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Head to head · Browser automation · October 2026 research run

Hyperbrowser vs Steel

Steel scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Hyperbrowser's 66.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Hyperbrowser leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do browser automation.

HyperbrowserS2 Labs Inc. · HTTP API B66.9/100#183 of 578 SteelNen Labs, Inc. · HTTP API BB70.4/100#115 of 578

Which one, for what

Hyperbrowser B

Good for Agents that need a cloud browser by the minute plus cheap fetch and search, especially wallet-holding agents with no account.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 58
  • Payments & pricing, 94 against 75

Watch for

The official MCP server's last npm release is 1.0.25 of 13 April 2025, and it isn't in the official MCP registry

Steel BB

Good for Agents that need a real cloud browser with persistent profiles, stored logins, CAPTCHA solving and a human takeover path, and teams that want an open-source runtime they can also self-host.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 86 against 68
  • Agent ergonomics, 79 against 67
  • Security & auth, 56 against 44

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Open source

Watch for

Three incidents of more than an hour hit the API or session creation in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, the longest 5 hours 41 minutes

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runHyperbrowserSteelEdge
Reliability16%206558Hyperbrowser +7
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26886Steel +18
Agent ergonomics13%16.26779Steel +12
Security & auth14%17.54456Steel +12
Payments & pricing10%12.59475Hyperbrowser +19
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87982Steel +3
Transparency & trust7%8.86464even
Negative events≤1500
Total66.9 · B70.4 · BB

Facts side by side

FactHyperbrowserSteel
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorS2 Labs Inc.Nen Labs, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.hyperbrowser.aihttps://api.steel.dev
TransportsHTTP, stdioHTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402yesyes, from $0.01/call
LicenceProprietary service under S2 Labs' terms of service. The Node and Python SDKs and the MCP server are MIT, and HyperAgent is AGPL-3.0Proprietary cloud service under Steel's terms. steel-browser and the Node and Python SDKs are Apache-2.0. The MCP server and the CLI are MIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-082026-10-02
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2025-02-05
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read2026-02-05
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readyes
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readyes
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readyes
Popularity89k npm/wk, 73k PyPI/wk47k npm/wk, 63k PyPI/wk

Verdicts

Hyperbrowser

Sessions, Fetch and Search can be bought by x402 at api.hyperbrowser.ai with USDC on Base or Solana and no account, and unit prices are public. The official MCP server was last published in April 2025, no request rate limits or SLA are published, and the privacy notice covers only the website.

Steel

The hosted API has a public OpenAPI document, per-unit prices, $30 of starting credit and x402 payment for scrape, screenshot and PDF calls. The status page records three API or session-creation incidents of more than an hour in 90 days, and the documented CDP connection puts the API key in the URL.

Before you call either

Hyperbrowser

  1. With a wallet and no key, POST to https://api.hyperbrowser.ai/x402/session and read the PAYMENT-REQUIRED header. Sessions are prepaid for 5 to 60 minutes with no refund
  2. Save the x402 creation response. It holds the only copy of the connection tokens, and managementToken is what stops the session
  3. Stop sessions explicitly in cleanup code. Browser time bills per second until the timeout
  4. Use Fetch at $0.001 a page for static pages and keep browser sessions for pages that need interaction
  5. Add &keepAlive=true to wsEndpoint to reconnect after a CDP disconnect. Treat that URL as a secret because it carries the session token

Steel

  1. Use POST /v1/scrape for pages you only need to read. It starts no session and costs $5 per 1,000 calls, or $0.01 a call by x402
  2. Release every session with POST /v1/sessions/{id}/release and set inactivityTimeout. Browser time bills by the minute, rounded up
  3. Build the CDP URL as wss://connect.steel.dev?apiKey=<key>&sessionId=<id> and keep it out of logs, because it carries the key
  4. Launch sessions end after 15 minutes at most, and timeout cannot be changed on a live session
  5. CAPTCHA solving and Steel's managed proxies on Launch need $10 of paid balance. Free credit does not count

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Hyperbrowser or Steel?

Steel scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Hyperbrowser's 66.9 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Hyperbrowser leads on reliability and payments & pricing.

Do Hyperbrowser and Steel need an API key?

Hyperbrowser takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Steel needs an API key. An agent can also pay Hyperbrowser per call over x402, with no account. An agent can also pay Steel per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call Hyperbrowser and Steel without installing anything?

Yes. Hyperbrowser has a hosted endpoint at https://api.hyperbrowser.ai and Steel at https://api.steel.dev.

Are Hyperbrowser and Steel open source?

No open-source release is listed for Hyperbrowser. Steel is open source (Proprietary cloud service under Steel's terms. steel-browser and the Node and Python SDKs are Apache-2.0. The MCP server and the CLI are MIT).

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