# Browser Use vs Steel

> Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Steel's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Steel leads on maintenance & community. Both do browser automation. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-steel
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-steel.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-steel.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-steel.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 Steel's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Steel leads on maintenance & community. Both do browser automation.

- 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
- Steel: grade BB, 70.4/100, rank #129 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/steel.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/steel.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 58
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 75

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

### Steel (BB)

Good for: Agents that need a real cloud browser with persistent profiles, stored logins, CAPTCHA solving and a human takeover path, and teams that want an open-source runtime they can also self-host.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 77

Watch for: Three incidents of more than an hour hit the API or session creation in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, the longest 5 hours 41 minutes


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Browser Use | Steel | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 87 | 58 | Browser Use +29 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 86 | Steel +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 79 | Steel +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 56 | Browser Use +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 75 | Browser Use +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 82 | Steel +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 64 | Browser Use +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **77.9 · BB** | **70.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Browser Use | Steel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Browser Use | Nen Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4` | `https://api.steel.dev` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | yes | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service | Proprietary cloud service under Steel's terms. steel-browser and the Node and Python SDKs are Apache-2.0. The MCP server and the CLI are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 7 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.browser-use/browser-use` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-15 | 2025-02-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-02-05 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 117k stars, 107k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk | 47k npm/wk, 63k 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.

**Steel.** The hosted API has a public OpenAPI document, per-unit prices, $30 of starting credit and x402 payment for scrape, screenshot and PDF calls. The status page records three API or session-creation incidents of more than an hour in 90 days, and the documented CDP connection puts the API key in the URL.

## 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

### Steel

1. Use `POST /v1/scrape` for pages you only need to read. It starts no session and costs $5 per 1,000 calls, or $0.01 a call by x402
2. Release every session with `POST /v1/sessions/{id}/release` and set `inactivityTimeout`. Browser time bills by the minute, rounded up
3. Build the CDP URL as `wss://connect.steel.dev?apiKey=<key>&sessionId=<id>` and keep it out of logs, because it carries the key
4. Launch sessions end after 15 minutes at most, and `timeout` cannot be changed on a live session
5. CAPTCHA solving and Steel's managed proxies on Launch need $10 of paid balance. Free credit does not count

## Questions

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

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

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

Both need an API key. An agent can also pay Browser Use per call over x402, with no account. An agent can also pay Steel per call over x402, with no account.

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

Yes. Browser Use has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4 and Steel at https://api.steel.dev.

### Are Browser Use and Steel 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). Steel is open source (Proprietary cloud service under Steel's terms. steel-browser and the Node and Python SDKs are Apache-2.0. The MCP server and the CLI are MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Browser Use or Steel

- [Airtop vs Browser Use](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-browser-use.md)
- [Airtop vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-steel.md)
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- [Anchor Browser vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-steel.md)
- [Browser Use vs Browserbase](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-browserbase.md)
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- [Browser Use vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-notte.md)
- [Browser Use vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-playwright-mcp.md)
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- [Browser Use vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-skyvern.md)
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- [Playwright MCP vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playwright-mcp-vs-steel.md)
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