COMPARISON
Browserbase vs Steel.
Both rent your agents a browser in the cloud, billed by the browser hour. Browserbase is the larger managed platform, with its Stagehand framework and the most built around it. Steel is open source, so you can run it yourself, and it costs a little less per hour. If your agent needs more than a browser, or you’d rather use a computer you own, there’s a third option.
Updated
At a glance
| Browserbase | Steel | ibara | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the agent gets | A cloud browser | A cloud or self-hosted browser | A whole desktop on a computer you own, browser included |
| Where it runs | Browserbase’s cloud | Steel’s cloud, or your own servers | Your own computers, on your network |
| Free start | 1 browser hour, 3 at once | $30 one-time credit, 10 at once | Free software |
| Entry paid plan | Developer: $20 a month, 100 hours, then $0.12 an hour | Pay as you go: $0.10 an hour | No plan; you supply the hardware |
| Longest session, free plan | 15 minutes | 15 minutes | No limit |
| Source | Proprietary service; Stagehand is MIT | Apache-2.0 | MIT core and plugin |
| Watch and step in | Live view, replays | Human takeover, recordings | Watch, take control, hand back |
From each vendor’s own pages, checked 15 October 2026. Prices change; check before you buy.
What each one is
Browserbase runs browsers in the cloud for AI agents and automation. Around them it sells search, fetch, functions and sandboxes, and it maintains Stagehand, an open-source framework for browser agents. It says it serves 35 million browser sessions a month across 10,000 customers.
Steel is an open-source browser API for agents. You can use its cloud or run the same browser yourself with Docker, and it publishes guides for driving it with Claude, OpenAI and Gemini computer use, Browser Use and Stagehand.
Pricing
Browserbase’s Developer plan is $20 a month with 100 browser hours, then $0.12 an hour, up to 25 browsers at once. Startup is $99 a month with 500 hours, then $0.10 an hour, up to 100 at once. Proxy traffic is billed separately: 1 GB included on Developer, then $12 a GB.
Steel’s Launch plan has no monthly fee: a $30 one-time credit, then $0.10 a browser hour, up to 10 at once. Scale is $250 a month plus $0.08 an hour, up to 100 at once.
At 100 browser hours a month, that’s $20 on Browserbase’s Developer plan and $10 on Steel’s Launch plan once its credit is used up. Steel is cheaper by the hour at every tier; Browserbase includes more around the browser for the money.
Open source and hosting
This is the clearest difference. Steel’s browser is Apache-2.0 and runs on your own servers, so you can keep sessions inside your own network and avoid per-hour billing entirely, at the cost of running it. Browserbase is a hosted service only; its open-source piece is Stagehand, the agent framework, which also works with other browsers.
Sessions and features
Both save logins between sessions (Browserbase calls them contexts, Steel calls them profiles), solve captchas, offer proxies and record sessions. Browserbase adds Verified agent identity, several regions and an MCP server. Steel lets a person take over a session from its viewer. Session limits differ: Browserbase’s free sessions stop at 15 minutes; Steel’s run to 15 minutes on Launch, an hour on Scale and up to 24 hours on Enterprise.
Which to choose
- Choose Browserbase if you want the most complete managed platform, with Stagehand, observability and services around the browser, and you’re happy for it to live in Browserbase’s cloud.
- Choose Steel if you want open source, the option to self-host, or the lowest hourly rate at volume.
- Choose either when you need many short-lived browsers at once, started in seconds. That’s what both are built for.
A third option: a computer you own
Both services give your agent a browser in a data center, billed while it runs. ibara, computer use built for Omarchy, takes a different route: it gives the agent you already use (Claude Code, Codex or any agent that can use MCP tools) the desktop of a computer you own. The agent gets a real browser on your home or office connection, plus every app on that computer, and its logins and files stay there between tasks.
- More than a browser. The agent can open a desktop app, move a file or check the interface it built.
- No hourly bill. The software is free and open source. A spare mini PC is enough.
- Your connection. Websites see your home or office connection, not a data center address.
- You choose who’s driving. Watch the screen, take control and hand it back.
ibara isn’t built for hundreds of short-lived browsers at once: each agent works on its own computer, so you scale by adding computers. It’s built for Omarchy and runs nowhere else. For bursty, high-volume browsing, Browserbase or Steel is the better fit. Real computers vs cloud covers that trade in full.
Install ibara · Take over the demo
Sources
All checked 15 October 2026. ibara.app publishes this page; ibara is the third option.
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