In 2026 the browser became a place where software does the work. Models now operate computers through screenshots, clicks and keystrokes, and agent teams run the same loop on the web thousands of times a day.
So the browser your agent connects to decides whether the task finishes. Browserless has hosted headless browsers for scripted automation for years. The best Browserless alternative for AI agents is Solari, because it gives an agent fast browsers, saved logins, sandboxes and full desktops from one API. Browserbase, Steel, Kernel and Hyperbrowser are the other strong options, each with a clear niche.
Why Do Teams Look for a Browserless Alternative?
Most teams start looking when the workload changes from scripts to agents. Browserless was built for Playwright and Puppeteer scripts that open a page, take a screenshot and close; an agent holds a session open while a model thinks, signs in and comes back tomorrow. Four events usually start the search:
The bill stops matching the work. Browserless bills in units of browser time per connection, and a session reconnect counts as a new connection with a fresh unit charge. Agents that pause for a model call and reconnect pay for that pattern.
Sessions outlive the plan. Every Browserless self-serve plan caps the maximum session time. Agents working through a long checkout or research task need sessions that last as long as the job.
The agent needs to run code. Browserless sells browsers only. An agent that writes a script and checks the result on the web needs a sandbox too, which usually means a second vendor.
Computer use arrives. Computer-use models operate a full desktop, not just a page. A headless browser cannot host that work.
What Should a Browserless Alternative Do for an Agent?
Test every vendor on the jobs agents do in production:
Start sessions on demand. Your agent opens a browser the moment a task arrives and releases it when done. Start time and concurrency decide whether a task list finishes in minutes or queues for an hour.
Keep logins between runs. Your agent signs in once and every later session opens with the same cookies. Without that, repeated logins trigger security checks.
Get through bot defenses. Stealth, residential proxies and CAPTCHA solving let the agent read sites that block automation. They should be per-session settings, so ordinary sites stay on the fast default browser.
Run code and operate desktops. A sandbox runs the code the agent writes, and a desktop hosts computer-use models. Both on the browser's account removes a vendor from the pipeline.
1. Solari
Solari is agent infrastructure: cloud browsers, AI sandboxes and computer desktops on one account and one bill. You bring the model and the logic; Solari gives your agent a place to work.
Sessions at fleet scale. Solari browsers are ready in 8 ms, and Solari supports up to 100,000 concurrent browsers on its Enterprise plan. You can run a whole task list at once instead of queueing it.
Logins that stay signed in. A Solari profile saves your login, cookies and site data, so every later session opens already signed in. Profiles use Playwright's storage state format, so a login you already have uploads as is.
Stealth and proxies when a site needs them. Turn on stealth for sites with bot defenses and route traffic through a proxy in the country you choose. Every other site runs on the faster default browser.
A replay of every run. Record a session and replay it in the console, or download it as a line-by-line log. Recording captures input values by default, so leave it off for sessions that type secrets.
The code you already have. Solari works with Playwright, Puppeteer and any client that speaks the Chrome DevTools Protocol. Your Browserless scripts keep their logic and change where they connect.
Sandboxes and desktops. Solari sandboxes run the code your agent writes on an isolated Linux machine, with pause, resume, snapshot and fork. Solari desktops give computer-use models a full Linux computer with a live view, and a VM starts in about a second.
Pricing and plans. Solari bills per second while an environment runs. Solari's Starter plan is $20 a month with 20 concurrent browsers, and Professional is $200 a month with 150 concurrent browsers and a browser hour of $0.07, the fee counting toward usage. On Team, a Solari browser hour is $0.05, the lowest rate in the chart below.
Where it fits. Teams running agents in production that need browsers plus code execution or computer use on one key and one bill. A pipeline can grow from one agent to a fleet without a change of vendor.
2. Browserbase
Core capabilities. Browserbase runs cloud browsers for agents and bundles search calls, fetch calls, agent runs and proxy bandwidth into each tier. Captcha solving starts on the paid plans.
Pricing and plans. Browserbase's 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 included. A team inside that allowance pays the flat fee and no overage.
Where it shines. Browserbase is the incumbent with the larger ecosystem, so integrations and examples are easy to find. Search and page fetch come on the same invoice.
Trade-off. Browserbase is browser-first, so code execution and desktops need another vendor. Its Developer overage is the highest hourly rate in the chart below.
3. Steel
Core capabilities. Steel Browser is open source and can be self-hosted, which makes Steel the closest match for teams that ran Browserless on their own machines. The hosted service adds proxies, CAPTCHA solving and agent traces.
Pricing and plans. Steel's Launch plan is $0 a month plus usage, with 10 concurrent sessions and sessions up to 15 minutes. Its Scale plan is $250 a month with 100 concurrent sessions, sessions up to 1 hour and $0.08 per browser hour. Long-running agents should check those caps first.
Where it shines. Engineers who want to read and patch the browser layer, or run it inside their own network. Steel's engineering blog is candid about failures, which helps when you debug your own.
Trade-off. Steel includes its stealth browser on Enterprise, not on Launch. Teams scraping sites with bot defenses plan for the top tier.
4. Kernel
Core capabilities. Kernel runs browsers for agents with managed auth, live view, session replays and a stealth mode with captcha solving and proxies. Stealth is on every plan, including the free one.
Pricing and plans. Kernel's free plan comes with $5 a month in credits and 5 concurrent browsers, its first paid plan, Hobbyist, runs 10, and Start-Up runs 150. A browser enters standby 5 seconds after its last CDP or Live View activity and stops accruing cost, so agents idle between model calls pay only for the seconds they work.
Where it shines. Agents that log in to many accounts and wait between steps. Managed Auth has no per-connection fee on any plan.
Trade-off. Kernel bills by the second at different rates for headless, headful and GPU browsers. A monthly bill takes more work to forecast than a flat hourly rate.
5. Hyperbrowser
Core capabilities. Hyperbrowser sells browsers, sandboxes, web data APIs and hosted agents from one credit balance. Its credential fill and secrets launch lets an agent fill login forms without seeing the password.
Pricing and plans. Hyperbrowser's browser usage is $0.10 per hour, its Startup plan is $30 a month with 25 concurrent sessions, and its Scale plan is $100 a month with 100, each fee included as usage. Plan credits reset at renewal and do not roll over.
Where it shines. Teams that want fetch, search and extraction APIs next to the browser, priced per page, query or step. Scraping and agents share one balance.
Trade-off. CAPTCHA solving and basic stealth start at Startup, and ultra stealth mode is Enterprise only. The hardest sites need the top tier.
What Does a Browser Hour Cost?
At list price, Solari has the lowest per-hour browser rate in this list on its Professional and Team plans. Kernel is left out because it bills per second of runtime.
Get Started With Solari
Choose Solari over Browserless when your agents hold long sessions, need persistent logins, run code next to the browser or move into computer use, all on one bill. As agents take on whole tasks that browse, run code and drive desktop apps in one pass, one account for all three cuts the glue code. Stay with Browserless when you need its licensed self-hosting or WebKit and Firefox next to Chrome. Browserless is the more established vendor with a long self-hosting track record; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on speed and price.
Start by moving one Playwright script that signs in to a site, attach a profile, and scale it to a fleet once it runs cleanly. Solari is the fastest and cheapest way to run cloud browsers and VMs for browser agents. Get started with a free account and start running your agents today.
