# BxPlaywright vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

> BxPlaywright scores 55 (C) to Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.8 (F) for browser automation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md (~5,550 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-01

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) shut down on 2025-05-29. BxPlaywright scores 55 (C) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.8 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust. Both do browser automation.

- BxPlaywright: grade C, 55/100, rank #816 of 1260. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bx-playwright.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bx-playwright.json
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server): grade F, 30.8/100, rank retired, not ranked. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.json
- Best browser automation tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/browser/index.md
- All 210 browser comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser/index.md

## Which one, for what

### BxPlaywright (C)

Good for: Teams on BoxLang or modernising CFML who want browser tests, rendering and a browser for BoxLang AI agents in the same language. Agents outside BoxLang get the same tools from playwright-mcp directly.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 41 against 12
- Schema & documentation, 66 against 41
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 47
- Security & auth, 43 against 22
- Maintenance & community, 53 against 0

Also in its favour:
- Still running. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) has shut down
- No incidents deducted, where Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) loses 4 points for them

Watch for: No stable release on 1 November 2026. ForgeBox has only 1.0.0-snapshot, though Ortus announced 1.0 as generally available on 13 October

### Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (F)

Good for: Nothing new. It shut down on 2025-05-29.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 70

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Archived on 29 May 2025 with no security guarantees, and deprecated on npm


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: BxPlaywright +53

- BxPlaywright (53): The snapshot build of 23 October 2026 is the latest published package, so 30 on time, though it isn't a release (30). No tagged releases or dated changelog entries in the 90 days, only one version rebuilt (0 of 20). 39 pull requests merged by Luis Majano between 30 September and 23 October. Issue replies couldn't be read and bugs go to Jira (10 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry, and the ForgeBox package has no stable version (5 of 15). Playwright for Java 1.63.0, Dependabot for Gradle monthly and Actions quarterly, a daily test run and a format check (8 of 10). 30+0+10+5+8 = 53.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (0): Last release 2025.5.12 on 12 May 2025 (0). No releases in the last 90 days (0). Archived on 29 May 2025 and read-only (0). Not in the official MCP registry (0). Pinned to MCP SDK 1.0.1 and an unsupported Puppeteer major (0).

### Reliability: BxPlaywright +29

- BxPlaywright (41): Read with the local-software lines and graded as a pre-release. Official package on ForgeBox with BoxLang 1.17.0 or later, Java 21 and the supported platforms stated, but the only version is 1.0.0-snapshot, rebuilt from the development branch on 23 October 2026, with no binary hash on the entry (14 of 20). tests.yml runs 24 test files on Ubuntu and Windows with JDK 21, real-browser tests on Linux and a test of the full distribution, on pull requests, pushes to development and daily. Whether runs pass wasn't read, since WebFetch refused GitHub (15 of 25). Issues weren't readable for the same reason, bugs go to Ortus's Jira, and the repository is a month old, so there's no record to read (5 of 25). Keep a Changelog with semantic versioning stated and a written public contract, but nothing has been released under it and the changelog reads only [Unreleased] (7 of 15). Ortus announced 1.0 as generally available on 13 October, but no 1.0.0 build or tag exists, so it isn't 1.0 for this line (0 of 15). 14+15+5+7+0 = 41.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (12): Archived and superseded, so we scored what's left as a local stdio package. @modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer 2025.5.12 still installs from npm, deprecated there with a generic message, and no runtime is stated (10). No tests and no CI for it in the archive (0). The repository has been read-only since 29 May 2025, so nobody can file or fix a crash, and console logs collect in an array that never empties (0). A date version and no changelog (2). Never 1.0 and never declared stable (0).

### Schema & documentation: BxPlaywright +25

- BxPlaywright (66): Library reading. BoxLang is dynamically typed. The public API is listed in the docs' integrations page, `help()` and `bxplaywright help --json` describe it at run time, and the ten agent tools describe each argument in a sentence, with no published API reference (14 of 25). llms.txt with a Markdown copy of each of 18 docs pages (10). The AI page says when to use `aiTools()`, the registry or MCP, and when to turn registration off. Tool descriptions are one line each (13 of 20). Every agent-tool argument is a string, with no enums or limits; library options are checked, and InvalidOption lists the valid values (9 of 15). An errors page lists each error type with when it happens and the fix, eight runnable examples sit in the repository, and the docs have code on every page (13 of 15). Keep a Changelog and docs versioning on release, but no released version and no tags yet (7 of 15). 14+10+13+9+13+7 = 66.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (41): Seven tools with JSON Schema inputs and `required` lists on every one, but `launchOptions` is a free-form object (20). The README is Markdown on GitHub, no llms.txt (5). Descriptions are three to nine words, "Navigate to a URL", "Execute JavaScript in the browser console", with no when-to-use guidance (4). No enums or constraints. Selectors and scripts are free strings (6). The README shows `launchOptions` examples, and failures come back as `isError` text such as "Script execution failed" (6). No versioning or changelog beyond the date version (0).

