Browser Use

Comparison

Browserbase alternatives, measured.

The main Browserbase alternatives are Browser Use, Anchor, Kernel, Browserless, Steel and Hyperbrowser. On Stealth Bench V2 (100 bot-protected sites), Browser Use got through on 90.5% of visits vs Browserbase 78.5%, at $0.02 per browser-hour.

Create a browserHow we measured

Browser Use Cloud: 90.5% got through. 8.5 points ahead of Anchor, the next best.

  • Browser Use Cloud90.5%
  • Anchor82%
  • Kernel80.5%
  • Browserbase78.5%
  • Browserless77.5%
  • Steel74.5%
  • Hyperbrowser73.5%

Got through · longer is better · scale 0–100%

Stealth Bench V2 · updated 2026-09-25 · all benchmarks
90.5%
got through on 100 bot-protected sites; Browserbase 78.5%
$0.02 / hour
pay as you go; Browserbase $0.10 to $0.12 after plan hours
493 ms
median session lifecycle on BrowserArena; Browserbase 877 ms, Kernel 318 ms

Stealth, price and speed, side by side.

Stealth is our benchmark, with code and raw results public. Prices are from each provider's own page. Session times are from two benchmarks we do not run.

  • Browser Use

    Got through
    90.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.02
    BrowserArena median
    493 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    95.2

    pay as you go, billed by the minute, no subscription · pricing

  • Anchor

    Got through
    82%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.05
    BrowserArena median
    2,800 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    Not tested

    plus $0.01 per browser created; full stealth from the $2,000/month Growth plan · source

  • Kernel

    Got through
    80.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.06 to $0.48
    BrowserArena median
    318 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    96.4

    headless to headful, billed per GB-second; plans $0 to $200/month · source

  • Browserbase

    Got through
    78.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.10 to $0.12
    BrowserArena median
    877 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    92.8

    after 100 or 500 hours included in $20 or $99/month plans · source

  • Browserless

    Got through
    77.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.18 to $0.24
    BrowserArena median
    No result
    ComputeSDK score
    Not tested

    overage, billed in 30-second units; plans $25 to $350/month · source

  • Steel

    Got through
    74.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.08 to $0.10
    BrowserArena median
    3,509 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    77.2

    $0.08 on the $250/month Scale plan; stealth browser on Enterprise · source

  • Hyperbrowser

    Got through
    73.5%
    Per browser-hour
    $0.10
    BrowserArena median
    1,417 ms
    ComputeSDK score
    94.0

    credits from a subscription or a direct purchase · source

  • Got through: share of 200 visits (100 bot-protected sites, 2 runs) where a blind judge confirmed the real site loaded, measured September 25, 2026. Every provider ran with its own proxy, stealth mode and CAPTCHA solver on; Browserbase on its standard mode, since Verified needs an Enterprise plan. Method and raw results.
  • Prices: each provider's public pricing page, checked October 14, 2026.
  • Session lifecycle: Median time to create a session, connect over CDP, load a page and release it, over 100 sequential runs. Lower is better. Run of October 14, 2026. Browserless: all 100 runs failed to connect (401), so there is no number. BrowserArena.
  • Lifecycle score: Composite lifecycle score from median and tail total latency plus create latency, times success rate. Higher is better. Run of October 9, 2026. ComputeSDK.

Moving a Playwright script takes one connect URL.

Both are Chromium over CDP, so selectors, waits and screenshots carry over. The differences: a REST call creates the browser instead of an SDK, and you stop it with a PATCH when you are done. Stealth, CAPTCHA solving and residential proxies are on by default. Full Playwright guide.
import { chromium } from "playwright-core";import Browserbase from "@browserbasehq/sdk"; const bb = new Browserbase({ apiKey: process.env.BROWSERBASE_API_KEY });const session = await bb.sessions.create(); const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);const page = browser.contexts()[0].pages()[0];await page.goto("https://example.com");
before.tsPlaywright over CDP

When to pick which

Browser Use
Most sites let you in, lowest price per hour, no subscription. Also a hosted agent when you want the task done, not just a browser.
Browserbase
Stagehand is central to your stack, you run Selenium, or you want Search, Fetch and Functions from the same vendor.
Kernel
Session start time matters most. Fastest of this group on both third-party lifecycle benchmarks.
Anchor
Second on Stealth Bench V2 at 82%, with managed logins for agents that sign in to third-party apps.
Browserless
You want to self-host with Docker or Kubernetes, or need Firefox and WebKit next to Chrome.
Steel
You want open-source browser infrastructure you can run yourself.
Hyperbrowser
You want scraping and crawl APIs and sandboxes from the same vendor.

Questions people ask

What are the main Browserbase alternatives?

Browser Use, Anchor, Kernel, Browserless, Steel and Hyperbrowser. On Stealth Bench V2, 100 sites that block bots, they got through on 90.5%, 82%, 80.5%, 77.5%, 74.5%, 73.5% of visits respectively; Browserbase got through on 78.5%.

Is Browser Use cheaper than Browserbase?

Per hour, yes. Browser Use is $0.02 per browser-hour, pay as you go, billed by the minute. Browserbase is $0.10 to $0.12 per browser-hour after 100 or 500 hours included in $20 or $99/month plans. Residential proxies are $5/GB on Browser Use and $10 to $12/GB on Browserbase. Browserbase plans also include Search, Fetch and agent runs, which a Browser Use browser does not.

Which Browserbase alternative starts sessions fastest?

Of the providers on this page, Kernel. On BrowserArena's October 14, 2026 run, the median time to create, connect, load and release a session was 318 ms for Kernel, 493 ms for Browser Use and 877 ms for Browserbase. ComputeSDK's October 9, 2026 lifecycle scores rank them the same way: Kernel 96.4, Browser Use 95.2, Browserbase 92.8. Tilion, which is not in the stealth benchmark, was fastest on both.

Can I keep using Stagehand?

Stagehand can attach to any Chromium over CDP, but its server-side caching and Model Gateway only work on Browserbase. If Stagehand is the center of your stack, Browserbase is the simpler choice. If your code drives Playwright or Puppeteer directly, moving is a change to the connect URL.

How do I move Playwright code from Browserbase?

Create a browser with POST /api/v4/browsers and pass its cdpUrl to connectOverCDP where you passed session.connectUrl. Stop it with PATCH /api/v4/browsers/{id}; closing the CDP connection does not stop billing. Selenium cannot attach to a remote CDP WebSocket, so Selenium suites should stay on Browserbase or move to Playwright first.

How was stealth measured, and was it fair to Browserbase?

Share of 200 scheduled visits (100 sites × 2 runs) where a judge model, shown the page without the provider name, confirmed the real site loaded within 60 seconds. Every provider ran with its own proxy, stealth mode and CAPTCHA solver on. Browserbase ran on its standard mode, because its Verified mode needs an Enterprise plan. The 100 sites were picked because Browser Use Cloud historically got through where stock Chrome with a US proxy did not. They are hard on purpose and not a balanced sample of the web or of anti-bot vendors. Runner, encrypted site list and raw results are public.