Browserbase ranks #4 of 12 in our web scraping apis testing. the best real browser to hand an agent, billed by the hour.
77/100
the strongest agent-browser product here, with captcha solving and stealth included from the entry tier — and a time-based bill that makes a fixed page count impossible to forecast.
why people look for an alternative
−billed by browser-hour, so a fixed page count has no predictable price
−proxy data at $12/GB is the most expensive here
−no self-hosting — cloud only, private cloud is enterprise-gated
−the per-call Fetch api is not confirmed to render javascript
stay with Browserbase if Stagehand is the most mature agent-driving layer in the category is the thing you care about most — nothing below beats it on that.
#2 in web scraping apis · cheapest verified price per thousand, with a failure guarantee that has a cliff
80/100
verdictthe cheapest thousand pages we could actually verify, with itemised per-feature credits — undercut by anti-bot handling that can silently raise the price of a call.
Scrapfly vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Scrapfly
price
$20 / month on Developer
$30 / month on Discovery
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
~$0.90
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
6 credits per js request
concurrency
25 on developer
5 on discovery
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forhigh-volume html scraping where you want the lowest verified unit cost
pros
+about $0.90 per 1,000 js pages — cheapest verified in the category
+per-feature credit costs itemised in the documentation
+failed scrapes are not billed under normal failure rates
+free plan with 1,000 credits
cons
−the failure guarantee switches off above a 30% hourly failure rate
−anti-bot handling can upgrade the proxy pool and raise the real cost
−5 concurrent requests on the entry plan
−no mcp server or self-host option we could confirm
#3 in web scraping apis · pay per successful record, everything bundled, concurrency uncapped
79/100
verdictthe most complete bundle in the category with a genuine pay-only-for-success guarantee and no concurrency ceiling — sold through a pricing surface that hides its own plan prices behind a slider.
Bright Data vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Bright Data
price
$20 / month on Developer
$1.50 / 1,000 records pay-as-you-go
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
$1.50
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
per successful record
concurrency
25 on developer
unlimited
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forproduction scraping at volume where unlimited concurrency matters more than the last cent
#5 in web scraping apis · the clearest js surcharge in the category, stated in dollars
75/100
verdictthe most legible pricing table of the proxy vendors — a flat $1.35 per thousand rendered results regardless of target — held back by a hard requests-per-second ceiling.
Oxylabs vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Oxylabs
price
$20 / month on Developer
$49 / month on Micro
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
$1.35
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
per successful result
concurrency
25 on developer
50 requests/sec
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forbuyers who want the javascript premium stated as a price rather than a multiplier
pros
+javascript surcharge printed as a flat $1.35/1,000, independent of target
+billed per successful result, with rendered and non-rendered split out
+proxies and captcha handling included as standard
+soc 2 type 2 and gdpr posture stated on the product page
cons
−concurrency capped as a 50 requests/second rate limit, not parallel threads
−residential bandwidth priced on a separate page from the scraper api
#6 in web scraping apis · flat multipliers, cheapest entry plan, and 404s count as wins
73/100
verdictthe cheapest entry plan here with multipliers simple enough to do in your head — as long as your targets never push you onto the 75-credit stealth tier.
ScrapingBee vs Browserbase
Browserbase
ScrapingBee
price
$20 / month on Developer
$19.99 / month on Hobby
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
$1.33
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
5 credits per js request
concurrency
25 on developer
25 on hobby
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forsmall teams who want a predictable bill and a cheap way in
pros
+cheapest entry plan in the ranking at $19.99/month
+four flat credit multipliers, simple enough to forecast mentally
+25 concurrent requests on the entry plan
+1,000 free credits, no card required
cons
−404 and 410 responses are billed as successful requests
−stealth tier costs 75 credits a call — 15x the ordinary rendered rate
−no confirmable mcp server, self-host option or captcha documentation
#7 in web scraping apis · the agent browser you can actually run yourself
71/100
verdictthe only genuinely self-hostable browser platform here, Apache-2.0 and running in docker — with every resource drawing from one credit pool that makes forecasting a modelling exercise.
