Browserbase vs Steel
Browserbase
browserbase.comSteel
steel.devSide by side
| Figure | Browserbase | Steel |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | $250/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · Headless Browser APIs | 9.0 (#1) | 8.1 (#13) |
| Spec score · Browser Automation Tools | 9.1 (#2) | 8.2 (#21) |
| Compliance | SOC 2, HIPAA | sso saml, HIPAA |
| Deployment | cloud | Steel says its browser runtime is open source under Apache-2.0 and can be run locally or self-hosted with Docker. |
| Integrations | Browserbase lists Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, and Stagehand as supported browser automation frameworks. | Puppeteer, Playwright, Selenium, Python, Node.js, Browser Use, OpenAI Computer Use, Claude Computer Use |
| Key features | Managed cloud Chromium browser sessions · Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, and Stagehand compatibility · Search API for agent web searches · Fetch API for retrieving web content · Persistent sessions, cookies, uploads, and downloads · Proxy configuration and network controls · Session recording, replay, live view, and logs · Hosted Browserbase Functions runtime | Managed cloud browser sessions · Browser automation through Puppeteer, Playwright, and Selenium · Web scraping, screenshots, and PDF generation · Persistent cookies and reusable browser context · Proxy and browser fingerprinting controls · Automatic CAPTCHA solving · Session viewer and replay-based debugging · Authentication and automatic sign-in support |
| Product | Browserbase is a platform for building and deploying agents that browse and interact with the web like humans. | Steel is an open-source browser API that lets developers control fleets of browsers in the cloud for AI agents. |
| Support | The Browserbase MCP page directs users to documentation, its GitHub repository, or [email protected] for help. | Launch and Scale include email and community support, Scale includes a dedicated Slack channel, and Enterprise includes a 911 email and support and uptime SLAs. |
| Support | email, docs | email, community, docs |
| Use cases | The company describes use cases including healthcare insurance checks, financial workflows, real estate operations, HR and payroll tasks, and data extraction. | Steel lists AI agents, model training, AI shopping assistants, web scraping, RPA, sales automation, QA, and customer service agents as use cases. |
Plans
Browserbase
- Free PlanFree
- Free PlanFree
- Developer Plan$20 a month
- Startup Plan$99 a month
- Scale PlanPriced on request
Steel
- LaunchFree
- Scale$250 a month
- LaunchFree
- Scale$250 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Browserbase
Browserbase has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.