# agent-browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

> agent-browser scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Category scores, facts…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.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

agent-browser scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust. Both do browser automation.

- 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
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server): grade F, 30.6/100, rank #832 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.json

## Which one, for what

### agent-browser (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 48 against 12
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 41
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 47
- Security & auth, 67 against 22
- Maintenance & community, 70 against 0

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) loses 4 points for them

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

### Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (F)

Good for: Nothing new.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 75 against 61

Watch for: Archived on 29 May 2025 with no security guarantees, and deprecated on npm


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | agent-browser | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 12 | agent-browser +36 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 41 | agent-browser +43 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 47 | agent-browser +31 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 22 | agent-browser +45 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 0 | agent-browser +70 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 75 | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **66.6 · B** | **30.6 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | agent-browser | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | MCP server |
| Vendor | Vercel Labs | Model Context Protocol (archived) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | stdio |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 158 | 7 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2025-05-12 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2021-09-08 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2023-03-15 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk | 294 stars, 25k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 1/5 (2) |

## 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.

**Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server).** Seven tools in about 700 tokens, every input with a `required` list. Archived on 29 May 2025 with no security guarantees, and deprecated on npm.

## 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

### Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

1. Don't install it for new work. playwright-mcp covers the same tasks with snapshots and annotations
2. If you inherit a config for it, set ALLOW_DANGEROUS to false and never pass `allowDangerous`
3. Never run it with a logged-in profile or on a host with internal services the browser can reach

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, agent-browser or Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)?

agent-browser scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust.

### Do agent-browser and Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) need an API key?

Neither needs a key.

### Can an agent call agent-browser and Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) without installing anything?

agent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

### Are agent-browser and Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) open source?

Yes. agent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with agent-browser or Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

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

## Disclosure

- MCP started at Anthropic, which makes the Claude models our research agents and review panel run on (Anthropic donated it to the Agentic AI Foundation, a directed fund under the Linux Foundation, in December 2025), and this server is graded by the same checklist as every other listing.