# BxPlaywright vs Skyvern

> Skyvern scores 63.3 (B) to BxPlaywright's 55 (C) for browser automation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-skyvern
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-skyvern.md (~5,950 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

Skyvern scores 63.3 (B) on agent readiness against BxPlaywright's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. BxPlaywright leads on payments & pricing. 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
- Skyvern: grade B, 63.3/100, rank #456 of 1260. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/skyvern.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/skyvern.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:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 32

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- No incidents deducted, where Skyvern loses 3 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

### 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:
- Reliability, 57 against 41
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 66
- Agent ergonomics, 76 against 63
- Security & auth, 59 against 43
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 53

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

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


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: Skyvern +32

- 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.
- Skyvern (85): Version 1.0.55 on PyPI and npm on 1 October 2026, seven days before this check (30). Twelve weekly changelog entries since 13 July 2026, and PyPI releases 1.0.47, 1.0.48 and 1.0.55 in the same period (20). The repository had 200 commits between 16 September and 7 October and 48 open issues, several opened in the last fortnight. GitHub didn't show us the replies, and an issue of 8 September 2026 asks whether anyone watches the private advisory queue, so we scored this below full (14). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern, active, but the entry is version 1.0.23 from 13 March 2026 and lists only the API-key header (13). CI runs pre-commit hooks, a migration check, pytest and pip smoke tests on Python 3.11 and 3.13, with a locked dependency file. We couldn't read whether the default branch passes (8).

### Payments & pricing: BxPlaywright +28

- BxPlaywright (60): Free, self-hosted, nothing to buy, so 20 + 20 + 20. The BoxLang runtime's paid plans aren't needed for this module. No payment protocol (0). 60 in all.
- Skyvern (32): No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, llms.txt or pricing page (0). Plan prices are public with credit allowances, Free 5,000 credits once, Hobby $29 for 30,000 a month, Pro $149 for 150,000, Enterprise custom. The price of extra credits isn't published, and the pages disagree on what a credit buys, one credit an action in the billing docs against about 170 or about 200 actions for 5,000 credits (12). The Free plan needs no card, per the pricing page (20). Signup is a browser flow, including `skyvern signup` from the CLI, so a person has to create the account (0). The open-source server is free to run under AGPL-3.0 with your own model keys, and we scored the hosted service because that is what the MCP and API docs point agents to.

### Schema & documentation: Skyvern +22

- 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.
- Skyvern (88): OpenAPI 3.1.0 at /docs/api-reference/openapi.json with 94 operations on 71 paths and 261 schemas, and MCP tools with typed parameters (25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page (10). The MCP server ships a routing table that says which tool to use for each kind of job, what each costs in model calls and what not to use it for, and tool docstrings repeat it. Many REST operations have one-line descriptions such as "Run a task" (16). Inputs are typed with enums and ranges, such as `limit` 1 to 500 on the audit export, but `skyvern_workflow_create` takes the whole definition as a JSON or YAML string and the spec marks `x-api-key` as optional on every operation (11). Code samples in Python, TypeScript and cURL and a full error-handling guide, while 422 is the only error documented on most operations, with 404 on 31 of 94 and 429 on two (11). `/v1` path versioning with a written compatibility policy and a weekly dated changelog (15).

### Reliability: Skyvern +16

- 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.
- Skyvern (57): Graded as a hosted service, Skyvern Cloud at api.skyvern.com. status.skyvern.com is a Statuspage site with three components (API, web application, async workers), 90-day uptime bars and an incident feed back to March 2025 (20). The feed has one incident in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, marked major by Skyvern, on 6 August, when an upstream model provider rejected requests and task and workflow runs failed at elevated rates from about 21:20 UTC to 22:30, roughly 70 minutes. A 29-minute run of 503s on 3 July falls just outside the window (10). The pricing page gives concurrent runs per plan (1, 10, 25, 100) and API responses carry `ratelimit-policy: "submit-run";q=50;w=60`, but we found no documented request limits (8). The OpenAPI document describes 503 with `Retry-After` on run submission and 429 on two recipe endpoints, and the SDKs retry network errors and 5xx with backoff. `Idempotency-Key` exists only on POST /v1/agents, so retried run submissions rely on the 503 saying no run was created (9). The pricing FAQ mentions custom SLAs for Enterprise and nothing is published (0). `/v1` is declared stable (10).

