{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "agent-browser", "name": "agent-browser", "vendor": "Vercel Labs", "vendorUrl": "https://agent-browser.dev", "kind": "mcp", "category": "browser", "summary": "agent-browser is an open-source command-line tool from Vercel Labs that lets AI agents drive Chrome through accessibility-tree snapshots and element refs. It runs locally as a Rust binary and includes a stdio MCP server.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-browser", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-browser.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-browser.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-browser.json", "repo": "https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "stdio" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "agent-browser" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account or key. The CLI and its daemon run on the owner's machine. Site logins are held in a local auth vault encrypted with AES-256-GCM, in saved state files (plaintext unless `AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY` is set) or in a reused Chrome profile. Cloud browser providers and the optional `chat` command need their own keys in environment variables.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and open source under Apache-2.0, with nothing to buy and no hosted service. The optional `chat` command and dashboard chat bill the user's own Vercel AI Gateway key, and cloud browser providers bill separately (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README, the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 158, "popularity": { "githubStars": 43679, "npmWeekly": 2069828, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://agent-browser.dev", "llmsTxt": "https://agent-browser.dev/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "browser.control", "browser.debug" ], "tags": [ "official", "local", "open-source", "browser", "cli", "mcp", "rust", "no-auth", "llms-txt" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 66.6, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 263, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 10, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 48, "schema": 84, "security": 67, "transparency": 61 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Snapshots with element refs, a 29-tool default MCP profile and opt-in domain allowlists, action policies and content boundary markers suit agent use. The project is at 0.38.2 with no stable release, the ten most recent CI runs on main failed between 1 and 8 October 2026, and every security control is off by default.", "bestFor": "Coding agents with a shell that want short commands and compact snapshots.", "strengths": [ "Accessibility-tree snapshots give each element a ref such as `@e2`, with `-i`, `-c`, `-d` and `--delta` to cut the output", "The stdio MCP server loads 29 tools by default and 158 with `--tools all`, each with a typed schema and `readOnlyHint`", "Domain allowlist, action policy, action confirmation and content boundary markers are documented with a threat model and known limitations", "19 tagged releases between 13 July and 1 October 2026, each with a changelog entry", "llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page at agent-browser.dev, plus bundled skills served by `agent-browser skills get`" ], "weaknesses": [ "The ten most recent CI runs on main, 1 to 8 October 2026, all concluded in failure. In the newest, Windows Rust tests and native end-to-end tests failed", "Version 0.38.2 with a Vercel Labs badge and no stable release or deprecation policy", "All security controls are opt-in. By default there is no limit on navigation, actions or output", "crates.io holds 0.19.0 from 14 March 2026, although the README lists `cargo install agent-browser` as an install route", "No SECURITY.md in the repository, and 840 open issues and pull requests, with most of the newest issues unlabelled and unanswered" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run `agent-browser install` once after `npm install -g agent-browser`. It downloads Chrome for Testing", "Take a fresh `snapshot -i` after any navigation. Refs survive same-document changes only", "Pass `--json` for machine-readable results and `--max-output` to cap page text", "Set `--allowed-domains`, `--action-policy` and `--content-boundaries` for untrusted sites. None is on by default, and the allowlist rejects `--profile`, `--cdp` and `--restore`", "Start MCP with `agent-browser mcp`, and add profiles such as `--tools core,network` only when needed" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 66.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 48, "schema": 84, "security": 67, "transparency": 68 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install -g agent-browser \u0026\u0026 agent-browser install", "config": { "mcpServers": { "agent-browser": { "args": [ "mcp" ], "command": "agent-browser" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/browser.control", "tool": "https://letme.dev/agent-browser" }, "area": "developer", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Vercel Inc.", "domain": "agent-browser.dev", "domainRegistered": "2026-01-13", "domainNote": "The LICENSE file reads Copyright 2025 Vercel Inc., and the repository sits in the vercel-labs organisation on GitHub. agent-browser.dev has no security.txt (HTTP 404). vercel.com's is valid until 28 September 2027 and names HackerOne.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "No terms or privacy document governs this software beyond the Apache-2.0 licence, so `terms` and `privacy` are left out." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-browser.json" }, "answer": "Anchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "anchor-browser", "name": "Anchor Browser", "vendor": "Anchor Forge Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://anchorbrowser.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "browser", "summary": "Anchor Browser runs cloud browser sessions for AI agents, controlled through a REST API, a CDP WebSocket, TypeScript and Python SDKs and hosted MCP servers. It adds managed logins with MFA, profiles, proxies, CAPTCHA solving and recordings.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anchor-browser.json", "repo": "https://github.com/anchorbrowser/AnchorBrowser-SDK-Typescript", "license": "Proprietary cloud service. No service agreement was found, only a website terms of use. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the self-hosted MCP server are Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.anchorbrowser.io", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "anchorbrowser" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "anchorbrowser" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "API key in the `anchor-api-key` header, created in the dashboard at app.anchorbrowser.io or issued by Agent Access, an unauthenticated puzzle flow that needs no account. The hosted MCP servers also accept OAuth sign-in through signin.anchorbrowser.io, with `mcp:tools` and `mcp:admin` scopes in the resource metadata. CDP connections pass the key as the `apiKey` query parameter on `wss://connect.anchorbrowser.io`. No key scopes, expiry or rotation guidance were found. Teams that enforce Agent Access identity also send `anchor-identity-token`.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "The Free plan has $5 of credits a month, and Agent Access gives an agent 1 credit with no account. Usage is $0.01 a browser created, $0.05 a browser-hour counted to the minute, $8 a GB through Anchor's proxy and $0.20 a GB otherwise. AI steps cost $0.01, $0.05 or $0.10 by model tier from 21 August 2026. Starter is $50 a month and Growth $2,000, with overage at $1 a credit. Enterprise is priced through sales (https://docs.anchorbrowser.io/pricing, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$0.01 / call", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "A blog post dated 29 August 2025 shows x402 payment on POST https://api.anchorbrowser.io/v1/sessions and says it is enabled per project. An unpaid POST on 2026-10-08 returned 401 with no payment terms, and the docs and OpenAPI document describe `x402` only as a session option that lets the browser pay other sites through Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 43004, "pypiWeekly": 10135, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.anchorbrowser.io", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.anchorbrowser.io/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://docs.anchorbrowser.io/openapi.yaml", "capabilities": [ "browser.control", "browser.hosted", "browser.debug", "web.fetch", "web.scrape", "scraping.proxies", "scraping.anti-bot", "pdf.generate" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "freemium", "no-card", "openapi", "llms-txt", "mcp", "oauth", "python", "typescript", "proxies", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-07-28", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.3, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 237, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 8, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 57, "payments": 60, "reliability": 80, "schema": 80, "security": 54, "transparency": 51 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "The API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 document, per-unit prices and Agent Access, an unauthenticated flow that issues a trial API key without a dashboard account. No service agreement is published, only a website terms of use, and the documented CDP connection puts the API key in the URL.", "bestFor": "Agents that must work inside signed-in accounts, with managed identities, MFA handling and a human sign-in link, and agents that need to start with no human signup.", "strengths": [ "Agent Access issues an API key through two unauthenticated calls and a puzzle, with 1 trial credit, or 5 with a verified-email OIDC token", "OpenAPI 3.1 document with 101 paths and 136 operations, llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page", "Per-unit prices published without login, $0.01 a browser, $0.05 a browser-hour and $8 a GB of proxy traffic", "Hosted MCP servers at api.anchorbrowser.io/v1/mcp accept OAuth sign-in or the API key header, with read and write endpoint calls as separate tools", "Managed identities sign in and handle MFA without returning credentials to the agent, and secrets can be limited to matching domains, per the docs" ], "weaknesses": [ "No service agreement or API terms found. anchorbrowser.io/terms is a website terms of use dated 16 March 2025", "The documented CDP connection passes the API key as `apiKey` in the `wss://connect.anchorbrowser.io` URL", "No changelog, deprecation policy or published SLA found, and docs.anchorbrowser.io/changelog returns 404", "The status page lists two components, Website and Anchor Application, and its incident feed has never held an entry", "A 2025 blog post describes x402 payment on `POST /v1/sessions`, but an unpaid request on 8 October 2026 returned 401, not 402" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send the key in the `anchor-api-key` header. For CDP, build `wss://connect.anchorbrowser.io?apiKey=\u003ckey\u003e\u0026sessionId=\u003cid\u003e` and keep that URL out of logs", "Set `session.timeout.idle_timeout` and `max_duration` and end sessions with DELETE. The default maximum is 180 minutes, and browser time bills by the minute", "Session creation is capped at 5 a minute on Free, 25 on Starter and 100 on Growth. On 429, wait for the `Retry-After` seconds", "Connect the `Anchor` MCP server or `Anchor (all)`, not both, because the docs say the pair duplicates tool names", "Authenticated browsers, CAPTCHA solving and proxies by country need the Starter plan or higher. The Free plan and Agent Access keys run plain sessions and web tasks" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 57, "payments": 60, "reliability": 80, "schema": 80, "security": 54, "transparency": 40 }, "provenanceScore": 61 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install anchorbrowser", "http": "curl -X POST https://api.anchorbrowser.io/v1/tools/perform-web-task -H \"anchor-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -d '{\"prompt\":\"Go to example.com and return the page title\",\"url\":\"https://example.com\"}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http anchor https://api.anchorbrowser.io/v1/mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "anchor": { "headers": { "anchor-api-key": "YOUR_ANCHOR_API_KEY" }, "url": "https://api.anchorbrowser.io/v1/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/browser.control", "tool": "https://letme.dev/anchor-browser" }, "area": "developer", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Browser creation", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.01, "note": "Per browser instance created" }, { "item": "Browser