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Head to head · Browser automation · October 2026 research run

Browserless vs Playwright MCP

Browserless scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Playwright MCP's 67.6 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Playwright MCP leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation.

Browserlessbrowserless.io, Inc. · HTTP API BB70.4/100#114 of 578 Playwright MCPMicrosoft · MCP server B67.6/100#169 of 578

Which one, for what

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

  • Reliability, 82 against 57
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 70

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

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

Playwright MCP B

Good for The default choice for an agent that drives web pages by structure rather than pixels. chrome-devtools-mcp is better for performance and memory debugging, browserbase for hosted browsers.

Ahead on

  • Agent ergonomics, 84 against 78
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
  • Transparency & trust, 72 against 62

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Open source

Watch for

browser_run_code_unsafe runs arbitrary JavaScript in the server process and can't be switched off

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBrowserlessPlaywright MCPEdge
Reliability16%208257Browserless +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28970Browserless +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.27884Playwright MCP +6
Security & auth14%17.55357Playwright MCP +4
Payments & pricing10%12.54060Playwright MCP +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88284Playwright MCP +2
Transparency & trust7%8.86272Playwright MCP +10
Negative events≤1500
Total70.4 · BB67.6 · B

Facts side by side

FactBrowserlessPlaywright MCP
KindHTTP APIMCP server
Vendorbrowserless.io, Inc.Microsoft
Hosted endpointhttps://production-sfo.browserless.iono (local only)
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdiostdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy)
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceSSPL 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 proprietaryApache-2.0
Tools exposed1472
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesno
MCP registrynot listedio.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp
Last release2026-10-052026-09-28
Terms last updatedno date givenno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno date givenno document linked
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the text
Popularity14k stars, 3.5k npm/wk37k stars, 5.3M npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (2)

Verdicts

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.

Playwright MCP

Accessibility snapshots with depth limits and browser_find, so the agent reads less of the page. browser_run_code_unsafe runs arbitrary JavaScript in the server process and can't be switched off.

Before you call either

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()

Playwright MCP

  1. Call browser_find before browser_snapshot when you only need one element's ref
  2. Pass depth or a target to browser_snapshot on large pages
  3. Run with --isolated for untrusted sites. The default profile persists cookies between runs
  4. Add --caps only for the groups the task needs. Each group adds tools to the schema
  5. Pin a version in npx @playwright/mcp@<version>. 0.0.x releases can rename tools

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Browserless or Playwright MCP?

Browserless scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Playwright MCP's 67.6 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Playwright MCP leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

Do Browserless and Playwright MCP need an API key?

Browserless takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Playwright MCP needs no key.

Can an agent call Browserless and Playwright MCP without installing anything?

Browserless has a hosted endpoint at https://production-sfo.browserless.io. Playwright MCP runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

Are Browserless and Playwright MCP open source?

No open-source release is listed for Browserless. Playwright MCP is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Browserless or Playwright MCP

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