In 2026, the web's most demanding new visitors are agents that act, not scrapers that read. ChatGPT agent clicks around websites and runs code on a person's behalf, and teams building their own agents want the same thing: a live browser the agent drives, not a dataset delivered at the end of a run.
Apify built its platform for web scraping: serverless programs called Actors and a store of ready-made scrapers. The best Apify alternatives for AI agents are browser infrastructure vendors: Solari, Browserbase, Steel, Hyperbrowser and Kernel. This guide compares what each one does, what it costs and which agent it suits.
Key Takeaways
Choose Solari when your agent needs fast cloud browsers, sandboxes for its code and desktops for computer use on one account and one bill.
Choose Browserbase when you want browsers bundled with search, fetch and hosted agent runs in one plan.
Choose Steel when you want an open-source browser you can self-host later.
Choose Hyperbrowser when you want browsers next to pay-per-page fetch and search APIs.
Choose Kernel when your agents sit idle between steps and you want billing that stops with them.
Why Look for an Apify Alternative?
Teams look for an Apify alternative when the job changes from collecting data to doing work. A scraper follows a fixed script and hands back rows; an agent reads the page, decides its next step and keeps going until the task is done.
That change moves the cost and the failure points. These four events usually start the search:
The agent needs to act, not extract. An Actor runs a script and returns a dataset. An agent built on a model decides its next click from what it sees, so it needs a browser session it drives in real time over Playwright or the Chrome DevTools Protocol.
The invoice gets hard to predict. Apify bills platform usage in compute units on top of a monthly plan, and most Store Actors add a price per result or event. A team running its own agent pays for every layer, and the total moves with retries, memory and result counts.
Logins have to survive between runs. Agents that work inside a CRM, a data tool or an internal dashboard need to stay signed in. Rebuilding a login on every run costs time and trips security checks.
The agent also needs to run code. An agent that writes a script to clean or score its results needs an isolated machine next to its browser. A scraping platform does not cover that job, so teams add a second vendor.
Apify Alternatives at a Glance
Every price in the table is the vendor's own self-serve rate. The sections below link each one and explain what it means for a team running agents.
1. Solari
Solari runs cloud browsers, sandboxes and computer desktops for AI agents from one API. Your agent brings the model and the logic; Solari gives it a place to work at the scale an agent fleet needs.
Speed and scale. Solari browsers are ready in 8 ms, and Solari supports up to 100,000 concurrent browsers on Enterprise. Your agent works through a whole list in one pass instead of queueing runs overnight.
Logins that stay signed in. A Solari profile saves your login, your cookies and site data, so your agent signs in once and every later run opens already signed in. Profiles use the same storage state format as Playwright, so a login you already have imports as is.
Sites that block automation. Turn on stealth for the sites that need it, route traffic through a proxy and let Solari solve any CAPTCHA that still appears. Every other site runs on the default browser.
Pricing and plans. Solari's Free plan costs $0 and runs 3 concurrent browsers, Starter is $20 a month for 20 concurrent browsers, and Professional is $200 a month, spent as usage, for 150 concurrent browsers at $0.07 per browser hour. On the Team plan Solari bills $0.05 per browser hour, and at list price Solari is about 2x cheaper than Browserbase per browser hour and about 1.6x cheaper than Steel. You pay for browser time, not per result, so a run that returns more data does not cost more.
Who it's best for. Teams moving from scraping scripts to agents that act on the web. Solari works with Playwright, Puppeteer and any client that speaks the Chrome DevTools Protocol, so moving an existing script over is a one-line change to the connection URL.
Browsers are only part of the job. Solari sandboxes run the code your agent writes on an isolated Linux machine, and pausing one saves its memory and processes so a resume picks up exactly where it stopped. Solari desktops give a computer-use model a full screen for the apps that have no API, and Solari can record a session so whoever reviews the agent's work sees exactly what it read and clicked, all on the same account and the same bill.
2. Browserbase
Browserbase sells cloud browsers with search, fetch and hosted agent runs in the same plan.
Pricing and plans. Browserbase says its Developer plan is $20 a month with 25 concurrent browsers and 100 browser hours, then $0.12 per browser hour, and its Startup plan is $99 a month with 100 concurrent browsers and 500 browser hours, then $0.10. Most of the cost sits in the plan fee, so the hourly rate matters only once you pass the included hours.