usage", "unit": "browser-hour", "usd": 0.05, "note": "Counted to the nearest full minute" }, { "item": "Anchor proxy traffic", "unit": "gb", "usd": 8 }, { "item": "Egress with your own proxy or none", "unit": "gb", "usd": 0.2 }, { "item": "AI step, Light model tier", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.01, "note": "Also the flat rate with your own model key" }, { "item": "AI step, Standard model tier", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.05 }, { "item": "AI step, High Performance model tier", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.1 }, { "item": "Overage credit, Starter and Growth", "unit": "credit", "usd": 1 }, { "item": "Starter plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 50 }, { "item": "Growth plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 2000 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Anchor Forge Inc.", "domain": "anchorbrowser.io", "domainRegistered": "2024-09-18", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://anchorbrowser.io/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.anchorbrowser.io", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The website terms of use (last updated 16 March 2025) and the privacy policy (last updated 24 February 2026) name Anchor Forge Inc. and its affiliates. The terms choose New York law.", "No terms URL is recorded. anchorbrowser.io/terms is a website terms of use that grants personal, non-commercial use of the site, and no service agreement or API terms were found.", "The privacy policy is written for the website and customer contacts and has one product section, on Gmail access for sign-in codes. A DPA is listed in the trust portal behind an access request.", "The API and MCP servers answer at api.anchorbrowser.io, CDP at connect.anchorbrowser.io and OAuth sign-in at signin.anchorbrowser.io.", "anchorbrowser.io/.well-known/security.txt and docs.anchorbrowser.io/.well-known/security.txt both return 404. The trust portal at trust.anchorbrowser.io runs on SafeBase.", "RDAP for anchorbrowser.io gives a registration date of 2024-09-18.", "docs.anchorbrowser.io/changelog returns 404 and no API changelog was found." ], "score": 61 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser.json", "live": { "slug": "anchor-browser", "probe": { "target": "https://api.anchorbrowser.io", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T10:42:35.781139672Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 441, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 391, "p95ms24h": 425, "samples24h": 184, "samples30d": 184, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 70, "ok": 70 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 114, "ok": 114 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.anchorbrowser.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T10:41:25.191181843Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.anchorbrowser.io/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:18:10.688067751Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "d1115f8035fb" }, { "url": "https://anchorbrowser.io/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:09.984357233Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "5503a044040d" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T10:42:35.781139672Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "MCP server", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Vercel Labs", "b": "Anchor Forge Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "https://api.anchorbrowser.io", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "stdio", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Proprietary cloud service. No service agreement was found, only a website terms of use. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the self-hosted MCP server are Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "158", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "2026-07-28", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2026-02-24", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk", "b": "43k npm/wk, 10k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Anchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, agent-browser or Anchor Browser?" }, { "answer": "agent-browser needs no key. Anchor Browser takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do agent-browser and Anchor Browser need an API key?" }, { "answer": "agent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Anchor Browser has a hosted endpoint at https://api.anchorbrowser.io.", "question": "Can an agent call agent-browser and Anchor Browser without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "agent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Anchor Browser.", "question": "Are agent-browser and Anchor Browser open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 78 against 73", "Security \u0026 auth, 67 against 54", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 70 against 57", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 61 against 51" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Runs on your own machine", "Open source" ], "goodFor": "Coding agents with a shell that want short commands and compact snapshots.", "slug": "agent-browser", "watchFor": "The ten most recent CI runs on main, 1 to 8 October 2026, all concluded in failure. In the newest, Windows Rust tests and native end-to-end tests failed" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 48" ], "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Agents that must work inside signed-in accounts, with managed identities, MFA handling and a human sign-in link, and agents that need to start with no human signup.", "slug": "anchor-browser", "watchFor": "No service agreement or API terms found. anchorbrowser.io/terms is a website terms of use dated 16 March 2025" } ], "job": { "capability": "browser.control", "name": "Browser automation" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-airtop.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Airtop", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-airtop" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Browser Use", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserbase.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Browserbase", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserbase" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserless.