Comparison
crawler.sh vs MarkItDown
Full-site Markdown extraction with metadata vs a single-file converter from Microsoft.
MarkItDown is a Python utility from Microsoft that converts a single file or URL to Markdown. It is great for one-off conversions. crawler.sh is built for scale: crawl an entire site, render JavaScript, and produce a Markdown archive where every file includes YAML frontmatter with its URL, title, word count, and language.
Side by side
Honest comparison on the axes that decide which tool fits your workflow.
Feature notes reflect publicly listed information at the time of writing.
When to pick which
Both tools solve real problems. Pick based on where the work actually runs and what you are billing against.
Pick MarkItDown when
You need a quick one-off conversion of a single file or URL, you are already in a Python environment, and you do not need JavaScript rendering or site-wide extraction.
Pick crawler.sh when
You need the whole site, not one page. You want a structured Markdown archive with metadata, JavaScript rendering, and link discovery built in. You want a desktop app and a CLI that work the same way.
