Browser Use vs Stagehand (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand grades higher than Browser Use: 3.0 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Stagehand grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Browser Use
Browser agents and cloud browsers for AI apps
Free plan · from $5
Which one is for you
Pick Browser Use if
- Fits if you are a developer who wants browser agents with a free harness
- Works for someone who prefers pay as you go to a subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a no-code app, as it is built around an API key and docs
- Watch out: costs follow use at $0.02 a browser hour and $5 a GB on home-IP proxies
- Tight if you scale: concurrency starts at 10 and is 50 after $100 paid
- Watch out: the default model rate is $0.12 per million input tokens, and other models cost more
Pick Stagehand if
- Fits if you write TypeScript, Python or Go and automate sites with no API
- Works for developers already using Playwright who want plain-language steps
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not code, because it is a library with no interface
- Not for you if you need hosted browsers at scale, as that is a separate Browserbase account
- Tight if model costs worry you: natural-language actions call a model you pay for
- Watch out: the speed and token figures on the site are the vendor's own benchmarks
How we grade them
| 2.6GPABrowser UseGood | 3.0GPAStagehandVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe open-source harness is free to run in your own Chrome, and the cloud has no subscription, only a $5 top-up that never expires. | AThe SDK is free under the MIT licence and runs against a local browser. You only pay for the model you plug in. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe harness is free and open source for Claude Code and Codex, and each cloud person gets a one-time $1 credit. | AThere is no paid plan for the SDK and no cap on it. Model API costs and any Browserbase account are yours to pay. |
| Features | CWeb agents, stealth browsers and a choice of models, but concurrency starts at 10 and unlocks by total paid. | BAct, Observe and Extract commands, self-healing actions and a Playwright-style API in three languages. The listing shows no gap in the core job, though scaling needs another product. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. The page lists an API key and docs, not a no-code app. | DNo rating on record. You install a package and write code, and supply your own model keys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with three integrations, an API and an open-source harness; no desktop or phone app. | BRuns wherever your code does, with Playwright, Browserbase and MCP links. No app of its own on desktop or phones. |
| Best for | web agents and cloud browsers for developers | open-source browser agent SDK |
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: Browser Use and Stagehand. How we grade
Where they differ
- Stagehand also covers workflow automation.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourcePublic APIAI agents
At a glance
| Browser Use | Stagehand | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $5 minimum top-up, used as you go | Free |
| Free plan | Browser Harness is free and open source (MIT); on the cloud, each person gets a one-time $1 signup credit that never expires. | The SDK is free and MIT-licensed. You supply your own model API keys. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Browser Use | Browserbase |
| Price read from | browser-use.com | stagehand.dev |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Browser Use
- Costs follow use: $0.02 per browser hour, $5/GB on home-IP proxies and $0.20/GB direct.
- The default agent model rate is $0.12 per million input tokens and $0.60 output; other models cost more.
- Concurrency unlocks by total paid: 10 at the start, 50 after $100, 250 after $1,000.
- Aimed at developers: the page lists an API key and docs, not a no-code app.
Stagehand
- It is a code library with no dashboard of its own; running it at scale in the cloud means a separate Browserbase account.
- Natural-language actions call an AI model you provide, so model costs are yours.
- Speed and token figures on the site are the vendor's own benchmarks.
Key features
Browser Use
- Web agents
- Send a task and get JSON back. The pricing page lists a median task at $0.006 on the default model.
- Stealth cloud browsers
- Cloud browsers with CAPTCHA solving included and home-IP proxies, billed per browser hour plus traffic.
- Browser Harness
- A free, MIT-licensed tool that gives coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex control of your own Chrome.
- Choice of models
- Agents run on the vendor's BU models or models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others; bring your own key at provider cost plus 0.2x.
- Enterprise deployment
- US or EU cloud regions, on-prem browsers and agents through sales, and SOC 2 Type II with HIPAA and zero data retention available.
Stagehand
- Act, Observe and Extract
- Natural-language primitives for clicking and typing, finding elements on a page, and pulling structured data that matches a schema.
- Self-healing actions
- The site says Stagehand detects when a page changes and refreshes how a cached action is carried out.
- Playwright-style API
- Familiar goto, click, locator and screenshot methods, with support for out-of-process iframes and closed Shadow DOMs.
- Token-trimmed page context
- A trimmed accessibility tree is passed to the model; the site shows 7.4k tokens against 35.7k for Playwright on one extract task.
- Controls for production
- WebMCP support, domain allowlists and blocklists, batched commands and built-in OpenTelemetry tracing.
Plans
Browser Use
Browser Harness$0
Open-source (MIT) harness for Claude Code and Codex; run it yourself in your own Chrome at no charge.
Pay as you go$5
one-time top-up, used as you go
No subscription: credits from $5 (1 credit = $1) that never expire; up to 1,000 browsers at once.
EnterpriseCustom
Concurrency past 1,000, annual credit pools, custom SLAs, HIPAA, EU data residency and on-prem deployment.
Stagehand
Open source SDK$0
Install from npm (or the Python and Go packages) and run it against a local browser; no paid plan for the SDK itself.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Browser Use or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Browser Use starts at $5 minimum top-up, used as you go, and Stagehand is free.
Which has a free plan, Browser Use or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Browser Use and Stagehand 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.