Browserless review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Hosted headless browsers for scraping and automation
Black Friday: is there a Browserless sale?
Browserless report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for hosted headless browsers for developers
Browserless runs headless Chrome for you, with a free plan and paid plans from $25 a month on annual billing. You write the code yourself, and units are used up faster by long sessions, proxies and captchas.
Who Browserless is for
- Fits if you write scrapers or tests and do not want to run browsers
- Works for jobs that fit 2-minute sessions on the free plan
Who Browserless is not for
- Skip it if you do not write code, as there is no point-and-click builder
- Tight if you stay free: 1k units a month and 2-minute sessions
- Watch out: residential proxies cost 6 units per MB and each captcha 10 units
- Pricey if sessions run long, as a unit is only up to 30 seconds of browser time
Why Browserless gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyPrototyping is $25 a month on annual billing, between the cheaper quarter ($10) and the dearer quarter ($29) of automation tools.
- CFree plan and trialA free plan with no card: 1k units a month, 2 concurrent browsers and 2-minute sessions. Bigger jobs will outgrow it.
- BFeaturesHosted browsers, BrowserQL, session replays, proxies, captcha solving and a self-hosting option. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core work.
- DEase of useYou drive it with code through Playwright, Puppeteer or its own query language, so it needs programming.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb service that works with Playwright and Puppeteer. No desktop or phone app.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Browserless's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/browserless#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/browserless.svg" alt="Browserless: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Browserless stands among automation tools
Browserless's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 21 of the 71 other automation tools we grade, and level with 18.
It stands best on features (B, above 35 of 71) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $25 a month, against a middle price of $19 for the category: 26 of the 38 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 13 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 72 automation tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Browserless’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 14 of 71, level with 36
- CFree plan and trialAbove 15 of 71, level with 40
- BFeaturesAbove 35 of 71, level with 33
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 71, level with 8
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 19 of 71, level with 52
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 43 automation tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Browserless, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Browserless you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 32 of the 71 other automation tools grade higher. It costs $300 a year. Browserless is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- Capture tools hooked into the operating system.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Browserless’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Browserless?
Browserless runs headless browsers as a service, so scripts written for Playwright or Puppeteer can connect to a remote endpoint instead of managing their own Chrome. It also offers REST APIs for screenshots, PDFs and scraping, plus an MCP server. Plans are priced by usage units and concurrent browsers, and self-hosting is available.
Worth knowing
- A unit is up to 30 seconds of browser time, and longer sessions use another unit per 30 seconds.
- Residential proxies cost 6 units per MB, datacenter proxies 2 units per MB and each solved captcha 10 units.
- Listed prices are the annual-billing view; monthly billing is offered but its prices were not readable.
- The free plan has 1k units a month and 2-minute sessions, so larger jobs need a paid plan.
Key features
- Hosted headless browsers
- Remote Chrome, WebKit and Firefox sessions that connect to existing Playwright or Puppeteer scripts by changing the endpoint.
- BrowserQL
- A query language and editor for describing browser tasks, available on every plan including Free.
- APIs for common jobs
- REST endpoints for PDFs, screenshots and downloads, along with a search API and an MCP server for AI agents.
- Sessions and replays
- Session reconnects, persisted sessions, replays and log search, with retention that grows from 1 day on Free to 90 days on Scale.
- Proxies and captcha solving
- Residential and datacenter proxies and automatic captcha solving are metered in units; bring-your-own proxies start on Prototyping.
- Self-hosting
- Open-source and private Docker versions can be self-hosted, and Enterprise adds a commercial license with Kubernetes and GPU options.
Browserless pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Browserless has a free plan, and paid plans start at $25 per month, billed annually.
- Starts at
- $25 per month, billed annually
- Free plan
- Free plan, no card required: 1k units a month, 2 concurrent browsers and a 2-minute maximum session.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1k units a month, 2 concurrent browsers, 2-minute sessions and BrowserQL. Includes captcha solving and Chrome extensions. |
| Prototyping | $25per month, billed annually | 20k units a month, 10 concurrent browsers (+5 on annual billing), 15-minute sessions, overage at $0.0020 per unit. |
| Starter | $140per month, billed annually | 180k units a month, 40 concurrent browsers (+10 on annual billing), 30-minute sessions, overage at $0.0017 per unit. |
| Scale | $350per month, billed annually | 500k units a month, 100 concurrent browsers (+20 on annual billing), 60-minute sessions, overage at $0.0015 per unit. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Private deployments or licensed self-hosting, SSO, user roles, GPU infrastructure and a dedicated account manager. |
Read from browserless.io on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Browserless before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Annual discountSave 30% with annual billing
The pricing page says annual billing saves 30% and adds concurrency on the Prototyping, Starter and Scale plans.
Stated on browserless.io
Works with
- Playwright
- Puppeteer
Browserless alternatives
- Browserless vs Axiom.ai
Free trial · from $15/mo
- Browserless vs Browse AI
Free plan · from $19/mo
- Browserless vs Skyvern
Free plan · from $29/mo
- Browserless vs Ui.Vision
Free plan · from €11.90/mo
- Browserless vs UiPath
Free plan · from $25/mo
Common questions
Does Browserless have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Browserless is listed for Web.
Does Browserless have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Browserless is listed for Web.
Is Browserless open source?
Yes. Browserless is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Does Browserless have an API?
Yes. Browserless offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.