Browserbase vs Cua (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Browserbase and Cua share a 2.2 GPA, both have a free plan, and Cua starts cheaper, at $15 a month against $20 a month.
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. Cua grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Browserbase
Cloud browsers and APIs for agents that use the web
Cua
Shared desktops on your own computers for you and your AI agents
Which one is for you
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
Pick Cua if
- Fits if you want to watch and take over what a coding agent does on a computer
- Works for developers who already own or rent the machines to run it on
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: Cua does not rent computers, so the VMs are billed by your cloud provider
- Skip it if you are not on Apple silicon with macOS 26 and want a Mac Space
- Not for you if you need audit history or SSO today, which are listed as coming soon or not included
- Too light for phones, as there is no mobile app
- Watch out: anonymous usage data is collected by default, per the vendor's FAQ
How we grade them
| 2.2GPABrowserbaseFair | 2.2GPACuaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CDeveloper is $20 a month for 25 concurrent browsers, about the category's middle, with hours, proxies and calls billed past the allowance. | B$15 a month billed yearly ($18 monthly) is under the category's cheaper quarter of $19. Your cloud provider bills the VMs on top, because Cua does not rent computers. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree is 3 concurrent browsers and 1 browser hour, with 15-minute sessions and no captcha solving. | BThe free plan has Spaces, Teleport and sharing, for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. No trial, but a person can live on it. |
| Features | BCloud browsers, search and fetch, agent identity, a model gateway and observability; HIPAA and SSO are enterprise only. | CSpaces, Teleport, shared control and a driver for agents. The listing shows gaps: expiring share links and audit history are coming soon, and SSO and audit export are not included. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It is used through an SDK and code, with sessions and proxies to configure. | DNo store rating on record. It is a developer tool with a driver, agent connections and your own machines to set up; Mac Spaces need macOS 26 on Apple silicon. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with six integrations and APIs; no desktop or phone app. | CMac, Windows (a preview) and Linux only, with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Docker connections. Nothing for phones. |
| Best for | cloud browsers for AI agents | sandboxed computers 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: Browserbase and Cua. How we grade
Price against what you get
Browserbase starts at $20 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Cua starts at $15 a month and scores 1.7.
Browserbase scores higher, and starts $5 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 13 score higher than Browserbase for less, and 13 score higher than Cua 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
- Cua is open source, according to its own site.
- Browserbase also covers workflow automation.
- Cua also covers remote desktop.
At a glance
| Browserbase | Cua | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $20 per month | $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 3 concurrent browsers, 1 browser hour, 3 agent runs, 1,000 search and 1,000 fetch calls, and $5 in model tokens. | Free: Spaces on every computer you connect, Teleport, sharing with named people, and the relay for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Browserbase | Cua AI, Inc. |
| Price read from | browserbase.com | cua.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Cua
- Cua does not rent computers: Spaces run on machines you own or rent, and your cloud provider bills those VMs.
- Running a Mac Space needs macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon; the Windows app is a preview.
- Share links that expire and 90-day audit history are listed as coming soon, and SSO and audit export as not yet included.
- There is no trial. Anonymous usage data is collected by default, per the vendor's FAQ.
Key features
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.
Cua
- Spaces
- A Space is a full desktop, a virtual machine or container, that agents can use and people can watch, running on your Mac, your own computers or your own cloud.
- Teleport
- Packs an app's session (open tabs, profile, sign-ins) into a bundle and moves it into a Space after the user approves it on a consent screen.
- Shared control
- Share a Space with named people as viewer or editor. Each person and each agent gets its own cursor, so someone can step in and hand the desktop back.
- Cua Driver
- An MIT-licensed driver that lets an agent operate native apps on macOS, Windows and Linux without taking over the user's cursor or keyboard.
- Agent connections
- Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Cline, Kiro and OpenClaw connect through the Cua MCP server.
Plans
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.
Cua
Free$0
No account needed to start. Up to 2 computers in use at once and 20 remote hours a month through the relay.
Pro$15
per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly)
For one person: up to 5 computers in use at once and 200 remote hours a month. Billed $180 a year.
Teams$25
per seat / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
1 to 100 seats. Each seat adds 5 computers at once and 200 remote hours to a shared pool, plus shared team computers, roles and device approval.
Ways to pay less
Browserbase
No public discounts listed.
Cua
- Annual discount
Two months free on yearly billing
Pro is $180 a year ($15 a month) against $18 a month; Teams is $300 per seat a year against $30 per seat a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Browserbase or Cua?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cua is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against $20 a month for Browserbase. Browserbase starts at $20 per month, and Cua starts at $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Browserbase or Cua?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Browserbase and Cua have a free plan.
Which platforms do Browserbase and Cua run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Browserbase lists a web app and only Cua lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.