# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-steel
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-steel.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-steel.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-steel.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

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.

- Hyperbrowser: grade B, 66.9/100, rank #205 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hyperbrowser.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hyperbrowser.json
- Steel: grade BB, 70.4/100, rank #129 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/steel.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/steel.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Hyperbrowser | Steel | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 58 | Hyperbrowser +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 86 | Steel +18 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 79 | Steel +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 56 | Steel +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 94 | 75 | Hyperbrowser +19 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 82 | Steel +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 64 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.9 · B** | **70.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Hyperbrowser | Steel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | S2 Labs Inc. | Nen Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.hyperbrowser.ai` | `https://api.steel.dev` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | Proprietary service under S2 Labs' terms of service. The Node and Python SDKs and the MCP server are MIT, and HyperAgent is AGPL-3.0 | 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 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2025-02-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-02-05 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 89k npm/wk, 73k PyPI/wk | 47k 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).


## For agents

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

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