# Anchor Browser vs Skyvern

> Anchor Browser scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Category scores, facts…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern.min.md (~830 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-skyvern.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: 2026-10-08

Anchor Browser scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation.

- Anchor Browser: grade B, 67.3/100, rank #196 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anchor-browser.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anchor-browser.json
- Skyvern: grade B, 63.1/100, rank #288 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/skyvern.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/skyvern.json

## Which one, for what

### Anchor Browser (B)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 57
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 32

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Skyvern loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No service agreement or API terms found. anchorbrowser.io/terms is a website terms of use dated 16 March 2025

### Skyvern (B)

Good for: Agents that must finish a multi-step job on sites with logins, 2FA and forms, where stored credentials, saved workflows and cached scripts matter more than raw browser time.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 80
- Security & auth, 59 against 54
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 57
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 51

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source

Watch for: Every API key and OAuth token has full organisation authority. The docs state there are no read-only, per-endpoint or per-resource keys


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Anchor Browser | Skyvern | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 57 | Anchor Browser +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 88 | Skyvern +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 76 | Skyvern +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 59 | Skyvern +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 32 | Anchor Browser +28 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 85 | Skyvern +28 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 72 | Skyvern +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **67.3 · B** | **63.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Anchor Browser | Skyvern |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Anchor Forge Inc. | Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.anchorbrowser.io` | `https://api.skyvern.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | AGPL-3.0 for the open-source server, SDKs and MCP server. Skyvern Cloud is a proprietary service under Skyvern's terms, and its anti-bot measures aren't in the repository |
| Tools exposed | none | 114 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern` |
| Last release | 2026-07-28 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-02-27 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-02-24 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes, with an opt-out |
| 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 |  | yes |
| Popularity | 43k npm/wk, 10k PyPI/wk | 23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Skyvern.** The hosted MCP server annotates every tool as read-only or destructive and can advertise a 29 or 32-tool subset in place of 114, and the API has a written six-month deprecation policy. Every key and OAuth token carries full organisation authority, with no read-only or scoped credential, and no request rate limits are documented.

## Before you call either

### Anchor Browser

1. Send the key in the `anchor-api-key` header. For CDP, build `wss://connect.anchorbrowser.io?apiKey=<key>&sessionId=<id>` and keep that URL out of logs
2. 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
3. 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
4. Connect the `Anchor` MCP server or `Anchor (all)`, not both, because the docs say the pair duplicates tool names
5. 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

### Skyvern

1. Connect to https://api.skyvern.com/mcp/x/lean or /x/operate, or send `X-Skyvern-Scope`, so the client loads 32 or 29 tools. The scope filters the list and does not limit permissions
2. Use a separate Skyvern organisation for each blast radius. Any key or OAuth token can read and write stored credentials and delete workflows
3. Never pass passwords to `skyvern_act` or `skyvern_type`. Store them as credentials and call `skyvern_login`
4. Set `max_steps` on tasks, or `x-max-steps-override` on agent runs, to cap credits. A run that reaches the cap ends as `timed_out`
5. On 503 from POST /v1/run/agents, wait `Retry-After` seconds. No run was created, so resubmitting is safe

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Anchor Browser or Skyvern?

Anchor Browser scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Anchor Browser and Skyvern need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Anchor Browser and Skyvern without installing anything?

Yes. Anchor Browser has a hosted endpoint at https://api.anchorbrowser.io and Skyvern at https://api.skyvern.com/v1.

### Are Anchor Browser and Skyvern open source?

No open-source release is listed for Anchor Browser. Skyvern is open source (AGPL-3.0 for the open-source server, SDKs and MCP server. Skyvern Cloud is a proprietary service under Skyvern's terms, and its anti-bot measures aren't in the repository).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Anchor Browser or Skyvern

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