Steel vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Steel
price
$20 / month on Developer
$0.10 / browser-hour pay-as-you-go
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
agent browser sessions
1k js pages
not per-page priced
not per-page priced
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
$0.10 / browser-hour
concurrency
25 on developer
10 free, 100 on scale
self-host
no — cloud only
yes — Apache-2.0
switch forteams who want agent browser infrastructure without a vendor dependency
pros
+Apache-2.0 and self-hostable via docker — the permissive open option here
+7,521 github stars and actively developed
+no monthly minimum on the pay-as-you-go tier, billed by the minute
+$30 of free credits to start
cons
−browser hours, proxy, captcha and tool calls all meter from one pool
−captcha solving is marketed as built-in but billed per solve
−$250/month is a steep jump to the first flat plan
−no per-page price exists, so budgeting means benchmarking
#8 in web scraping apis · a marketplace of ready-made scrapers, priced in ram-hours
69/100
verdictthe largest library of pre-built scrapers in the category and a first-class mcp server — sold in a compute unit that makes the cost of a page unknowable until after you run it.
Apify vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Apify
price
$20 / month on Developer
$29 / month on Starter
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
scraper marketplace
1k js pages
not per-page priced
not derivable
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
1 cu = 1gb ram-hour
concurrency
25 on developer
unpublished on starter
self-host
no — cloud only
mcp server only
switch forgetting a working scraper for a specific site today instead of building one
pros
+thousands of pre-built Actors for specific sites, ready to run
+official mcp server, open source, that lets agents discover and run Actors
+Crawlee is Apache-2.0 with 25,453 stars
+$5 of free platform credit every month
cons
−compute-unit billing means no derivable per-page cost
−Actor rental prices stack on top of platform compute
−residential proxy at $8/GB is the priciest here
−concurrency on the entry paid tier is not published
#9 in web scraping apis · every rate itemised on the pricing page, and nothing behind it
66/100
verdictthe most transparently itemised pricing of the browser-session vendors — attached to a company with no visible open-source presence or agent integration.
Hyperbrowser vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Hyperbrowser
price
$20 / month on Developer
$30 / month on Startup
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
agent browser sessions
1k js pages
not per-page priced
not per-page priced
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
$0.10 / browser-hour
concurrency
25 on developer
25 on startup
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forteams who want browser sessions with residential proxy bundled and the arithmetic spelled out
#10 in web scraping apis · no commitment, no overage penalty, and a sixteenfold price range
64/100
verdictgenuinely fair terms — no minimum, no overage penalty, $5 to try it — wrapped around a price that varies sixteenfold on a tier assignment you do not control.
Zyte vs Browserbase
Browserbase
Zyte
price
$20 / month on Developer
$1.01 / 1,000 rendered pages at the Simple tier
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
$1.01 to $16.08
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
per 1k, by site tier
concurrency
25 on developer
not published
self-host
no — cloud only
none published
switch forscraping simple targets where you can confirm your sites fall in the cheap bands
pros
+no minimum commitment and no overage penalty, stated explicitly
+$1.01 per 1,000 at the Simple tier is the cheapest rendered rate here
+$5 free credit with thirty days to use it
+stands behind Scrapy, BSD-3-Clause with 63,982 stars
cons
−rendered pricing spans 16x across five tiers you do not control
−the $0.06 headline figure requires three separate qualifiers to reach
−concurrency, failure-billing and compliance terms are unpublished
#11 in web scraping apis · the most detailed credit table here, on the priciest thousand pages
60/100
verdictthe most granular published cost table in the category, attached to the highest verified price per thousand and a free tier its own two pages describe differently.
ScraperAPI vs Browserbase
Browserbase
ScraperAPI
price
$20 / month on Developer
$49 / month on Hobby
free tier
yes
yes
type
agent browser sessions
proxy + scraping infrastructure
1k js pages
not per-page priced
$4.90
billing unit
$0.12 / browser-hour
10 credits per js request
concurrency
25 on developer
20 threads on hobby
self-host
no — cloud only
no
switch fortargets on its named-domain list where the documented multipliers are worth the premium
pros
+the most complete published credit-multiplier table in the category
+named per-domain and per-anti-bot costs stated as whole numbers
+official mcp server for prompt-driven scraping
+20 concurrent threads on the entry plan
cons
−about $4.90 per 1,000 rendered pages — the highest verified rate here
−its marketing page and its docs describe different free tiers
−404 responses are billed as successful requests
−no self-host option and no published overage rate
every tool on this page went through the same test as Browserbase — same tasks, same order, scored the same way. the comparison tables are the figures from that testing, not vendor spec sheets.