### Security & auth: Skyvern +16

- 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.
- Skyvern (59): An organisation-wide API key in the `x-api-key` header, revocable and rotated from Settings, or OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, dynamic client registration and rotating single-use refresh tokens. The docs say plainly that OAuth scopes are identity claims and that there are no read-only, per-endpoint or per-resource credentials, so we scored plain revocable keys. No secret travels in a URL (20). MCP tool scopes are documented as a usability filter and not a permission boundary. Separate organisations are the only isolation, Human Interaction blocks are listed for Enterprise, and `skyvern_act` rejects prompts that contain passwords (6). Web pages are untrusted content. Stored credentials reach the browser directly and appear to the model as placeholders, the May 2026 changelog records sanitising of page content in prompt templates, and one tool description says page content is data, not instructions. We found no guidance page on prompt injection (8). GET /v1/audit-events/export returns organisation audit events for a default 90 days as JSON or CSV, and each run keeps a recording, screenshots, an action timeline and a HAR file (14). The site claims SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA on Enterprise, with a trust centre that didn't render for us. SECURITY.md routes reports to GitHub private advisories and its supported-versions table still says 0.1.x. No security.txt and no bug bounty found. The webhook page warns that its verifier examples before August 2026 accepted any signature of the right length (11).

### Agent ergonomics: Skyvern +13

- 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.
- Skyvern (76): The full MCP surface is 114 tools by the docs' count (5). Scopes cut that to 29 (`operate`), 32 (`lean`), 54 (`browser`) or 60 (`build`) through a URL such as /mcp/x/lean or the `X-Skyvern-Scope` header, and page reads are size-capped and selector-scoped (9, so 14). List endpoints take `page` and `page_size`, with `status`, `search_key`, tag and date filters, and `max_steps` bounds a run (17). MCP results return codes such as SELECTOR_NOT_FOUND and SESSION_EXPIRED with a hint, runs report `status`, `failure_reason` and a caller-defined `error_code_mapping`, and the SDKs raise typed errors. HTTP error bodies are mostly unspecified (16). Every tool has readOnlyHint, destructiveHint and openWorldHint annotations, 117 registrations in the 1.0.55 source. `Idempotency-Key` covers agent creation only, not run submission (14). A task needs only a prompt, and official SDKs exist for Python and TypeScript (15).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | BxPlaywright | Skyvern | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 41 | 57 | Skyvern +16 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 88 | Skyvern +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 76 | Skyvern +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 59 | Skyvern +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 32 | BxPlaywright +28 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 85 | Skyvern +32 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 74 | Skyvern +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **55 · C** | **63.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | BxPlaywright | Skyvern |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Ortus Solutions | Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.skyvern.com/v1` |
| Transports |  | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | 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 |
| Tools exposed | none | 114 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern` |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-02-27 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes, with an opt-out |
| 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 | yes |
| Popularity | none | 23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

## How the scores have moved

### BxPlaywright

No score change since it was listed.

### Skyvern

- +0.1 on 28 October 2026: new evidence
- +0.1 on 27 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.

**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

### 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.

### 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, BxPlaywright or Skyvern?

Skyvern scores 63.3 (B) on agent readiness against BxPlaywright's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. BxPlaywright leads on payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call BxPlaywright and Skyvern without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for BxPlaywright. Skyvern has a hosted endpoint at https://api.skyvern.com/v1.

### Are BxPlaywright and Skyvern open source?

Yes. BxPlaywright is open source (Apache-2.0). 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).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with BxPlaywright or Skyvern

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

---

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