# Chrome DevTools MCP vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)

> Chrome DevTools MCP has a score of 77.1 (BB) against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.8 (F). Both do browser automation. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 93 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

Chrome DevTools MCP has a score of 77.1 (BB) against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.8 (F). Both do browser automation. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 93 points.

- Chrome DevTools MCP: grade BB, 77.1/100, rank #22 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/chrome-devtools-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/chrome-devtools-mcp.json
- Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server): grade F, 30.8/100, rank #443 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/puppeteer-reference-server-archived.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Chrome DevTools MCP for reliability (+71), schema & documentation (+46), agent ergonomics (+36), security & auth (+41), maintenance & community (+93), transparency & trust (+5).

Pick Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Chrome DevTools MCP | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 12 | Chrome DevTools MCP +71 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 41 | Chrome DevTools MCP +46 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 47 | Chrome DevTools MCP +36 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 22 | Chrome DevTools MCP +41 |
| 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) | 93 | 0 | Chrome DevTools MCP +93 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 77 | Chrome DevTools MCP +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -1 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **77.1 · BB** | **30.8 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Chrome DevTools MCP | Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | MCP server |
| Vendor | Google (Chrome DevTools team) | Model Context Protocol (archived) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | stdio |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 59 | 7 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2025-05-12 |
| Popularity | 49k stars, 1.5M npm/wk | 294 stars, 25k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (8) | 1/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Chrome DevTools MCP.** Performance traces, network inspection, heap snapshots and Lighthouse audits in one server. Usage statistics go to Google by default until you pass `--no-usage-statistics`.

**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

### Chrome DevTools MCP

1. Pass `pageId` on every page tool. Call `list_pages` first to get it
2. Start with `--slim` for plain browsing, or turn off categories you don't need
3. Run with `--isolated` for untrusted sites. The default profile persists between runs
4. Use `filePath` on large outputs such as traces and snapshots to keep them out of context
5. Add `--no-usage-statistics` if the operator hasn't agreed to Google telemetry

### 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

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

- [Browserbase vs Chrome DevTools MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-chrome-devtools-mcp.md)
- [Browserbase vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/browserbase-vs-puppeteer-reference-server-archived.md)
- [Chrome DevTools MCP vs Playwright MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chrome-devtools-mcp-vs-playwright-mcp.md)
- [Playwright MCP vs Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playwright-mcp-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.