Anchor Browser vs Browserbase (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Browserbase grades higher than Anchor Browser: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Browserbase grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Anchor Browser
Cloud browsers and authentication for computer-use agents
Browserbase
Cloud browsers and APIs for agents that use the web
Which one is for you
Pick Anchor Browser if
- Fits if your agents must stay logged in to sites that have no API
- Works for teams that want a browser task kept as repeatable code
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 5 credits a month and 5 concurrent browsers
- Pricey if you need the full stealth browser, which sits on the $2,000 a month Growth plan
- Skip it if you want to host browsers yourself, as that is Enterprise only
- Watch out: the pricing page's structured data lists a $20 Starter and 25 free browsers, which contradicts the visible cards
- Watch out: past included credits every paid plan charges $1.00 a credit
Pick Browserbase if
- Fits if you run browser agents in code and need hosted browsers
- Works for a developer who wants sessions observed and replayed
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on Free: 1 browser hour, 15-minute sessions and 7-day retention
- Watch out: usage past the allowance is billed at the plan's rate, so the bill grows with hours and proxies
- Not for you if you need on-prem, which the FAQ says it does not offer
- Skip it if you need HIPAA or SSO on a self-serve plan
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAAnchor BrowserWeak | 2.2GPABrowserbaseFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $50 a month, the start of the category's dearer quarter, with extra credits at $1.00 each. Team is $500. | CDeveloper is $20 a month for 25 concurrent browsers, about the category's middle, with hours, proxies and calls billed past the allowance. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free plan gives 5 credits a month, 5 concurrent browsers and 500 sessions. Authenticated browsers and CAPTCHA bypass need paid. | CFree is 3 concurrent browsers and 1 browser hour, with 15-minute sessions and no captcha solving. |
| Features | CHosted browsers, logins, a VPN and task caching. Custom proxy and 30-day retention need Team, and full stealth Chromium needs the $2,000 Growth plan. | BCloud browsers, search and fetch, agent identity, a model gateway and observability; HIPAA and SSO are enterprise only. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. It is used through an SDK, MCP or automation tools, so it takes code or wiring. | DNo store rating on record. It is used through an SDK and code, with sessions and proxies to configure. |
| Platforms and integrations | CCloud web service with MCP, and no desktop or phone app. Self-hosting only comes with Enterprise bring-your-own-cloud. | BWeb only, with six integrations and APIs; no desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | hosted browsers for agent logins | cloud browsers for AI agents |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Anchor Browser and Browserbase. How we grade
Price against what you get
Anchor Browser starts at $50 a month and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Browserbase starts at $20 a month and scores 2.3.
Browserbase scores higher and starts $30 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 78 score higher than Anchor Browser for less, and 13 score higher than Browserbase for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Anchor Browser | Browserbase | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $50 per month | $20 per month |
| Free plan | 5 credits a month, up to 5 concurrent browsers and 500 browser sessions, with an embedded browser agent. | 3 concurrent browsers, 1 browser hour, 3 agent runs, 1,000 search and 1,000 fetch calls, and $5 in model tokens. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Anchor | Browserbase |
| Price read from | anchorbrowser.io | browserbase.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Anchor Browser
- Usage past included credits is $1.00 per credit on every paid plan; the calculator on the page uses $0.09 per browser hour, $8 per GB of proxy and $0.01 per AI step.
- The page's structured data lists a $20 Starter plan and 25 free browsers, conflicting with the visible cards ($50, 5 browsers), which are recorded here.
- Authenticated browsers and CAPTCHA bypass start at Starter; custom proxy and 30-day retention at Team; SOC 2 reporting at Growth.
- Anchor's browsers are cloud-only unless you take the Enterprise plan with bring-your-own-cloud.
Browserbase
- Plans scale past included usage at the plan's rate, so the bill grows with browser hours, proxies and API calls.
- Free has no captcha solving and stops sessions at 15 minutes.
- HIPAA (BAA) and SSO are listed for enterprise customers, not the self-serve plans.
- The FAQ says it does not offer on-prem deployment; hybrid setups come through consulting.
Key features
Anchor Browser
- Anchor Chromium
- A Chromium fork the vendor says is recognized as human, with Web-Bot-Auth verification and parallel browsers.
- OmniConnect authentication
- Handles onboarding, management and use of the logins an agent needs to act on behalf of a user.
- Planned deterministic tasks
- An agent turns a plain-language task into a browser workload and falls back to AI at runtime only when needed; a web action cache keeps workflows as code.
- Built-in VPN
- An enterprise VPN offered as a network backbone that does not rely on third-party proxies.
- Flexible deployment
- Used through an SDK, MCP or automation platforms; bring-your-own-cloud and on-premises deployment are listed for Enterprise.
Browserbase
- Cloud browsers
- Fleets of headless browsers that agents control through Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium or Stagehand.
- Search and Fetch APIs
- Search returns relevant sites from one query; Fetch returns pages as HTML, JSON or markdown for agents.
- Agent identity
- Captcha solving on paid plans, plus stealth mode (basic on Developer and Startup, advanced on Scale).
- Runtime and model gateway
- Browserbase Functions run deployed agents on its servers, and one API key reaches major models through Stagehand.
- Observability
- Session recordings, logs and prompts for debugging an agent, with data kept 7 to 30+ days by plan.
Plans
Anchor Browser
Free$0
5 credits a month, up to 5 concurrent browsers, up to 500 sessions and an embedded browser agent.
Starter$50
per month
50 credits, then $1.00 per extra credit; 25 concurrent browsers, authenticated browsers, automated CAPTCHA bypass and any geolocation.
Team$500
per month
500 credits, then $1.00 per extra credit; 50 concurrent browsers, Cloudflare-verified agents, custom proxy and 30-day data retention.
Growth$2000
per month
2,000 credits, then $1.00 per extra credit; 200 concurrent browsers, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR, and the full stealth Anchor Chromium.
EnterpriseCustom
500+ concurrent browsers, SSO, RBAC, BAA and HIPAA, custom regions, bring your own cloud or on-premises, and a dedicated Slack channel.
Browserbase
Free$0
3 concurrent browsers, 1 browser hour, 15-minute sessions and 7-day data retention; no captcha solving.
Developer$20
per month
25 concurrent browsers, 100 browser hours then $0.12/hour, 1 GB of proxies then $12/GB, captcha solving.
Startup$99
per month
100 concurrent browsers, 500 browser hours then $0.10/hour, 5 GB of proxies then $10/GB.
ScaleCustom
250+ concurrent browsers, usage-based hours and proxies, advanced stealth mode and verified agents.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Anchor Browser or Browserbase?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Browserbase is cheaper to start with: $20 a month, against $50 a month for Anchor Browser. Anchor Browser starts at $50 per month, and Browserbase starts at $20 per month.
Which has a free plan, Anchor Browser or Browserbase?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Anchor Browser and Browserbase have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.