Solari vs Browserbase on One Open Benchmark
How does Solari compare with Browserbase on one open benchmark?
Solari averaged 199.9 ms end to end on the open-source browserbench and bills $0.07 per browser hour. Benchmark, price and migration vs Browserbase.
Solari is about 14.8x faster than Browserbase end to end on Steel's open-source benchmark, averaging 199.9 ms per browser session from create to release.
Solari is also the cheaper browser hour: Solari bills $0.07 per browser hour on the Professional plan.
Browserbase lists browser hours beyond the Startup plan's included usage at $0.10 per hour.
Browserbase does not publish Scale plan pricing; on the plans it does publish, Solari's Professional browser hour sits below Browserbase's Startup rate ( ).
Solari's Team rate is $0.05 per browser hour, the lowest browser-hour rate on Solari's self-serve and Team plans.
What Is Steel's Browserbench?
Browserbench is Steel's MIT-licensed, open-source benchmark for cloud browsers. It times the smallest useful browser lifecycle the same way for every provider: create a session, connect Playwright over CDP, navigate until domcontentloaded, then release the session. Any team can rerun it from its own region.
How the Run Was Measured
Solari added a Solari provider to browserbench and ran 5,000 measured iterations through the same harness; the code and results sit in open pull request PR #4.
The browserbench README publishes sample results for Kernel, Steel, Browserbase, Hyperbrowser and Anchor Browser from the same harness, and those averages are the comparison baseline.
The Solari run went out from the AWS Northern California region, and the README sample results came from the AWS Northern Virginia region ( ).
The README notes that the runner throttles Browserbase between cycles to avoid rate limits.
The Result
Solari averaged 199.9 ms end to end, from session create to release.
Solari creates a session in 8 ms at the median.
Solari connects Playwright over CDP in 24 ms at the median.
The page load is most of a Solari run: goto took 155 ms at the median.
Solari releases a session in 2 ms at the median.
The multiples against each provider in the README are listed one per line in Key Facts below.
What Is Session Lifecycle Overhead?
Session lifecycle overhead is the time a cloud browser adds before an agent does any work: create, connect, first navigation and release. An agent that opens a fresh browser per task, or starts a new session to recover from a failed step, pays it every time, so the total grows with the size of the fleet. Real agents then click, type, wait on a model and load heavier sites; the benchmark number is the floor a vendor adds to every one of those tasks.
How Do Teams Switch From Browserbase to Solari?
Switching is a change to how the agent connects. Solari sessions are controlled over CDP or Playwright, so an agent already using Playwright's connectOverCDP points at a Solari session instead.
The Solari quickstart gets a first session running, and the same browserbench provider in PR #4 reruns the comparison from the region the agents run in.
Beyond Speed: Profiles, Session Options and Sandboxes
Solari profiles save a browser's cookies and storage, so an agent signs in once and every later session reopens already signed in. Pinetree Health runs its Canva scheduling on a Solari profile.
Solari sets stealth, proxies and recording per session, and each recording doubles as an audit trail of what an agent did.
Solari sandboxes are isolated Linux machines on the same account as the browsers, built for running the code an agent writes. Pinetree Research runs its own marketing system in one.
Where Each Fits
Browserbase is the more established vendor with the larger ecosystem, including its Stagehand SDK; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on speed and price.
Key Facts
Solari averaged 199.9 ms end to end across 5,000 runs on Steel's open-source benchmark
Solari session create: 8 ms median on the same benchmark
Solari is about 4x faster than Kernel end to end against the README average ( )
Solari is about 4.5x faster than Steel end to end against the README average ( )
Solari is about 14.8x faster than Browserbase end to end against the README average ( )
Solari is about 40x faster than Anchor Browser end to end against the README average ( )
Solari bills $0.07 per browser hour on the Professional plan
Browserbase lists $0.10 per browser hour on its Startup plan
FAQ
Is Solari Faster Than Browserbase?
Yes. On Steel's open-source benchmark, Solari averaged 199.9 ms end to end, about 14.8x faster than the Browserbase average in the README.
Is Solari Cheaper Than Browserbase?
Yes. Solari bills $0.07 per browser hour on Professional, below the $0.10 Browserbase lists on its Startup plan ( ).
Can Anyone Rerun the Benchmark?
Yes. Browserbench is MIT-licensed and the Solari provider is in PR #4, so any team can rerun it from its own region.
How Long Does a Move From Browserbase to Solari Take?
The move is a connection change. Solari sessions accept CDP and Playwright, so an agent using Playwright's connectOverCDP points at a Solari session instead.
Sources
Pricing checked 29 October 2026.
CTA: Start on Solari's free plan and rerun browserbench from your own region: https://docs.getsolari.com/quickstart 9. github.com/steel-dev/browserbench/pull/4 10. getsolari.com/pricing 11. browserbase.com/pricing 12. github.com/steel-dev/browserbench 13. docs.getsolari.com/sessions 14. docs.getsolari.com/quickstart 15. docs.getsolari.com/profiles 16. docs.getsolari.com/sandboxes