# Browserbase vs TinyFish

> Browserbase scores 76.2 (BB) on agent readiness against TinyFish's 67.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. TinyFish leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do browser hosted. Browserbase accepts x402. TinyFish doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-tinyfish
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-tinyfish.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-tinyfish.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-tinyfish.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: 2026-10-09

Browserbase scores 76.2 (BB) on agent readiness against TinyFish's 67.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. TinyFish leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do browser hosted. Browserbase accepts x402. TinyFish doesn't.

- Browserbase: grade BB, 76.2/100, rank #36 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/browserbase.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/browserbase.json
- TinyFish: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #227 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tinyfish.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tinyfish.json

## 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 60
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 55
- Maintenance & community, 92 against 80
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 59

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- 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

### TinyFish (B)

Good for: Agents that want one account for a goal-driven web agent, a raw CDP browser, and free search and fetch.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 80
- Security & auth, 57 against 43

Watch for: The terms of 17 August 2026 allow Tiny Fish to train and improve its models on customer data. No opt-out was found in the reviewed pages


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Browserbase | TinyFish | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 60 | Browserbase +30 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 85 | TinyFish +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 79 | TinyFish +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 57 | TinyFish +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 55 | Browserbase +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 92 | 80 | Browserbase +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 59 | Browserbase +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **76.2 · BB** | **67.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Browserbase | TinyFish |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Browserbase | Tiny Fish, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.browserbase.com/v1` | `https://agent.tinyfish.ai` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes | no |
| Licence | MIT (Stagehand) | Proprietary service under Tiny Fish's terms of service. The MCP proxy `@tiny-fish/mcp` and the cookbook are MIT. The SDK packages state no licence in npm or PyPI metadata |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `ai.tinyfish.agent/web-agent` |
| Last release | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-08-01 | 2026-08-17 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-06-01 | 2025-12-14 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 25k stars | 5.7k npm/wk, 6.5k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.4/5 (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.

**TinyFish.** OpenAPI documents are published for five APIs, errors carry typed codes and request IDs, and Search and Fetch are free within daily allowances. The terms let Tiny Fish train its models on customer data, run creation takes no idempotency keys, and the status page shows an hour or more of downtime on several days for the Browser and Search APIs.

## 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

### TinyFish

1. Check `result` as well as `status`. A run can be `COMPLETED` while the goal failed, with `result.status` set to `failure`
2. Don't retry `POST /v1/automation/run` blindly after a timeout. There are no idempotency keys, so list runs first to avoid duplicates
3. Use `/v1/automation/run-async` or `/run-sse` when a run may need cancelling. Runs started with the synchronous endpoint can't be cancelled
4. Allow 60 seconds for Browser session creation, connect Playwright to `cdp_url` (not `base_url`), and `DELETE` the session when done because billing is per minute
5. Never put passwords in `goal`, which is logged. Pass `use_vault: true` with `credential_item_ids`, or `use_profile: true` for saved login state

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Browserbase or TinyFish?

Browserbase scores 76.2 (BB) on agent readiness against TinyFish's 67.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. TinyFish leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.

### Do Browserbase and TinyFish need an API key?

Browserbase needs an API key. TinyFish 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 TinyFish without installing anything?

Yes. Browserbase has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browserbase.com/v1 and TinyFish at https://agent.tinyfish.ai.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Browserbase or TinyFish

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