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Head to head · Browser automation · October 2026 research run

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) vs Skyvern

Skyvern scores 63.1 (B) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on payments & pricing. Both do browser automation.

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)Model Context Protocol (archived) · MCP server F30.6/100#568 of 578 SkyvernIkonomos Inc. (Skyvern) · HTTP API B63.1/100#258 of 578

Which one, for what

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) F

Good for Nothing new.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 32

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

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

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 12
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 41
  • Agent ergonomics, 76 against 47
  • Security & auth, 59 against 22
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 0

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • 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

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runPuppeteer (archived MCP reference server)SkyvernEdge
Reliability16%201257Skyvern +45
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24188Skyvern +47
Agent ergonomics13%16.24776Skyvern +29
Security & auth14%17.52259Skyvern +37
Payments & pricing10%12.56032Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) +28
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8085Skyvern +85
Transparency & trust7%8.87572Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) +3
Negative events≤15-4-3
Total30.6 · F63.1 · B

Facts side by side

FactPuppeteer (archived MCP reference server)Skyvern
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorModel Context Protocol (archived)Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern)
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.skyvern.com/v1
TransportsstdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthNoneOAuth or key
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceMITAGPL-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 exposed7114
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern
Last release2025-05-122026-10-01
Terms last updated2021-09-082026-02-27
Privacy policy last updated2023-03-152026-10-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes, with an opt-out
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Popularity294 stars, 25k npm/wk23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews1/5 (2)none

Verdicts

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.

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

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

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, Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) or Skyvern?

Skyvern scores 63.1 (B) on agent readiness against Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server)'s 30.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) leads on payments & pricing.

Do Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) and Skyvern need an API key?

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) needs no key. Skyvern takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Skyvern has a hosted endpoint at https://api.skyvern.com/v1.

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

Yes. Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) is open source (MIT). 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).

Other comparisons with Puppeteer (archived MCP reference server) or Skyvern

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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