Solari is the best alternative to Browserbase for production agents: session create in 8 ms and 199.9 ms end to end on Steel's open-source benchmark, about 14.8x faster than Browserbase, with browsers billed at $0.05 per browser hour on the Team plan. Your agents pass every test, then production traffic arrives and browser sessions start to queue, time out or fail. Meanwhile the browser bill grows with every hour your agents run.
Browserbase is the incumbent in cloud browsers for AI agents, and most teams running web agents in production start there. Each alternative below wins on something specific: speed, an open-source browser, stealth on the free plan, compliance, an agent library, or self-hosting.
Key Takeaways
Choose Solari when session speed and cost per browser hour decide the pick, and your agent also needs a code sandbox or a desktop on the same account.
Choose Steel when you want an open-source browser API with a hosted version of the same thing.
Choose Kernel when you want stealth mode and managed auth from the free plan.
Choose Hyperbrowser when one plan should cover browsers, sandboxes, web data and hosted agents.
Choose Anchor Browser when compliance paperwork or a deployment in your own cloud is the requirement.
Choose Browser Use when you already run its open-source agent library and want the browsers from the same vendor.
Choose Browserless when your scripts are Playwright or Puppeteer and you need a licence to self-host.
Which Browser Provider Should a Startup CTO Choose?
Solari is the provider to trial first. Choose on three things you can check yourself: session speed on a benchmark you can rerun, the cost per browser hour at your volume, and whether the same account covers the code your agent runs.
Solari leads on all three. A Solari session averaged 199.9 ms end to end on Steel's open-source benchmark, in PR #4, which is open. Solari bills browsers at $0.05 per browser hour on the Team plan, on its pricing page. Sandboxes and desktops run under the same API key.
The other six each own a niche: a self-hosted deployment (Anchor Browser, Browserless), an open-source browser you run yourself (Steel), or a hosted agent that does the browsing for you (Browser Use, Hyperbrowser).
Reasons to Consider an Alternative to Browserbase
Teams usually start looking after one of four events.
An incident. Sessions fail or queue under load. The engineer who owns the pipeline wants a provider whose numbers they can rerun under their own load.
The invoice. Browserbase says its Startup plan is $99 a month with 500 browser hours included and $0.10 per browser hour after that, on its pricing page. At volume, the per-hour rate decides the bill.
Session length. Browserbase lists 15 minutes per session on its Free plan, on its pricing page. Long agent runs need a plan built for them.
A new agent product. The agent now needs to run code or operate a full desktop, not only a browser. A second vendor means a second key, a second bill and a second set of failure modes.
Browserbase Alternatives at a Glance
Provider | Best for | Stand-out feature | Edge over Browserbase | Pricing starts at | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Solari | Production agents that need speed plus code or desktops | Browsers, sandboxes and desktops from one API | About 14.8x faster end to end on Steel's open-source benchmark | Free $0; Starter $20 a month | |
Browserbase (baseline) | Teams that want the incumbent | Agent runs, Search and Fetch in the plan | n/a | Free $0; Developer $20 a month | |
Steel | Open-source-first teams | Open browser API and benchmark | Scale plan at $0.08 per browser hour | Launch $0 a month plus usage | |
Kernel | Sites with heavy bot defences | Stealth mode and managed auth on Free | Stealth on the $0 plan | Free $0 plus usage; Hobbyist $30 a month | |
Hyperbrowser | Browsers plus web data and agents | Four products on one plan | Sandboxes and web data APIs on the same plan | Free $0; Startup $30 a month | |
Anchor Browser | Regulated teams | BYOC and on-prem on Enterprise | Deployment in your own cloud | Free $0; Starter $50 a month | |
Browser Use | Teams on the Browser Use library | Open-source agent library plus cloud browsers | Pay as you go, no subscription | Not published as a plan price | |
Browserless | Playwright and Puppeteer scripts | Licensed self-hosting | Chrome, WebKit and Firefox | Not published as a plan price |
1. Solari
Solari runs Cloud Browsers, AI Sandboxes and Computer Desktops for AI agents from one API and one account. Pinetree Research builds it, and 100+ companies and 2,000+ engineers use it. The launch post explains the product in full.
