Browser automation for AI agents
Most of the web has no API. Your agent has to open a page, read it and click. These tools give it a browser. Browserbase, Steel and Browser Use Cloud run browsers for you in the cloud, at scale. Playwright MCP, ego lite and pw-repl run on your own machine, and the last two share the browser you're already signed into. Browser Use also ships the agent loop itself. Pomerado takes the other road: it turns the site into an API, so the agent skips the browser. 7 tools, in the order they appear in the directory. This is not a ranking.
Grouped by job: MCP Servers & Tools · AI Agent Infrastructure
Pomerado
Turns any website, from consumer sites to legacy portals, into a hosted API or MCP server for your agents, faster and more reliable than browser agents; open source and backed by Y Combinator.
ego lite
Free browser for AI agents on macOS, with Windows in beta: Claude Code, Codex or Cursor drive it through the open-source (MIT) ego-browser skill in their own isolated Spaces while you keep browsing, inheriting your Chrome logins and cookies; Linux is on the roadmap.
pw-repl
Open-source (MIT) Playwright REPL that drives Chromium over CDP, in your own browser with its logins or a headless one, shared by you and your AI agents: agents send commands with pw-repl send, every command shows in the REPL, and watch records your manual steps for the agent to read.
Browserbase
Cloud browsers for AI agents: fleets of headless browsers that log in, fill forms and act where there is no API, plus Search and Fetch APIs, CAPTCHA solving, live view and session replay. Drive them with Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium or Browserbase's open-source Stagehand SDK (MIT). Free plan; Developer $20/month.
Browser Use
Open-source (MIT) browser agent: run it from Python with any LLM, give Claude Code or Codex a browser through its CLI skill, or use Browser Use Cloud for stealth browsers with CAPTCHA solving and residential proxies and a hosted agent API. Pay as you go, no subscription: cloud browsers $0.02 an hour, $1 free credit.
Steel
Open-source (Apache-2.0) browser API for AI agents: Steel Browser runs Chrome sessions you drive with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium, keeps cookies and storage across requests, rotates proxies and turns pages into Markdown, screenshots or PDFs. Self-host it with Docker or use Steel Cloud, free to start with $30 of credits.
Playwright MCP
Microsoft's MCP server that lets Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients drive a browser through Playwright's accessibility snapshots instead of screenshots: Chrome, Firefox, WebKit or Edge, headed or headless, or attached to your logged-in browser through an extension. Open source (Apache-2.0) and free.
What it is, where it runs, what it costs.
Straight from each vendor's own pages. Plans move often, so the check date is below.
| Tool | What it is | Runs on | Open source | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pomerado | Skips the browser: turns a site into a hosted API or MCP tool for one task, with sign-in and 2FA handled. | Hosted API and MCP server. | Core harness is MIT on GitHub. The service is hosted. | Free: 100 tool calls a day, 10 new integrations a month. Premium $50/mo. Business on request. |
| ego lite | A Chromium browser you share with your agents. They work in their own Spaces, signed in with your Chrome logins. | macOS, Windows in beta. Any agent that runs shell commands, through the ego-browser skill. | The ego-browser skill is MIT on GitHub. The browser app is a free download. | Free. |
| pw-repl | A Playwright REPL you and your agents both type into. Every command the agent sends shows up in front of you. | Your machine. Node.js 20+, driving your own Chromium-based browser over CDP or a headless one. | Yes, MIT. | Free. |
| Browserbase | Cloud browsers for agents, plus Search and Fetch APIs, CAPTCHA solving, live view and session replay. | Hosted, in US and EU regions. Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium or Stagehand. | Stagehand, its browser agent SDK, is MIT. Browserbase is hosted. | Free: 3 concurrent browsers, 1 browser hour. Developer $20/mo: 100 hours, then $0.12/hr. Startup $99/mo: 500 hours, then $0.10/hr. Scale custom. |
| Browser Use | An agent that does the whole task from a prompt, plus stealth cloud browsers you can drive with your own code. | The Python library on your machine with any LLM, a CLI skill for coding agents, or Browser Use Cloud. On-prem through sales. | Yes, MIT. | Pay as you go, no subscription, $1 free credit. Cloud browsers $0.02/hr plus $5/GB residential proxy. Agent runs: model cost +20% plus browser time. |
| Steel | A browser API: managed Chrome sessions that keep cookies, with proxies, CAPTCHA solving and page-to-Markdown tools. | Steel Cloud, or self-hosted with Docker, Railway or Render. | Steel Browser is Apache-2.0. | Launch $0/mo plus usage, $30 of credits once, $0.10 per browser hour. Scale $250/mo with $100 of credits a month, $0.08/hr. Enterprise custom. |
| Playwright MCP | An MCP server: your agent drives a real browser through Playwright's accessibility snapshots. No vision model needed. | Your machine via npx, or Docker (headless Chromium only). Chrome, Firefox, WebKit or Edge. | Yes, Apache-2.0. | Free. |
Checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Browserbase pricing, Stagehand on GitHub, Browser Use pricing, Browser Use on GitHub, Steel pricing, Steel Browser on GitHub, Playwright MCP on GitHub, ego lite, ego lite on GitHub, pw-repl on GitHub, Pomerado, Pomerado on GitHub.
Pick it if.
- Playwright MCPYour coding agent needs to click through your own app locally, in more than one browser engine, for free.
- ego liteYou want agents working in sites you're already signed into, without them taking over your tabs.
- pw-replYou want to see every command an agent sends to your browser, and type your own in the same place.
- Browser UseYou want an open-source agent that finishes the task on its own, or cloud browsers billed by the minute with no subscription.
- BrowserbaseYou run browser agents in production and want browsers, search, fetch, CAPTCHA solving and session replay from one vendor.
- SteelYou want a hosted browser API today and the option to self-host the same open-source stack later.
- PomeradoYour agent does the same job on the same sites every day, and you'd rather it call an API than click through each time.
Each listing.
The directory page, alternatives in the same category, and a head-to-head where we have one.
- PomeradoAlternatives
- ego liteAlternatives
- pw-replAlternatives
- BrowserbaseAlternatives
- Browser UseAlternatives
- SteelAlternatives
- Playwright MCPAlternatives
Category pages list every tool in that category, including ones left off this page. Built one of these? Get it featured in its category.
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