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Browserless", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserless" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Chrome DevTools MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Hyperbrowser", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-notte.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Notte", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-notte" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-playwright-mcp.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Playwright MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-playwright-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-skyvern.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Skyvern", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-skyvern" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-steel.json", "title": "agent-browser vs Steel", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-steel" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-tinyfish.json", "title": "agent-browser vs TinyFish", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-tinyfish" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-anchor-browser.json", "title": "Airtop vs Anchor Browser", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-anchor-browser" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browser-use.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Browser Use", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browser-use" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserbase.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Browserbase", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserbase" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserless.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Browserless", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserless" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Chrome DevTools MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Hyperbrowser", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-hyperbrowser" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-notte.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Notte", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-notte" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-playwright-mcp.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Playwright MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-playwright-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Skyvern", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-steel.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs Steel", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-steel" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-tinyfish.json", "title": "Anchor Browser vs TinyFish", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-tinyfish" } ], "scores": [ { "agent-browser": 48, "anchor-browser": 80, "by": 32, "edge": "anchor-browser", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "agent-browser": 84, "anchor-browser": 80, "by": 4, "edge": "agent-browser", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "agent-browser": 78, "anchor-browser": 73, "by": 5, "edge": "agent-browser", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "agent-browser": 67, "anchor-browser": 54, "by": 13, "edge": "agent-browser", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "agent-browser": 60, "anchor-browser": 60, "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "agent-browser": 70, "anchor-browser": 57, "by": 13, "edge": "agent-browser", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "agent-browser": 61, "anchor-browser": 51, "by": 10, "edge": "agent-browser", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Anchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do browser automation.", "verdicts": { "agent-browser": "Snapshots with element refs, a 29-tool default MCP profile and opt-in domain allowlists, action policies and content boundary markers suit agent use. The project is at 0.38.2 with no stable release, the ten most recent CI runs on main failed between 1 and 8 October 2026, and every security control is off by default.", "anchor-browser": "The API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 document, per-unit prices and Agent Access, an unauthenticated flow that issues a trial API key without a dashboard account. No service agreement is published, only a website terms of use, and the documented CDP connection puts the API key in the URL." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.min.md" }, "markdown": "Anchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do browser automation.\n\n- agent-browser: grade B, 66.6/100, rank #263 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-browser.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-browser.json\n- Anchor Browser: grade B, 67.3/100, rank #237 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anchor-browser.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### agent-browser (B)\n\nGood for: Coding agents with a shell that want short commands and compact snapshots.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 73\n- Security \u0026 auth, 67 against 54\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 70 against 57\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 61 against 51\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: The ten most recent CI runs on main, 1 to 8 October 2026, all concluded in failure. In the newest, Windows Rust tests and native end-to-end tests failed\n\n### Anchor Browser (B)\n\nGood for: Agents that must work inside signed-in accounts, with managed identities, MFA handling and a human sign-in link, and agents that need to start with no human signup.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 48\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No service agreement or API terms found. anchorbrowser.io/terms is a website terms of use dated 16 March 2025\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | agent-browser | Anchor Browser | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 80 | Anchor Browser +32 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 80 | agent-browser +4 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 73 | agent-browser +5 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 54 | agent-browser +13 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 57 | agent-browser +13 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 51 | agent-browser +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **66.6 · B** | **67.3 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | agent-browser | Anchor Browser |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Vercel Labs | Anchor Forge Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.anchorbrowser.io` |\n| Transports | stdio | HTTP |\n| Auth | None | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Free | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary cloud service. No service agreement was found, only a website terms of use. