# Browser Use vs Browserless

> Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Browserless's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Browserless leads on maintenance & community. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. Browserless doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and…

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- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-browserless.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

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Browserless's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Browserless leads on maintenance & community. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. Browserless doesn't.

- Browser Use: grade BB, 77.9/100, rank #16 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/browser-use.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/browser-use.json
- Browserless: grade BB, 70.4/100, rank #128 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/browserless.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/browserless.json

## Which one, for what

### 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 82
- Security & auth, 59 against 53
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 40

Also in its favour:
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- Open source

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

### Browserless (BB)

Good for: Agents that need a real browser in the cloud with stealth, proxies and CAPTCHA solving, and teams that want the option of running the same server themselves.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 77

Watch for: REST and WebSocket routes take the API token as `?token=` in the URL, which the docs give as the standard method


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Browser Use | Browserless | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 87 | 82 | Browser Use +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 89 | Browserless +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 78 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 53 | Browser Use +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 40 | Browser Use +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 82 | Browserless +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 62 | Browser Use +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **77.9 · BB** | **70.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Browser Use | Browserless |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Browser Use | browserless.io, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4` | `https://production-sfo.browserless.io` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | yes | no |
| Licence | MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service | SSPL 1.0 or a commercial licence for the core server and the MCP server. The BAP TypeScript SDK is MIT. BrowserQL, stealth and other cloud additions are proprietary |
| Tools exposed | 7 | 14 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.browser-use/browser-use` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-15 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 117k stars, 107k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk | 14k stars, 3.5k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Browserless.** An OpenAPI document, llms.txt and a 14-tool MCP server with annotations on every tool make the service easy for an agent to read, and the free plan needs no card. The API token travels in the URL query string by default, cloud tokens carry no scopes, and no machine payment route exists.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Browserless

1. Send the token as `Authorization: Bearer` to the MCP server. On REST and WebSocket routes it goes in `?token=`, so keep those URLs out of logs
2. Close sessions as soon as the work is done. Browser time bills one unit per 30 seconds, rounded up, idle or not
3. For multi-step work with `browserless_agent`, set `keepSessionAlive: true` on the first call and pass the returned `sessionId` after that. Sessions are one-shot by default since server 1.33.0
4. On 429, back off and retry. It means the plan's concurrency limit or queue is full, usually from sessions left open
5. Match the path to the protocol. Use `/chromium` for CDP clients and `/chromium/playwright` only for `playwright.connect()`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Browser Use or Browserless?

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Browserless's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Browserless leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Browser Use and Browserless need an API key?

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

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

Yes. Browser Use has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4 and Browserless at https://production-sfo.browserless.io.

### Are Browser Use and Browserless open source?

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). No open-source release is listed for Browserless.


## For agents

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

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