AI agents have moved browser automation out of the test suite and into production. An agent that researches accounts, fills forms or checks prices spends its day inside a headless browser, so the vendor that runs those browsers decides how fast, how long and how cheaply the agent can work.
Solari and Browserless both rent you browsers by API, and both connect the Playwright and Puppeteer scripts you already have. Solari is the better fit for agents that start many sessions, keep them open for hours and need code sandboxes or desktops on the same account. Browserless fits teams that want to self-host the browser layer or call ready-made endpoints for screenshots and PDFs. This comparison covers speed, price and the jobs each one fits.
Why Does the Browser Vendor Matter More for Agents?
Browser automation used to mean a test suite or a scraper running short scripts on a schedule. An agent works differently: it opens many sessions at once, waits on a page while a model decides the next step, and often needs a login that survives between runs.
That turns the choice of vendor into three questions. How quickly does a session start, when a fleet starts thousands of them a day? How is a long session billed and capped? And what else does the agent need next to the browser, such as a machine to run the code it writes?
Solari vs Browserless at a Glance
Choose Solari when your agents start many sessions, hold them open for hours, or need sandboxes and desktops next to the browser on one bill. It is also the vendor with a published, rerunnable speed figure.
Choose Browserless when you must run the browser layer on your own servers, or you want REST endpoints for screenshots, PDFs and downloads without writing a script.
1. Solari
Core Capabilities
Solari runs cloud browsers, AI sandboxes and computer desktops from one API and one account. Browsers connect over the Chrome DevTools Protocol, so an existing Playwright or Puppeteer agent moves over by changing its connection URL.
Logins and Audit
A Solari profile saves your login, your cookies and site data, so your agent signs in once and every later session starts signed in. Profiles use Playwright's storage state format, so a login file you already have uploads as is. Turn on session recording when a session starts and you can replay it later or download it as a line-by-line log of what happened on the page.
Where It Shines
Speed, long sessions and breadth. Solari sandboxes run commands and code that keeps its state, with snapshot and fork, and Solari desktops give a computer use model a full screen to operate. Your agent can browse, write code and run it without a second vendor.
Who It's Best For
Platform engineers who run web agents in production and want one vendor for browsers, code execution and desktops. It suits teams whose agents hold sessions for minutes or hours rather than seconds.
2. Browserless
Core Capabilities
Browserless runs Chrome, WebKit and Firefox as a service and connects existing scripts by swapping launch() for connect(). Browserless says it also ships BrowserQL, an MCP server, its own browser agent and Authenticated Profiles that let an agent log in once and reuse the login across runs.
Where It Shines
Track record and deployment choice. Browserless has run browsers in production for years and sells licensed self-hosting on your own infrastructure. A team that must keep browsers inside its own network can run the same API there, and its REST endpoints turn a URL into a screenshot or PDF without a script.
Trade-Off
Browserless caps how long a session may run on every self-serve plan, and the cap rises with the plan. That suits short scraping and screenshot jobs, while an agent that waits on a page for hours runs into it.
Who It's Best For
Teams with existing Puppeteer scraping, PDF or screenshot jobs, and companies that need to self-host the browser layer.
Which Is Faster?
Solari is the one with a published, rerunnable speed number. On Steel's open-source benchmark, Solari averaged 199.9 ms end to end across 5,000 runs, with session create at 8 ms (median). The pull request with Solari's results is open, so anyone can rerun it.
Browserless is not one of the five vendors in that benchmark, and it leads with track record rather than a latency figure. The benchmark times four steps (create, connect over CDP, first page load, release), and you can time the same four steps against any vendor from your own region before you commit.
Start time matters more for agents than for scripts. A fleet that starts thousands of sessions a day pays it on every single one, and a slow start stretches every task in the queue.
Which Costs Less?
For agents that hold sessions open, Solari is simpler to predict because it bills per browser hour. Browserless bills in units against a monthly allowance, so its cost depends on how often your agent connects as well as how long it works.
Solari's plans start at $0 with 3 concurrent browsers. Solari Starter is $20 a month with 20 concurrent browsers at $0.10 per browser hour, and Solari Professional is $200 a month with 150 concurrent browsers at $0.07 per browser hour and sessions up to 24 hours. The monthly fee arrives as credit, and there is no end-of-month overage charge. For fleets, Solari supports up to 100,000 concurrent browsers on its largest plan.
Browserless says its free plan includes 2 concurrent browsers and sessions of up to 2 minutes, and its paid self-serve plans step up from Prototyping (10 concurrent browsers, 15-minute sessions) to Starter (40, 30 minutes) and Scale (100, 60 minutes). Each paid plan includes a monthly unit allowance, charges per unit above it and costs less when billed annually. Browserless defines a unit as up to 30 seconds of browser time per connection, and each reconnect starts a fresh unit.
Both sell proxies and CAPTCHA solving on top. Solari charges per GB and per solve once stealth mode is on, and Browserless charges in units per MB and per solve.
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Solari when your agents run as a fleet, when they work inside signed-in tools for longer than an hour, or when they need to run code and operate desktops as well as browse. A research agent that scrapes a page and then analyses what it found runs both steps on one Solari account, and a saved profile keeps every session signed in.
Choose Browserless when your main job is turning URLs into screenshots, PDFs or downloads, or when company policy keeps every browser on your own hardware. Its REST endpoints and licensed self-hosting cover both well.
Get Started With Solari
Browserless is the more established vendor, with a self-hosted option and a long record in production; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on speed and price.
Start with one job, such as moving a single Puppeteer agent over by swapping its connection URL, then compare a week of runs. 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.
