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Head to head · Browser automation · October 2026 research run

Browserless vs Skyvern

Browserless scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do browser automation.

Browserlessbrowserless.io, Inc. · HTTP API BB70.4/100#114 of 578 SkyvernIkonomos Inc. (Skyvern) · HTTP API B63.1/100#258 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
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 32

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • No incidents deducted, where Skyvern loses 3 points for them

Watch for

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

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

  • Security & auth, 59 against 53
  • Transparency & trust, 72 against 62

Also in its favour

  • Open source

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

CategoryWeight this runBrowserlessSkyvernEdge
Reliability16%208257Browserless +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28988Browserless +1
Agent ergonomics13%16.27876Browserless +2
Security & auth14%17.55359Skyvern +6
Payments & pricing10%12.54032Browserless +8
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88285Skyvern +3
Transparency & trust7%8.86272Skyvern +10
Negative events≤150-3
Total70.4 · BB63.1 · B

Facts side by side

FactBrowserlessSkyvern
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
Vendorbrowserless.io, Inc.Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern)
Hosted endpointhttps://production-sfo.browserless.iohttps://api.skyvern.com/v1
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
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 proprietaryAGPL-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 exposed14114
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern
Last release2026-10-052026-10-01
Terms last updatedno date given2026-02-27
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-10-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes, with an opt-out
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Popularity14k stars, 3.5k npm/wk23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/wk

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.

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

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()

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, Browserless or Skyvern?

Browserless scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

Do Browserless and Skyvern need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Browserless and Skyvern without installing anything?

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

Are Browserless and Skyvern open source?

No open-source release is listed for Browserless. 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).

Other comparisons with Browserless or Skyvern

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