Core Capabilities
Cloud Browsers. A Chromium session starts by API. Your agent drives it over CDP or Playwright and releases it when done.
Profiles. A Solari profile saves the login, cookies and site data, so the agent does not sign in again. Profiles use Playwright's storageState format, so a working storage-state file from an existing setup uploads directly.
Recording and replay. Solari recording is opt-in when the session launches. The replay opens in the console or downloads as a line-by-line NDJSON log of what happened on the page, which doubles as an audit trail of what an agent did.
AI Sandboxes. An isolated Linux machine for agent-generated code, with commands, files, pause and resume, snapshot and fork. A dedicated Solari sandbox takes 1 to 8 vCPU.
Computer Desktops. A full Linux desktop a computer-use model can see and operate. A Solari desktop VM starts "usually in about a second."
Speed, and How It Was Measured
Solari is the fastest browser on Steel's open-source benchmark: across PR #4 with 5,000 runs, a Solari session averaged 199.9 ms end to end. Session create took 8 ms (median).
Against the averages in that benchmark's README, Solari ran about 4x faster than Kernel, about 4.5x faster than Steel, about 14.8x faster than Browserbase and about 40x faster than Anchor, end to end.
Anyone can rerun the benchmark on their own account, which is the point.
Pricing
Solari has five plans on its pricing page:
Free: $0 a month, 3 concurrent browsers, 1 hour session cap.
Starter: $20 a month, 20 concurrent browsers, 5 hour session cap.
Professional: $200 a month, 150 concurrent browsers, 24 hour session cap. The $200 fee covers $200 of usage.
Team: custom, at $0.05 per browser hour.
Enterprise: custom, up to 100,000 concurrent browsers.
Solari bills browser time at $0.10 an hour on Starter and $0.07 per hour on Professional, on the pricing docs.
Where It Shines
Session start and teardown, measured on an open benchmark anyone can rerun.
Agents that sign in once and reuse the login. The Professional plan includes 500 profiles, on the pricing docs.
Agents that need a browser and a code sandbox or a desktop without a second vendor.
Who It's Best For
Platform engineers at Series A to C startups running browser agents in production who want the speed number before the sales call. Also teams adding code execution or computer use next to the browser.
2. Steel
Steel is an open-source-first browser API for agents and the author of the benchmark above.
Core Capabilities
Hosted browser sessions with proxies, CAPTCHA solving and browser tools. Steel also ships Agent Traces, which it explains in its own post.
Pricing
Steel says its Launch plan is $0 a month plus usage, with a $30 one-time credit, 10 concurrent sessions, sessions up to 15 minutes and $0.10 per browser hour, on its pricing page. Steel says Scale is $250 a month plus usage, with a $100 monthly credit, 100 concurrent sessions, sessions up to 1 hour and $0.08 per browser hour, on the same pricing page.
Where It Shines
Open engineering: the benchmark, candid postmortems, and a browser you can read. Steel says Enterprise adds a stealth browser, reserve browser pools and sessions up to 24 hours, on its pricing page.
Where It Falls Short
Steel's pricing page lists no stealth browser and no dedicated IPs on Launch. On Steel's own benchmark, Solari sessions ran about 4.5x faster end to end.
Who It's Best For
Teams that want to read and run the browser code themselves.
3. Kernel
Kernel builds browser infrastructure for agents. It has a config registry for hard sites and its own open-source sandbox infra, Hypeman.
Core Capabilities
Cloud browsers with stealth mode, managed auth, regional browsers and GPU acceleration on higher plans.
Pricing
Kernel says its Free plan is $0 a month plus usage, with $5 of monthly credit, 5 concurrent browsers, stealth mode and managed auth for 3 connections, on its pricing page. Kernel says Hobbyist is $30 a month with 10 concurrent browsers, and Start-Up is $200 a month with 150 concurrent browsers, GPU acceleration and 30-day session replays, on the same pricing page.
Where It Shines
Stealth and managed auth from the first day, plus regional browsers and GPU acceleration on Start-Up.
Where It Falls Short
Usage is priced per second and per browser type, as Kernel's pricing docs show, so a bill forecast needs more inputs. On Steel's open-source benchmark, Solari sessions ran about 4x faster end to end.
Who It's Best For
Agents that hit sites with heavy bot defences and need logins handled for them.