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the self-hosted MCP server are Apache-2.0 |\n| Tools exposed | 158 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-07-28 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-02-24 |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk | 43k npm/wk, 10k PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**agent-browser.** Snapshots with element refs, a 29-tool default MCP profile and opt-in domain allowlists, action policies and content boundary markers suit agent use. The project is at 0.38.2 with no stable release, the ten most recent CI runs on main failed between 1 and 8 October 2026, and every security control is off by default.\n\n**Anchor Browser.** The API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 document, per-unit prices and Agent Access, an unauthenticated flow that issues a trial API key without a dashboard account. No service agreement is published, only a website terms of use, and the documented CDP connection puts the API key in the URL.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### agent-browser\n\n1. Run `agent-browser install` once after `npm install -g agent-browser`. It downloads Chrome for Testing\n2. Take a fresh `snapshot -i` after any navigation. Refs survive same-document changes only\n3. Pass `--json` for machine-readable results and `--max-output` to cap page text\n4. Set `--allowed-domains`, `--action-policy` and `--content-boundaries` for untrusted sites. None is on by default, and the allowlist rejects `--profile`, `--cdp` and `--restore`\n5. Start MCP with `agent-browser mcp`, and add profiles such as `--tools core,network` only when needed\n\n### Anchor Browser\n\n1. Send the key in the `anchor-api-key` header. For CDP, build `wss://connect.anchorbrowser.io?apiKey=\u003ckey\u003e\u0026sessionId=\u003cid\u003e` and keep that URL out of logs\n2. Set `session.timeout.idle_timeout` and `max_duration` and end sessions with DELETE. The default maximum is 180 minutes, and browser time bills by the minute\n3. Session creation is capped at 5 a minute on Free, 25 on Starter and 100 on Growth. On 429, wait for the `Retry-After` seconds\n4. Connect the `Anchor` MCP server or `Anchor (all)`, not both, because the docs say the pair duplicates tool names\n5. Authenticated browsers, CAPTCHA solving and proxies by country need the Starter plan or higher. The Free plan and Agent Access keys run plain sessions and web tasks\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, agent-browser or Anchor Browser?\n\nAnchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do agent-browser and Anchor Browser need an API key?\n\nagent-browser needs no key. Anchor Browser takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call agent-browser and Anchor Browser without installing anything?\n\nagent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Anchor Browser has a hosted endpoint at https://api.anchorbrowser.io.\n\n### Are agent-browser and Anchor Browser open source?\n\nagent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Anchor Browser.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"agent-browser\", \"b\": \"anchor-browser\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare agent-browser anchor-browser`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-browser.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anchor-browser.json\n\n## Other comparisons with agent-browser or Anchor Browser\n\n- [agent-browser vs Airtop](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-airtop.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Browser Use](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Browserbase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserbase.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Browserless](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserless.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Chrome DevTools MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-notte.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-playwright-mcp.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-skyvern.md)\n- [agent-browser vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-steel.md)\n- [agent-browser vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-tinyfish.md)\n- [Airtop vs Anchor Browser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-anchor-browser.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Browser Use](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browser-use.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Browserbase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserbase.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Browserless](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-browserless.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Chrome DevTools MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-notte.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-playwright-mcp.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-steel.md)\n- [Anchor Browser vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-tinyfish.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "agent-browser vs Anchor Browser", "url": "" } ], "description": "Anchor Browser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.3 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on agent ergonomics, security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do browser automation. Category scores, facts, verdicts…", "facts": [ "agent-browser B 66.6", "Anchor Browser B 67.3", "scores" ], "h1": "agent-browser vs Anchor Browser", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.png", "path": "/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "agent-browser vs Anchor Browser for AI agents, B 66.6 vs B 67.3", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2600, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }