Browserbase vs Stagehand (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand grades higher than Browserbase: 3.0 against 2.2 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 value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
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
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 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
| 2.2GPABrowserbaseFair | 3.0GPAStagehandVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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 | CFree is 3 concurrent browsers and 1 browser hour, with 15-minute sessions and no captcha solving. | 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 | BCloud browsers, search and fetch, agent identity, a model gateway and observability; HIPAA and SSO are enterprise only. | 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. It is used through an SDK and code, with sessions and proxies to configure. | DNo rating on record. You install a package and write code, and supply your own model keys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with six integrations and APIs; 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 | cloud browsers for AI agents | 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: Browserbase and Stagehand. 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. Stagehand has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Stagehand starts $20 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 13 score higher than Browserbase for less, and none scores higher than Stagehand 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
- Stagehand is open source, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Browserbase | Stagehand | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $20 per month | Free |
| Free plan | 3 concurrent browsers, 1 browser hour, 3 agent runs, 1,000 search and 1,000 fetch calls, and $5 in model tokens. | The SDK is free and MIT-licensed. You supply your own model API keys. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Browserbase | Browserbase |
| Price read from | browserbase.com | stagehand.dev |
| 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.
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
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.
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
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.
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, Browserbase or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $20 a month for Browserbase. Browserbase starts at $20 per month, and Stagehand is free.
Which has a free plan, Browserbase or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Browserbase 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.