4. Hyperbrowser
Hyperbrowser sells browsers, sandboxes, web data and agents on one plan.
Core Capabilities
Cloud browsers, sandboxes, web data APIs and hosted agents under one account.
Pricing
Hyperbrowser says its Free plan includes 5,000 credits and 1 concurrent session, Startup is $30 a month with 25 concurrent sessions, and Scale is $100 a month with 100 concurrent sessions, with browser usage at $0.10 an hour, on its pricing page.
Where It Shines
Credential Fill and Secrets for logins. Hyperbrowser also offers browser sessions an agent pays for itself over x402.
Where It Falls Short
The Free plan runs 1 concurrent session, per Hyperbrowser's pricing page, so load testing starts on a paid plan.
Who It's Best For
Teams that want web data APIs and hosted agents next to the browser.
5. Anchor Browser
Anchor Browser prices by credits per completed task. Compliance and deployment options sit high up the plan ladder.
Core Capabilities
Cloud browsers with captcha bypass, Cloudflare Verified Browser Agents on Team, and BYOC or on-prem deployment on Enterprise.
Pricing
Anchor says its Free plan allows up to 5 concurrent browsers, Starter is $50 a month with up to 25 concurrent browsers and captcha bypass, Team is $500 a month with up to 50 and Cloudflare Verified Browser Agents, and Growth is $2,000 a month with up to 200, SOC2 Type 2 and ISO27001, on its pricing page.
Where It Shines
Anchor says Enterprise offers BYOC or on-prem deployment and custom regions, on its pricing page.
Where It Falls Short
Task-based credits make cost per browser hour hard to compare. On Steel's open-source benchmark, Solari sessions ran about 40x faster end to end than Anchor.
Who It's Best For
Regulated teams that need the browser inside their own cloud.
6. Browser Use
Browser Use is an open-source agent library with cloud browsers and hosted web agents behind it.
Core Capabilities
The open-source agent library, cloud browsers and hosted web agents from one vendor.
Pricing
Browser Use's pricing page says "No subscription. Credits never expire." It prices web agents at the model's price plus a markup, plus browser time and traffic.
Where It Shines
Teams already on the library get browsers and agents from one vendor.
Where It Falls Short
Its product menu lists agents and browser infrastructure, with no code sandbox or desktop, on its pricing page.
Who It's Best For
Teams that want the agent and the browser bought together.
7. Browserless
Browserless runs hosted headless browsers for Playwright and Puppeteer, with Chrome, WebKit and Firefox. It also sells a commercial licence to self-host, per its pricing page.
Core Capabilities
Hosted Chrome, WebKit and Firefox for existing Playwright and Puppeteer code, plus licensed self-hosting.
Pricing
Browserless bills in units, and its pricing page sets out the plans.
Where It Shines
Existing scripts connect by changing an endpoint. Enterprise covers private deployments, per its pricing page.
Where It Falls Short
"Session-reconnects count as new browser connections and incur a fresh Unit charge," its pricing page says.
Who It's Best For
Teams with mature Puppeteer or Playwright code that must stay on their own servers.
Conclusion
Choose Solari over Browserbase when session speed matters and you want a number you can rerun yourself. Choose it when the per-hour rate at volume drives the decision: Solari bills $0.05 per browser hour on Team, on its pricing page. Choose it when your agent also needs a sandbox or a desktop on the same account.
Stay with Browserbase when your agents depend on the agent runs, Search and Fetch calls bundled into its plans, listed on its pricing page. Stay too if you have already signed the HIPAA BAA on its Scale plan, on the same pricing page, or if the migration costs more than the speed gain is worth to you. Browserbase is the more established vendor with the larger ecosystem; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on speed and price. Pick Steel for an open-source browser, Kernel for stealth on a free plan, Anchor Browser or Browserless for your own infrastructure, or Browser Use if you already run its library. A head-to-head, Solari vs Browserbase, is the companion piece to this list.
The fastest way to decide is to measure: rerun Steel's open-source benchmark on your own account, then start a free session on Solari and give your agents their browsers, sandboxes and desktops from one fast API.
FAQ QUESTIONS:
What is the best Browserbase alternative?
Which Browserbase alternative is cheapest at volume?
How hard is it to move off Browserbase?
