2520county%2520and%2520city%2520that%2520requires%2520a%2520mobile%2520food%2520vendor%2520permit%252C%2520with%2520the%2520permit%2520fee%252C%2520the%2520issuing%2520office%2520and%2520the%2520ordinance%2520section) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is 200 rows. ## SpecStream and the Firecrawl Government Index side by side | | SpecStream | Firecrawl Government Index | |---|---|---| | What you send | The rules you need in plain words, with the conditions every row must meet | A question in plain words to `/v2/search/gov`, with `k` from 1 to 100 results and optional filters for jurisdiction, court, court type, cited law and site | | What you get back | Structured rows, one record per rule, ordinance, notice or filing, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every value | Ranked pages, each with `url`, `title`, `description` and `position`. Reading the full text of a result uses standard scrape credits | | What it covers | The live web, inside the US and outside it, read during your run. Plus the records we hold: 13,073 federal rules and proposed rules published since January 2024, and 31,428 open tenders in Europe and the UK (Nov 12, 2026) | 30 million pages from US federal, state, county and city government sources. US only for now | | What it costs | A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs. A ready list: 5¢ a row for the first 2,000 rows and 1¢ after. One question: $5 per 1,000 searches, or $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast` | Searches use no credits. The full text of a result is a scrape at 1 credit a page, on paid plans from $19 a month for 5,000 credits | | How much one job can ask | You approve the most a run can cost before it starts, and the quote is good for 30 minutes. A run keeps working until it reaches the count, for up to four hours on the largest requests | 300 calls a minute on every plan. 1,000 calls a day on Free, Hobby and Standard, 2,000 on Growth, and no daily limit on Scale and Enterprise | | Is the rule in force | Write the date and the jurisdiction as conditions. Each condition shows the page that states it, or that no page states it yet, and `get_find_decisions` returns each answer with its reason, value, source and time | Ranked matches can include historical versions, bill text, agency guidance and third-party reproductions. The docs tell the agent to verify the issuer, jurisdiction, status and version before it answers | | When a rule changes | A saved request reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢. A ready list with a feed sends the rows its source adds each week | Each result carries `updatedAt`, the time the page entered the index. Firecrawl Monitor rechecks pages you name at 1 credit per page per check | | Where the data goes | Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, monday.com, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks | The API response, the Python and Node SDKs, `firecrawl_gov_search` in the MCP server, `firecrawl gov` in the CLI, and the Firecrawl plugins for Claude, ChatGPT and Grok Bot | | MCP and API | MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A. Calls written for Firecrawl v2 search and scrape answer at `https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl` | `GET` or `POST /v2/search/gov`. No API key is needed to start, and a key raises the rate limits | ## Why teams that search the Government Index choose SpecStream ### Every rule that meets your conditions, as rows One Government Index search returns up to 100 ranked pages for one question. A permitting, tax or compliance job asks for the whole set: "Every Texas county and city that requires a mobile food vendor permit, with the permit fee, the issuing office and the ordinance section". SpecStream reads that request back as conditions and facts you can edit, finds every match, and joins facts from many sites into one record per rule. 1,000 rows with up to 15 facts each cost $150, and you approve that maximum before the run starts. ### Law and public notices outside the US The Government Index is US only for now, and its docs send other jurisdictions to general search. SpecStream reads the live web wherever the rule is published. On Nov 12, 2026 it held 31,428 open tenders from public buyers in Europe and the UK, read from TED, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, each listed at [specstream.ai/data/tenders](https://specstream.ai/data/tenders?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index). ### Federal rules, read every morning SpecStream reads every rule and proposed rule in the Federal Register each morning. On Nov 12, 2026 that was 13,073 documents published since January 2024, with 179 proposed rules open for comment and 117 final rules taking effect in the next 45 days. The whole list costs $210.73 as CSV and Excel, and the rules added each week cost $19.25 a month, at [specstream.ai/data/federal-rules](https://specstream.ai/data/federal-rules?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index). The same morning read covers 7,781 open [federal contract opportunities](https://specstream.ai/data/contracts?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index) and 1,191 open and forecast [federal grants](https://specstream.ai/data/grants?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index). ### A changed rule reaches you A Government Index search answers at the moment of the call. A saved SpecStream request reruns hourly to yearly inside the spending limits you set. A changed or new row costs half its rate (3¢, 8¢ or 50¢) and an unchanged row costs 1¢, so rechecking 1,000 rules that did not change costs $10. New matches arrive in Slack, email, a sheet, your CRM or a signed webhook. ### Scored on the official benchmarks The SpecStream Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions, 978 of them correct, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 WideSearch tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index) page. ## Other Firecrawl Government Index alternatives ### SpecStream The live web data engine for teams and agents. One request in plain words returns every rule, ordinance, notice or filing that meets your conditions as rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 each, with the most a run can cost quoted before it starts. One question costs $5 per 1,000 searches, or $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast`, and a saved request reruns hourly to yearly. ### Serper A Google search API sold in credit packs: 2,500 free queries, then 50k credits for $50, which is $1.00 per 1,000. It returns a result page as JSON, and your code reads the pages and builds the table of rules. SpecStream fast search costs $1 per 1,000 too, and Deep Search delivers the rows. ### Exa A general web search API at $7 per 1,000 requests on its `auto` and `fast` search types, with the first 10 results in the price. Your code still turns result pages into a table of rules. SpecStream search costs $5 per 1,000, or $1 with `speed=fast`, and Deep Search delivers the table. ### Tavily A web search API sold in credits: 1,000 free credits a month, then $0.008 per credit pay as you go. A basic search costs 1 credit and an advanced search 2, so 1,000 basic searches cost $8. SpecStream charges $5 per 1,000 searches, or $1 with `speed=fast`, on every plan. ## How to switch from the Firecrawl Government Index Write the question you send to `/v2/search/gov` as the set you want back, with the jurisdiction, the date and the facts for each row. