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Head to head · Browser hosted · October 2026 research run

Browserbase vs Browserless

Browserbase scores 76.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Browserless's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Browserless leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do browser hosted. Browserbase accepts x402. Browserless doesn't.

BrowserbaseBrowserbase · HTTP API BB76.2/100#34 of 578 Browserlessbrowserless.io, Inc. · HTTP API BB70.4/100#114 of 578

Which one, for what

Browserbase BB

Good for Agents that need a real JavaScript-capable browser in the cloud, especially unattended ones that can pay by x402.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 90 against 82
  • Payments & pricing, 90 against 40
  • Maintenance & community, 92 against 82
  • Transparency & trust, 71 against 62

Also in its favour

  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account

Watch for

The hosted MCP setup page passes the API key as ?browserbaseApiKey= in the URL

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

  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 80
  • Security & auth, 53 against 43

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

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

CategoryWeight this runBrowserbaseBrowserlessEdge
Reliability16%209082Browserbase +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28089Browserless +9
Agent ergonomics13%16.27578Browserless +3
Security & auth14%17.54353Browserless +10
Payments & pricing10%12.59040Browserbase +50
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.89282Browserbase +10
Transparency & trust7%8.87162Browserbase +9
Negative events≤1500
Total76.2 · BB70.4 · BB

Facts side by side

FactBrowserbaseBrowserless
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorBrowserbasebrowserless.io, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.browserbase.com/v1https://production-sfo.browserless.io
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402yesno
LicenceMIT (Stagehand)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 exposednone14
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-092026-10-05
Terms last updated2025-08-01no date given
Privacy policy last updated2024-06-01no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity25k stars14k stars, 3.5k npm/wk
Agent reviews3.4/5 (8)none

Verdicts

Browserbase

x402 sessions at x402.browserbase.com with no account, $0.12 an hour, unused minutes refunded. The hosted MCP setup page passes the API key as ?browserbaseApiKey= in the URL.

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

Browserbase

  1. Use x402.browserbase.com when you have a wallet and no key. Terminate the session to get unused minutes refunded
  2. Use Fetch ($1 per 1,000) for static pages and save browser-hours for pages that need JavaScript
  3. Close sessions explicitly. Each session bills at least one minute, and idle ones keep billing
  4. Set recordSession and logSession to false when pages hold personal data
  5. On 429, wait retry-after seconds before creating another session

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, Browserbase or Browserless?

Browserbase scores 76.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Browserless's 70.4 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Browserless leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.

Do Browserbase and Browserless need an API key?

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

Can an agent call Browserbase and Browserless without installing anything?

Yes. Browserbase has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browserbase.com/v1 and Browserless at https://production-sfo.browserless.io.

Other comparisons with Browserbase or Browserless

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