# Skyvern vs Steel

> Steel scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Steel accepts x402. Skyvern doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/skyvern-vs-steel
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/skyvern-vs-steel.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/skyvern-vs-steel.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/skyvern-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 Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on transparency & trust. Both do browser automation. Steel accepts x402. Skyvern doesn't.

- Skyvern: grade B, 63.1/100, rank #288 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/skyvern.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/skyvern.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

### 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:
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 64

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

### 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:
- Payments & pricing, 75 against 32

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- No incidents deducted, where Skyvern loses 3 points for them

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 | Skyvern | Steel | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 58 | Steel +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 86 | Skyvern +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 79 | Steel +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 56 | Skyvern +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 32 | 75 | Steel +43 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 82 | Skyvern +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 64 | Skyvern +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.1 · B** | **70.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Skyvern | Steel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Ikonomos Inc. (Skyvern) | Nen Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.skyvern.com/v1` | `https://api.steel.dev` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | 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 | 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 |
| Tools exposed | 114 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.Skyvern-AI/skyvern` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-02-27 | 2025-02-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-02-05 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 23k stars, 3.2k npm/wk, 1.6k PyPI/wk | 47k npm/wk, 63k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Skyvern or Steel?

Steel scores 70.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Skyvern's 63.1 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Skyvern leads on transparency & trust.

### Do Skyvern and Steel need an API key?

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

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

Yes. Skyvern has a hosted endpoint at https://api.skyvern.com/v1 and Steel at https://api.steel.dev.

### Are Skyvern and Steel open source?

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

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