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows. Or send it from code. The second call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost. ``` # Before: one search of the Government Index curl -s "https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/search/gov?query=Austin%20mobile%20food%20vendor%20permit%20requirements&k=10" # After: every matching rule as a row curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"request": "Every Texas county and city that requires a mobile food vendor permit, with the permit fee, the issuing office and the ordinance section", "count": 25}' ``` For one question with one answer, call the Search API. A `site:` operator keeps every result on the publisher you name, and the reply holds the value as the page prints it and the page it was read from. ``` curl -s -G https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" \ --data-urlencode "q=California rent increase cap site:leginfo.legislature.ca.gov" ``` Code that calls Firecrawl's `/v2/search` or `/v2/scrape` keeps working with the base address `https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl`, at $1 per 1,000 searches and $0.80 per 1,000 pages. The steps are in [Migrate from Firecrawl](https://specstream.ai/migrate/firecrawl?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index), and the whole of Alexandria is compared in [Firecrawl Alexandria alternative](https://specstream.ai/firecrawl-alexandria-alternative?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=firecrawl-government-index). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the Firecrawl Government Index? A search index of 30 million pages from US federal, state, county and city government sources, launched on October 22, 2026 as the Government & Legal Index. It covers statutes, regulations, local codes, permits and court opinions, and answers at `/v2/search/gov`, in the Firecrawl MCP server and CLI, and in the Firecrawl plugins for Claude, ChatGPT and Grok Bot. ### How much does the Firecrawl Government Index cost? Searches use no credits. Calls are limited to 300 a minute on every plan and to 1,000 a day on Free, Hobby and Standard, 2,000 a day on Growth, with no daily limit on Scale and Enterprise. Reading the full text of a result is a scrape at 1 credit a page, and paid plans start at $19 a month for 5,000 credits. ### Does the Firecrawl Government Index cover law outside the US? No. The index is US only for now, and Firecrawl's docs say to use general search for other jurisdictions. SpecStream reads the live web inside the US and outside it, and held 31,428 open tenders from Europe and the UK on Nov 12, 2026. ### What is the best Firecrawl Government Index alternative? SpecStream, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. You describe the rules you need in plain words with every condition, approve the most the run can cost, and get one row per rule with its source URL and read time. The same request reruns hourly to yearly with each row labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. ### Can I get a message when a regulation changes? Yes, as often as every hour. A saved SpecStream request reruns hourly to yearly, a changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row costs 1¢. The federal rules feed sends the rules the Federal Register adds each week for $19.25 a month. ### Does a Government Index result show the law in force today? Not by itself. Firecrawl's docs say ranked matches can include historical versions, bill text, agency guidance and third-party reproductions, and tell the agent to verify the issuer, jurisdiction, status and version. On SpecStream you write the date and the jurisdiction as conditions, and each condition shows the page that states it. ### Does SpecStream have an API and an MCP server? Yes. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, or $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast`. The Extract API costs $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and Deep Search returns rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 each. All three run through the REST API, the Python and TypeScript SDKs, the CLI and the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page. - [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream federal rules](https://specstream.ai/data/federal-rules), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream open tenders](https://specstream.ai/data/tenders), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream federal contracts](https://specstream.ai/data/contracts), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream federal grants](https://specstream.ai/data/grants), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl Government Index docs](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/gov.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl Government & Legal Index announcement](https://www.firecrawl.dev/blog/government-legal-index.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl Government & Legal Index page](https://www.firecrawl.dev/gov-index.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl changelog: Government & Legal Index](https://www.firecrawl.dev/changelog/government-legal-index.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl rate limits](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/rate-limits.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Introducing Alexandria](https://www.firecrawl.dev/blog/introducing-alexandria-series-b.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Serper](https://serper.dev/), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Tavily API credits](https://docs.tavily.com/documentation/api-credits.md), read Nov 12, 2026