### Security & auth: BxPlaywright +21

- BxPlaywright (43): Library reading, as puppeteer and playwright-mcp were. No credential to leak and nothing to scope, so the middle band (20 of 30). Nothing is restricted by default. `browser_visit` takes any URL with no allow-list, `browser_screenshot` writes to any path the model passes, and the tools are added to bx-ai's global registry unless `registerAiTools` is false, so an agent given every registered tool gets a browser. Over MCP it starts Microsoft's server, which limits file access to workspace roots, and Ortus's plugin starts it with `--headless` but without `--isolated`, with `browser_run_code_unsafe` and `browser_evaluate` in the default set. HTTPS errors are not ignored by default (6 of 20). Page snapshots and text go to the model unfenced, and the docs give no prompt-injection guidance (0 of 15). Screenshot, trace and video policies, `show-trace`, and interception points such as onPageCreate and onPlaywrightArtifact give the operator a record, all off by default (10 of 15). CONTRIBUTING.md asks for reports to security@ortussolutions.com and the Slack #security channel; SECURITY.md points there. No security.txt (410, per the boxlang-ai check of the same day), no bounty, no advisories. Node.js downloads are checked against the release's SHA-256 list (7 of 20). 20+6+0+10+7 = 43.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (22): No credentials to leak and nothing to scope, so the middle band (20). The guard against dangerous Chrome flags such as `--no-sandbox` is switched off by `allowDangerous: true` in the `puppeteer_navigate` arguments, so the model or a page that steers it can lift it. The Docker mode always launches with `--no-sandbox --single-process --no-zygote`, and `puppeteer_evaluate` runs any script (2). Page content and console output reach the model unmarked, with no injection guidance. The README's only caution is that the browser can reach local files and internal addresses (0). No call log (0). The archive README says "NO SECURITY GUARANTEES", and the pinned Puppeteer ^23.4.0 is itself deprecated on npm as "< 24.15.0 is no longer supported" (0).

### Agent ergonomics: BxPlaywright +16

- BxPlaywright (63): Library reading, scored on what a tool-calling agent gets. Ten compact in-process tools for BoxLang AI, with nothing to load until a tool is used (25 for ten or fewer), less 5 because every action tool returns the whole page's AI snapshot. Through MCP an agent gets Playwright's 24 default tools (20 of 25). The agent tools have no depth, selector or size limit, and `browser_text` returns the whole page. `snapshot( selector )` exists in the library but not in the tools (8 of 20). Errors come back to the agent as text in the form `Error [type]: message Fix: detail`, and the error types are documented (16 of 20). Assertions retry until they pass. The in-process tools carry no read-only or destructive hints, and bx-ai doesn't read them; over MCP the annotations are Microsoft's (8 of 20). Works with defaults (headless Chromium, 1280 by 720) and profiles, but in one language, BoxLang, with the MCP route for any other client (11 of 15). 20+8+16+8+11 = 63.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (47): Seven compact tools, about 700 tokens in total (25). No snapshot or text extraction, so the agent works from screenshots and `puppeteer_evaluate`. Screenshot `width` and `height` are the only size controls (4). Errors return as tool results with the browser's message (10). No annotations at all (0). One or two required parameters per tool, Node only (8).

