# Stagehand review (2026): is it any good? > Open-source SDK for browser agents, from Browserbase Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Stagehand is an MIT-licensed SDK for controlling a browser from agents, with Playwright-style methods plus natural-language Act, Observe and Extract primitives. It is available for TypeScript, Python and Go, and can run against a local browser or be deployed to Browserbase. The SDK is free; cloud browsers are a separate Browserbase service. - **Category:** AI Agents - **Made by:** Browserbase - **Website:** https://www.stagehand.dev - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you do not code, because it is a library with no interface. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand is free to use. - **Pricing model:** Free - **Free plan:** The SDK is free and MIT-licensed. You supply your own model API keys. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | Read from https://www.stagehand.dev on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Stagehand before buying. ## Key features - **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. ## Good for - Developers adding AI-driven actions to browser automation - Teams that want an open-source SDK rather than a hosted agent - Projects in TypeScript, Python or Go ## Worth knowing - 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 3.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Stagehand is an MIT-licensed SDK that lets you control a browser with Playwright-style code or plain-language commands, in TypeScript, Python or Go. It is a library with no dashboard, and cloud browsers at scale mean a separate Browserbase account. - **Value for money: A.** The 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: A.** There is no paid plan for the SDK and no cap on it. Model API costs and any Browserbase account are yours to pay. - **Features: B.** Act, 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: D.** No rating on record. You install a package and write code, and supply your own model keys. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Runs wherever your code does, with Playwright, Browserbase and MCP links. No app of its own on desktop or phones. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Browserbase's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI agents - Stagehand's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 171 of the 178 other AI agents we grade, and level with 4. - It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 167 of 178) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Stagehand has no paid plan. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-agents ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Stagehand is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 3.0 is higher than 171 of the 178 other AI agents we grade. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Playwright, Browserbase, MCP **Tags:** AI agents, Open source, Public API, Workflow automation ## Alternatives - [Browser Use](https://toolgpa.com/tools/browser-use): Browser agents and cloud browsers for AI apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/browser-use-vs-stagehand) - [Browserbase](https://toolgpa.com/tools/browserbase): Cloud browsers and APIs for agents that use the web. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/browserbase-vs-stagehand) - [Hyperbrowser](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hyperbrowser): Cloud browsers, sandboxes and web APIs for AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hyperbrowser-vs-stagehand) - [Kernel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kernel): Cloud browser infrastructure for web agents and automations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/kernel-vs-stagehand) - [Steel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/steel): Open-source browser infrastructure for AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/stagehand-vs-steel) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.stagehand.dev - https://docs.stagehand.dev/ - https://github.com/browserbase/stagehand Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/stagehand Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).