Where it fits. Browserbase bundles search and fetch calls with its browsers, so an agent that looks things up before it browses stays on one bill. Its free plan includes both, which makes it easy to prototype a research agent.
Trade-off. The free plan is short on browser time and has no captcha solving. A real trial on a protected site starts on a paid plan.
3. Steel
Steel runs a cloud browser API on top of Steel Browser, which is open source.
Pricing and plans. Steel says its Launch plan is $0 a month plus usage with 10 concurrent sessions of up to 15 minutes, and its Scale plan is $250 a month with a $100 monthly credit, 100 concurrent sessions of up to 1 hour and $0.08 per browser hour. The fixed fee suits teams with steady daily volume more than teams still testing.
Where it fits. Steel Browser can be self-hosted, so you can start on Steel's cloud and move the browser into your own infrastructure later. That matters to teams with strict data rules.
Trade-off. The stealth browser is included only on Enterprise, and the session caps above are short for long agent tasks. Agents that work on protected sites for hours need the custom plan.
4. Hyperbrowser
Hyperbrowser pairs cloud browsers with web data APIs and sandboxes on one credit balance.
Pricing and plans. Hyperbrowser says browser usage costs $0.10 per hour on its Free, Startup and Scale plans, with Startup at $30 a month for 25 concurrent sessions and Scale at $100 a month for 100. Plan credits reset at renewal and do not roll over.
Where it fits. Hyperbrowser sells per-page fetch and per-query search next to its browsers. For a team used to paying Apify per result, that model is the most familiar.
Trade-off. The free plan runs a single session, and automatic CAPTCHA solving and basic stealth start at Startup. Ultra stealth mode is Enterprise only.
5. Kernel
Kernel runs cloud browsers for agents with managed authentication and usage billed by the second.
Pricing and plans. Kernel says its Hobbyist plan is $30 a month plus usage with $10 of monthly credits and 10 concurrent browsers, and its Start-Up plan adds $50 of monthly credits and 150 concurrent browsers. Included credits apply to usage only.
Where it fits. Kernel bills active runtime only: a browser drops into standby shortly after its last activity and stops accruing cost. An agent that waits on a model between steps pays less for that idle time, and managed auth has no per-connection fee.
Trade-off. Kernel quotes its browser rates per second, so compare it against your own run lengths rather than a headline hourly price. GPU acceleration and bring-your-own proxies start at Start-Up.
Where Are Web Agents Going Next?
Over the next year, more of the work Apify Actors do today moves to agents. Four changes stand out:
From scripts to decisions. Scraping jobs will move from fixed selectors to agents that choose each click from what they see. A redesign on the target site stops breaking the run.
Signed-in work by default. Agents will spend more time inside tools behind a login than on public pages. A saved login becomes a basic requirement for any browser vendor.
Code beside the browser. Agents will write and run code on what they collect in the same run. Every browser fleet will need an isolated machine next to it.
Apps without APIs. Models with computer use already operate software through a screen. Agents will reach desktop apps that never shipped an API.
What stays human is judgment: which sites an agent may use, what it may submit under your name, and the review of what it did. The teams that move fastest will hand the clicking to agents and keep their people on those calls.
Which Apify Alternative Should You Choose?
Choose Solari over Apify when your agent drives a live browser, needs to stay signed in between runs and writes code it has to run somewhere safe. Solari gives that agent browsers, sandboxes and desktops on one account, priced by the hour instead of per result, so the bill follows the time your agents work. Pick Browserbase for bundled search, Steel for self-hosting, Hyperbrowser for per-page data APIs and Kernel for idle-heavy agents.
Stay with Apify when the job is a ready-made scraper from its store and the output you need is a dataset, not an action. Apify is the more established platform with the larger marketplace of ready-made scrapers; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on speed and price.
Get Started With Solari
Start with one job, such as moving one Actor that signs in to a dashboard onto a Solari browser with a saved profile, then scale to the full list once it runs cleanly. Solari is the fastest and cheapest way to run cloud browsers and VMs for web agents. Get started with a free account and start running your agents today.
