# agent-browser vs Hyperbrowser

> Hyperbrowser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 66.9 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do browser automation. Hyperbrowser accepts x402. agent-browser doesn't.…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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

Hyperbrowser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 66.9 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do browser automation. Hyperbrowser 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
- Hyperbrowser: grade B, 66.9/100, rank #250 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hyperbrowser.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hyperbrowser.json

## Which one, for what

### agent-browser (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 68
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 67
- Security & auth, 67 against 44

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

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

### Hyperbrowser (B)

Good for: Agents that need a cloud browser by the minute plus cheap fetch and search, especially wallet-holding agents with no account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 48
- Payments & pricing, 94 against 60
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 70

Also in its favour:
- 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 official MCP server's last npm release is 1.0.25 of 13 April 2025, and it isn't in the official MCP registry


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | agent-browser | Hyperbrowser | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 65 | Hyperbrowser +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 68 | agent-browser +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 67 | agent-browser +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 44 | agent-browser +23 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 94 | Hyperbrowser +34 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 79 | Hyperbrowser +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 64 | Hyperbrowser +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.6 · B** | **66.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | agent-browser | Hyperbrowser |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Vercel Labs | S2 Labs Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.hyperbrowser.ai` |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under S2 Labs' terms of service. The Node and Python SDKs and the MCP server are MIT, and HyperAgent is AGPL-3.0 |
| Tools exposed | 158 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-08 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk | 89k npm/wk, 73k 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.

**Hyperbrowser.** Sessions, Fetch and Search can be bought by x402 at api.hyperbrowser.ai with USDC on Base or Solana and no account, and unit prices are public. The official MCP server was last published in April 2025, no request rate limits or SLA are published, and the privacy notice covers only the website.

## 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

### Hyperbrowser

1. With a wallet and no key, POST to https://api.hyperbrowser.ai/x402/session and read the `PAYMENT-REQUIRED` header. Sessions are prepaid for 5 to 60 minutes with no refund
2. Save the x402 creation response. It holds the only copy of the connection tokens, and `managementToken` is what stops the session
3. Stop sessions explicitly in cleanup code. Browser time bills per second until the timeout
4. Use Fetch at $0.001 a page for static pages and keep browser sessions for pages that need interaction
5. Add `&keepAlive=true` to `wsEndpoint` to reconnect after a CDP disconnect. Treat that URL as a secret because it carries the session token

## Questions

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

Hyperbrowser and agent-browser score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 66.9 (B) and 66.6 (B). agent-browser leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do agent-browser and Hyperbrowser need an API key?

agent-browser needs no key. Hyperbrowser takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. An agent can also pay Hyperbrowser per call over x402, with no account.

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

agent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Hyperbrowser has a hosted endpoint at https://api.hyperbrowser.ai.

### Are agent-browser and Hyperbrowser open source?

agent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Hyperbrowser.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with agent-browser or Hyperbrowser

- [agent-browser vs Airtop](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-airtop.md)
- [agent-browser vs Anchor Browser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-anchor-browser.md)
- [agent-browser vs Browser Use](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browser-use.md)
- [agent-browser vs Browserbase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserbase.md)
- [agent-browser vs Browserless](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-browserless.md)
- [agent-browser vs Chrome DevTools MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.md)
- [agent-browser vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-notte.md)
- [agent-browser vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-playwright-mcp.md)
- [agent-browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [agent-browser vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-skyvern.md)
- [agent-browser vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-steel.md)
- [agent-browser vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-tinyfish.md)
- [Airtop vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [Anchor Browser vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [Browser Use vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [Browserless vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserless-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [Chrome DevTools MCP vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chrome-devtools-mcp-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-notte.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-playwright-mcp.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-skyvern.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-steel.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-tinyfish.md)
- [Browserbase vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-hyperbrowser.md)