Compare / Head to head
Browserbase vs Browserless: which headless browser cloud should you use?
Facts and prices checked on each vendor's official site on October 28, 2026.
Quick verdict
Pick Browserless if you want the option to self-host (Docker image, free for non-commercial use, commercial license on Enterprise), need Chrome, WebKit and Firefox, or want ready-made REST APIs for screenshots, PDFs, scraping and Lighthouse audits. Captcha solving is included even on its free plan. Pick Browserbase if you're building AI browser agents with Stagehand and want plans that bundle browser hours with Agent runs and Search and Fetch APIs, and you don't need on-prem.
Comparison table
| Tool | Pricing | Free tier | Best for | Hosting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABrowserbase | Free $0; Developer $20/mo (100 browser hours, then $0.12/hr); Startup $99/mo (500 hours, then $0.10/hr); Scale custom | Yes — 1 browser hour, 3 concurrent browsers, 15-minute sessions, 3 Agent runs | Production headless-browser infrastructure with Stagehand | Cloud (Browserbase); no on-prem | Visit ↗ |
| BBrowserless | Free $0; Prototyping $25/mo, Starter $140/mo, Scale $350/mo (billed annually); Enterprise custom | Yes — 1k units/month, 2 concurrent browsers, 2-minute sessions | Puppeteer/Playwright in the cloud, BrowserQL, screenshot/PDF and scraping APIs | Cloud (San Francisco, London, Amsterdam) or self-host with Docker | Visit ↗ |
Pricing checked on each vendor's official site on October 28, 2026. Prices change often — always confirm on the official site. "See site" means we couldn't verify it.
Pricing compared: browser hours vs units
Browserbase bills browser hours. Browserless bills units, where one unit is up to 30 seconds of browser time per connection, and every reconnect starts a fresh unit. A continuous one-hour session is therefore 120 units. Many short connections each cost at least one unit.
Our math at overage rates: Browserless works out to about $0.24 per browser hour on Prototyping ($0.0020/unit), $0.20 on Starter ($0.0017) and $0.18 on Scale ($0.0015). Browserbase's overage is $0.12/hour on Developer and $0.10/hour on Startup. Browserless's listed plan prices are for annual billing. Monthly billing costs more, so see vendor pricing.
| Browserbase | Browserless | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Browser hours | Units: up to 30 seconds of browser time per connection |
| Free plan | 1 browser hour, 3 concurrent browsers, 15-minute sessions | 1k units/month, 2 concurrent browsers, 2-minute sessions |
| Entry paid plan | Developer $20/mo: 100 hours, 25 concurrent browsers | Prototyping $25/mo (billed annually): 20k units, 10 concurrent, 15-minute sessions |
| Mid plan | Startup $99/mo: 500 hours, 100 concurrent | Starter $140/mo (billed annually): 180k units, 40 concurrent, 30-minute sessions |
| Top self-serve plan | Scale: custom, 250+ concurrent | Scale $350/mo (billed annually): 500k units, 100 concurrent, 60-minute sessions |
| Overage | $0.12/hr (Developer), $0.10/hr (Startup) | $0.0020/unit (Prototyping), $0.0017 (Starter), $0.0015 (Scale) |
| Proxies | 1 GB on Developer then $12/GB; 5 GB on Startup then $10/GB | Residential 6 units/MB, datacenter 2 units/MB |
| Captcha solving | Developer plan and up | All plans, 10 units per successful solve |
| Self-hosting | No on-prem; private cloud and VPC options for large enterprises | Yes: Docker, free for non-commercial use; commercial license on Enterprise |
| Compliance | SOC 2; HIPAA BAA and DPA on Scale | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA BAA and DPA available |
Prices from browserbase.com/pricing and browserless.io/pricing, checked October 28, 2026. Per-hour figures are our own arithmetic.
MCP servers: Browserbase MCP vs Browserless MCP
Browserbase MCP is hosted at https://mcp.browserbase.com/mcp, or you can run it locally with npx @browserbasehq/mcp. It is built on Stagehand and gives your assistant browser primitives: start, navigate, act, observe, extract and end.
Browserless MCP is hosted at https://mcp.browserless.io/mcp and supports OAuth sign-in, so you don't have to paste a token into clients that support OAuth. It exposes 14 tools. browserless_agent is a stateful browser your assistant can drive across turns. Eight stateless tools cover smart scraping, custom Puppeteer functions, page export to HTML, PDF or image, search, site mapping, crawling and Lighthouse audits, plus on-demand agent skills. Five read-only tools report on your account. The npm package @browserless.io/mcp can point at a self-hosted Browserless instance.
When to pick which
- You must run browsers inside your own infrastructure → Browserless (self-hosted Docker or Enterprise private deployment).
- You build AI agents with Stagehand's act, extract and observe primitives → Browserbase.
- You need Firefox or WebKit, not just Chrome → Browserless.
- You mostly need screenshots, PDFs or scraping over plain HTTP → Browserless REST APIs or BrowserQL.
- You want long sessions with predictable hourly billing → Browserbase (Browserless caps free sessions at 2 minutes and Prototyping at 15).
- You want web search and page fetch APIs bundled with your browsers → Browserbase.
Who should pick which?
Pick Browserbase if…
AI agent teams who want managed browser fleets, the Stagehand SDK, session recordings and bundled Search/Fetch APIs without running infrastructure.
Try Browserbase ↗Pick Browserless if…
Teams with existing Puppeteer or Playwright scripts, anyone who needs self-hosting or multiple browser engines, and scraping or PDF workloads.
Try Browserless ↗FAQ
Is Browserless cheaper than Browserbase?
On entry plans it depends on how long your sessions run. Browserless Prototyping is $25/month billed annually for 20k units (a unit is up to 30 seconds per connection), while Browserbase Developer is $20/month for 100 browser hours. At overage rates Browserbase's $0.10–$0.12 per hour is lower than Browserless's roughly $0.18–$0.24 per hour (our math from its per-unit prices).
Is Browserless open source?
The Browserless repository on GitHub lets you deploy headless browsers in Docker and is free for non-commercial use. Commercial self-hosting requires a license, which is part of the Enterprise plan.
What is a Browserless unit?
A unit is a block of browser time of up to 30 seconds per browser connection. Longer sessions use an extra unit every 30 seconds, and reconnects count as new connections. Residential proxy traffic costs 6 units per MB, datacenter proxy traffic 2 units per MB, and each successful captcha solve 10 units.
Does Browserless have an MCP server?
Yes. The hosted server is at https://mcp.browserless.io/mcp with OAuth or API-token auth. You can also run @browserless.io/mcp locally with npx.
Can I self-host Browserbase?
No. Browserbase is cloud-first and doesn't offer on-prem deployment. It offers private cloud options and VPC connectivity for large enterprise customers.
Which frameworks do they support?
Browserbase supports Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium and Stagehand. Browserless supports Puppeteer and Playwright over WebSocket, plus BrowserQL, its BAP SDK for TypeScript and Python, and REST APIs.