# agent-browser vs Browser Use

> Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against agent-browser's 66.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. agent-browser leads on security & auth. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. agent-browser doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and…

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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against agent-browser's 66.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. agent-browser leads on security & auth. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. agent-browser doesn't.

- 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
- Browser Use: grade BB, 77.9/100, rank #17 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/browser-use.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/browser-use.json

## Which one, for what

### agent-browser (B)

Good for: Coding agents with a shell that want short commands and compact snapshots.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 67 against 59

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch 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

### Browser Use (BB)

Good for: An agent that wants to hand a whole browser task to a hosted agent and get a result back, or that needs a low-cost cloud browser over CDP, and for unattended agents that can pay by x402.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 87 against 48
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 60
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 70

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: The privacy policy says inputs are used to train Browser Use's AI models, with no opt-out described outside Enterprise zero data retention


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | agent-browser | Browser Use | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 87 | Browser Use +39 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 85 | Browser Use +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 78 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 59 | agent-browser +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 90 | Browser Use +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 77 | Browser Use +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 65 | Browser Use +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.6 · B** | **77.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | agent-browser | Browser Use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Vercel Labs | Browser Use |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4` |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service |
| Tools exposed | 158 | 7 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.browser-use/browser-use` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-07-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk | 117k stars, 107k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk |

## 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.

**Browser Use.** The hosted cloud accepts x402 top-ups in USDC on Base with no account or API key, and publishes prices, rate limits and three OpenAPI documents. The privacy policy says inputs are used to train Browser Use's models, API keys have no documented scopes, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs.

## Before you call either

### agent-browser

1. Run `agent-browser install` once after `npm install -g agent-browser`. It downloads Chrome for Testing
2. Take a fresh `snapshot -i` after any navigation. Refs survive same-document changes only
3. Pass `--json` for machine-readable results and `--max-output` to cap page text
4. Set `--allowed-domains`, `--action-policy` and `--content-boundaries` for untrusted sites. None is on by default, and the allowlist rejects `--profile`, `--cdp` and `--restore`
5. Start MCP with `agent-browser mcp`, and add profiles such as `--tools core,network` only when needed

### Browser Use

1. Send the key as `X-Browser-Use-API-Key` with no Bearer prefix. A Bearer header returns 401
2. Stop browsers with `PATCH /api/v4/browsers/{id}` and `{"action":"stop"}`. Closing CDP or the SDK client leaves the browser billing
3. Poll `GET /runs/{id}/status`, not the full run, and wait for the returned Retry-After on 429, which can be 300 seconds at the edge
4. Before resubmitting after a timeout, read the existing run's status. The server keeps running and may already have submitted a form
5. With a wallet and no key, call x402.api.browser-use.com on `/api/v2` or `/api/v3` routes. A task stops with INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS if credit runs out mid-run

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, agent-browser or Browser Use?

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against agent-browser's 66.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. agent-browser leads on security & auth.

### Do agent-browser and Browser Use need an API key?

agent-browser needs no key. Browser Use needs an API key. An agent can also pay Browser Use per call over x402, with no account.

### Can an agent call agent-browser and Browser Use without installing anything?

agent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Browser Use has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4.

### Are agent-browser and Browser Use open source?

Yes. agent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). Browser Use is open source (MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "agent-browser", "b": "browser-use"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare agent-browser browser-use`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-browser.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/browser-use.json

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