Hyperbrowser vs Stagehand (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand grades higher than Hyperbrowser: 3.0 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded 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.
Hyperbrowser
Cloud browsers, sandboxes and web APIs for AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Hyperbrowser if
- Fits if you run browser automation for agents and don't want to host Chrome
- Works for developers who already use Playwright or Puppeteer
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 5,000 credits, 1 session at a time and 7 days of data
- Pricey if you go past the plan, at $0.10 an hour of browser time and $10 a GB of proxy data
- Watch out: agent steps cost $0.02 each on top of browser time and proxy data
- Watch out: plan credits reset on renewal and don't carry over
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
| 2.2GPAHyperbrowserFair | 3.0GPAStagehandVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStartup is $30 a month, just above the category's middle of $25, with 30,000 credits. Scale is $100 for 100,000. | 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 | CA free account with 5,000 credits, 1 concurrent session and 7 days of retention. The page doesn't say the credits renew. | 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, sandboxes, a web API and browser agents, with SDKs and MCP. The listing names no gap in the core job. | 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 | DDeveloper product: you write code against Playwright, Puppeteer or an SDK. We found no store rating. | DNo rating on record. You install a package and write code, and supply your own model keys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb service with Node.js and Python SDKs, a CLI, MCP, Playwright, Puppeteer and Browser Use. 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: Hyperbrowser and Stagehand. How we grade
Price against what you get
Hyperbrowser starts at $30 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 $30 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 26 score higher than Hyperbrowser 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.
- Hyperbrowser also covers screenshots.
At a glance
| Hyperbrowser | Stagehand | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | $30 per month | Free |
| Free plan | None | The SDK is free and MIT-licensed. You supply your own model API keys. |
| Free trial | Free account with 5,000 credits (about 50 browser hours at base rates); the page does not say the credits renew | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hyperbrowser | Browserbase |
| Price read from | hyperbrowser.ai | stagehand.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hyperbrowser
- Usage past the included credits is billed at 1,000 credits = $1: browser time is $0.10 per hour and proxy data $10 per GB.
- Agent steps (HyperAgent or Browser Use) are $0.02 each, on top of browser time and proxy data.
- Plan credits reset on renewal and do not carry over; credits bought separately expire after 12 months.
- Free allows 1 concurrent session and 7 days of data retention; the 14-day trial the page mentions is for Enterprise.
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
Hyperbrowser
- Cloud browsers
- Chrome sessions controlled through Playwright, Puppeteer or the SDKs, with saved profiles for logins and live or recorded session viewing.
- Sandboxes
- Isolated virtual machines for installing dependencies and running commands, with memory snapshots that can be reused.
- Web API
- Fetch a page, crawl a site or search the web and get Markdown, HTML, screenshots or JSON that matches a schema.
- Browser agents
- Run HyperAgent, Browser Use or computer-use models in a managed browser from a plain-language task.
- SDKs and MCP
- Node.js and Python SDKs, a CLI and MCP access, with WebMCP support announced on the blog.
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
Hyperbrowser
Free$0
5,000 credits, 1 concurrent session and 7 days of data retention, across all four products.
Startup$30
per month
30,000 credits, 25 concurrent sessions, 30-day retention, automatic CAPTCHA solving, basic stealth and residential proxies.
Scale$100
per month
100,000 credits, 100 concurrent sessions, 30-day retention, CAPTCHA solving, basic stealth and premium residential proxies.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits, 1,000+ concurrent sessions, 180+ days of retention, ultra stealth mode and premium support.
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, Hyperbrowser or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $30 a month for Hyperbrowser. Hyperbrowser starts at $30 per month, and Stagehand is free.
Which has a free plan, Hyperbrowser or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Stagehand has a free plan. Hyperbrowser does not, though it has a free trial.
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.