# Browser Use vs Skyvern

> Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. Skyvern doesn't. Category scores, facts…

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

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. Skyvern 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
- 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

### 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 57
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 32

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- No incidents deducted, where Skyvern loses 3 points for them

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

### 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:
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 77
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 65

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 | Browser Use | Skyvern | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 87 | 57 | Browser Use +30 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 88 | Skyvern +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 76 | Browser Use +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 59 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 32 | Browser Use +58 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 85 | Skyvern +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 72 | Skyvern +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **77.9 · BB** | **63.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Browser Use | Skyvern |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Browser Use | Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4` | `https://api.skyvern.com/v1` |
| 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 | 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 | 7 | 114 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.browser-use/browser-use` | `io.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern` |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-15 | 2026-02-27 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 117k stars, 107k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk | 23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Browser Use or Skyvern?

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

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

Browser Use needs an API key. Skyvern 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 Skyvern without installing anything?

Yes. Browser Use has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4 and Skyvern at https://api.skyvern.com/v1.

### Are Browser Use and Skyvern open source?

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

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