### Transparency & trust: Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) +7

- BxPlaywright (70): Apache-2.0, OSI approved, in box.json and src/main/resources/LICENSE (30). Local software with no data statement for the module. The source contacts only nodejs.org, Playwright's browser downloads and the pages it is told to open, and Ortus's privacy policy covers its website and customers (15 of 30). The integrations page says a minor release only adds and removals wait for a major release, listed in the changelog. Nothing has been released under it, and the module was renamed from `playwright` to `bxplaywright` on 12 October before any release (10 of 20). No telemetry found in the source and no statement either way in the docs, scored as boxlang-ai was (10 of 20). 30+15+10+10 = 65.
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) (77): MIT, an OSI licence (30). Local software that keeps screenshots and console logs in memory and talks only to the pages it opens (20). The GitHub banner dates the archive to 29 May 2025 and the archive README says no security updates will follow. Neither the archive, the main repository's Archived list nor the npm deprecation message names a successor, where the Brave and Slack entries do (10). No telemetry (20).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | BxPlaywright | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 41 | 12 | BxPlaywright +29 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 41 | BxPlaywright +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 47 | BxPlaywright +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 22 | BxPlaywright +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 0 | BxPlaywright +53 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 77 | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **55 · C** | **30.8 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | BxPlaywright | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | MCP server |
| Vendor | Ortus Solutions | Model Context Protocol (archived) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | stdio |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 7 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2025-05-12 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2021-09-08 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2023-03-15 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 294 stars, 25k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 1/5 (2) |

## How the scores have moved

### BxPlaywright

No score change since it was listed.

### Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.2 on 8 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**BxPlaywright.** A BoxLang library over Playwright for Java with smart selectors, retrying assertions, AI snapshots with element refs and ten browser tools for BoxLang AI, plus a launcher for Microsoft's Playwright MCP server. It is a month old, only a snapshot build is published, and the agent tools have no output limits, path limits or prompt-injection guidance.

**Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server).** Seven tools in about 700 tokens, every input with a `required` list. Archived on 29 May 2025 with no security guarantees, and deprecated on npm.

## Before you call either

### BxPlaywright

1. Expect snapshot builds. Only 1.0.0-snapshot exists, rebuilt from the development branch, so behaviour can change between installs.
2. Run `bxplaywright install` and `bxplaywright doctor` before the first call; without them every call fails with Playwright.NotInstalled.
3. Pass `--headless` and `--isolated` to `bxplaywright mcp`. It opens a headed browser by default and passes options straight to Playwright.
4. Set `registerAiTools: false` and use `playwright().aiTools()` when only some agents should get a browser.
5. Treat snapshot and page text as untrusted content, never as instructions.

### Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

1. Don't install it for new work. playwright-mcp covers the same tasks with snapshots and annotations
2. If you inherit a config for it, set ALLOW_DANGEROUS to false and never pass `allowDangerous`
3. Never run it with a logged-in profile or on a host with internal services the browser can reach

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, BxPlaywright or Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)?

BxPlaywright scores 55 (C) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.8 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust.

### Can an agent call BxPlaywright and Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for BxPlaywright. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

### Are BxPlaywright and Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) open source?

Yes. BxPlaywright is open source (Apache-2.0). Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with BxPlaywright or Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

- [agent-browser vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [agent-browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Airtop vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [Airtop vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtop-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Anchor Browser vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [Anchor Browser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anchor-browser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Browser Use vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [Browser Use vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browser-use-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Browserbase vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [Browserbase vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Browserless vs BxPlaywright](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserless-vs-bx-playwright.md)
- [Browserless vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserless-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Chrome DevTools MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Functionize MCP server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-functionize-mcp.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Hyperbrowser](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-hyperbrowser.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Kane CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-kane-cli.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Lightpanda](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-lightpanda.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Notte](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-notte.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-playwright-mcp.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Pomerado](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-pomerado.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Puppeteer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-puppeteer.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Selenium](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-selenium.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-skyvern.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-steel.md)
- [BxPlaywright vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-tinyfish.md)
- [Chrome DevTools MCP vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chrome-devtools-mcp-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Functionize MCP server vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/functionize-mcp-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Hyperbrowser vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Kane CLI vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kane-cli-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Lightpanda vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lightpanda-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Notte vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/notte-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Playwright MCP vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playwright-mcp-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Pomerado vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pomerado-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) vs Selenium](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/puppeteer-reference-server-archived-vs-selenium.md)
- [Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) vs Skyvern](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/puppeteer-reference-server-archived-vs-skyvern.md)
- [Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) vs Steel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/puppeteer-reference-server-archived-vs-steel.md)
- [Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) vs TinyFish](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/puppeteer-reference-server-archived-vs-tinyfish.md)
- [Puppeteer vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/puppeteer-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)

## Disclosure

- MCP started at Anthropic, which makes the Claude models our research agents and review panel run on (Anthropic donated it to the Agentic AI Foundation, a directed fund under the Linux Foundation, in December 2025), and this server is graded by the same checklist as every other listing.

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp