TL;DR
- A cloud browser gives an AI agent a managed, cloud-hosted browser to use. This guide compares Anchor, Browserbase, Kernel, Steel, Hyperbrowser, Browser Use, and browserless.
- Start with Anchor if you need a managed browser fleet for high-scale or stealth-sensitive workloads. Its documented tools include Anchor Chromium, Web Unlocker, and OmniConnect. Evaluate the other providers against your specific workflow and deployment needs.
- Browser infrastructure supplies the environment. Task-running agents and traditional RPA can use that environment, so the categories are not mutually exclusive.
- Anchor states that you can create up to 5,000 sessions in a batch and that its Enterprise program supports 100,000 or more session launches per minute. Neither figure describes active concurrency.
- Compare costs per verified completed workflow, including retries and recovery. Vendors bill in different units, so headline rates alone cannot establish the cheaper provider.
What a cloud browser for AI agents actually is
A cloud browser for AI agents is a managed, cloud-hosted browser environment where an agent can open pages and carry out web tasks. When you choose a provider, you are choosing the browser environment your agent uses, including how it handles sessions, network access, and capacity. The Cloud Browser vs Headless Browser guide explains the underlying infrastructure distinction in more detail.
Browser infrastructure supplies the environment. A task-running agent decides what actions to take, while traditional RPA follows predefined steps to automate a process. You can run either on browser infrastructure, and some providers supply more than one layer. For production buying, check which layer each provider manages before comparing its features or prices.
How we evaluated these providers
We evaluated each provider by how its browsers support production agent workflows. The comparison covers authentication and session recovery, fleet management, anti-detection methods, token efficiency, deterministic execution, security, deployment options, verified pricing, and best-fit use cases. We separate active concurrency, which counts simultaneous sessions, from batch size, which counts sessions created in one request, and launch throughput, which counts sessions started over time. Any performance figures in the comparison are labeled as vendor-reported.
We do not rank cost or reliability without matched-workflow tests. Providers bill in different units, including browser-hours, credits, tokens, proxy traffic, and connection units. To compare them fairly, run the same workflow on each provider and measure the total spend, retries, recovery effort, and verified completions. A lower usage rate alone does not establish a lower cost per completed workflow.
Provider comparison at a glance
A cloud browser gives an AI agent a managed browser session. The table separates active concurrency, which counts browsers running at once, from batch size, which counts sessions created together, and launch throughput, which counts session starts per minute. Performance and capacity claims are vendor-reported, not independently tested.
Pricing units differ. Compare total browser time, traffic, agent charges, retries, and recovery against verified completed workflows before ranking cost or reliability.
Anchor
Anchor is a strong fit when you need managed browsers for high-scale agent workloads alongside site-access and authentication tools. Anchor Chromium provides humanized browser behavior, while plan-dependent fingerprint and proxy options give you control over how sessions reach websites. For page retrieval, Web Unlocker uses a stealth browser and residential proxy to return rendered content through a sessionless request. It does not create an interactive session or count against browser concurrency.
Anchor states that you can create batches of up to 5,000 browser sessions and that its Enterprise program supports launch throughput of 100,000 or more sessions per minute. Those figures describe batch size and session starts, not browsers running at once. Published plan limits for active concurrency are five browsers on Free, 25 on Starter, 50 on Team, 200 on Growth, and 500 or more on Enterprise.
For authenticated workflows, OmniConnect manages account connection, authentication handoffs, re-authentication, and session recovery. Web Action Cache supports deterministic execution for repeatable browser steps, so an agent need not make a fresh model decision for every action. Those capabilities suit workflows that combine logged-in interactions with repeatable tasks, such as submitting forms across customer accounts.
Growth lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 among its security provisions. Enterprise adds HIPAA-related provisions, SSO, role-based access control, and deployment in your own cloud or on-premises environment. Anchor’s strongest fit is a production workload that needs managed fleet capacity, configurable site-access mechanisms, and sustained authenticated sessions.
Browserbase
Browserbase suits buyers who want managed browser infrastructure alongside agent tools. Browserbase offers cloud browser sessions, while Stagehand provides an AI automation framework and Agent runs provide a separately priced task-running option. Paid plans also list Identity for authenticated workflows and CAPTCHA solving.
Browserbase’s published plans separate active concurrency from usage. The free plan allows 3 concurrent browsers. Developer costs $20 per month for 25 concurrent browsers and 100 included browser hours, with additional hours at $0.12 and proxy traffic beyond 1 GB at $12 per GB. Startup costs $99 per month for 100 concurrent browsers and 500 included hours, with additional hours at $0.10 and proxy traffic beyond 5 GB at $10 per GB. Scale lists 250 or more concurrent browsers with custom pricing.
Scale lists Advanced stealth mode, a HIPAA business associate agreement, and VPC connectivity. Browserbase also documents private cloud options, but its published deployment options do not describe an on-premises offering. For enterprise buyers who need managed browser capacity and optional agent tooling, Browserbase offers both layers under one provider.
Steel
Steel fits developers who want a hosted browser API for AI agents and the option to run an open-source server themselves. Its managed Cloud product provides sessions, persistent profiles, replay, and a live viewer. Session context can carry signed-in cookies and tabs across runs, while human takeover lets you complete steps such as two-factor authentication. The self-hosted server is a separate offering, so confirm which managed Cloud features your deployment needs.
Steel’s published pricing lists Launch at $0 per month plus usage, with 10 concurrent browsers and browser time at $0.10 per hour. Scale costs $250 per month plus usage, with 100 concurrent browsers and browser time at $0.08 per hour. Enterprise has custom pricing and supports 1,000 or more concurrent browsers. Proxy traffic and CAPTCHA solves add separate usage charges on Launch and Scale.
Steel describes proxy support, fingerprint rotation, and humanized pointer movement for Cloud, but its named Stealth Browser feature appears only on Enterprise. For developer-led agent work and benchmarking, Steel offers Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium control alongside tools for inspecting individual sessions.
Hyperbrowser
Hyperbrowser suits you if you want browser infrastructure and hosted agents in one account. Its platform offers browser sessions for Playwright or Puppeteer, sandboxes, a Web API, and hosted agents including HyperAgent and Browser Use. Browser profiles retain login state between runs, while live view and replay help you inspect what happened.
Hyperbrowser meters usage in credits. The Startup plan costs $30 per month, includes 30,000 credits, and allows 25 concurrent sessions. Scale costs $100 per month, includes 100,000 credits, and allows 100 concurrent sessions. Browser time costs 100 credits per hour, or $0.10, while proxy traffic costs 10,000 credits per GB, or $10. Hosted agent steps add 20 credits, or $0.02, each, plus browser time and proxy traffic. Computer-use models also incur token charges.
If you plan to use hosted agents, estimate the cost of a completed task using all applicable charges rather than the browser-hour rate alone.
Browser Use
Browser Use offers two product layers. Its Browser Infrastructure supplies cloud sessions that your agent can control through Playwright, Puppeteer, or a browser connection. Browser Use Agents run tasks on a hosted agent layer. You can choose the browser service without treating the hosted agent as a required part of every workflow.
Browser Infrastructure starts at $0.02 per browser hour, plus traffic. Browser Use lists residential proxy traffic at $5 per GB and direct or own-proxy routing at $0.20 per GB, though an external proxy provider may charge separately. Hosted agents add model-token charges and a 20% service fee on top of browser time and traffic. The browser-hour rate therefore does not describe the cost of a completed agent task, especially when a task needs retries.
Browser Use suits you if you want usage-based browser access and the option to add a hosted agent without changing providers. Browser and agent runs share a concurrency limit that starts at 10 and rises with cumulative paid spend, reaching 50 at $100 and 250 at $1,000. Those thresholds reflect total qualifying payments, not a monthly subscription.
Kernel
Kernel suits latency-sensitive browser agents when you want managed authentication and can evaluate compute-based metering. Kernel reports browser spin-up under 30 milliseconds, a vendor-reported figure rather than a result verified across providers. Its cloud browsers also offer telemetry, live view, and recordings for inspecting agent runs.
Kernel bills browser usage at $0.0000166667 per GB-second, rather than per browser-hour. The Free plan allows five concurrent browsers, three managed-auth connections, and one day of replay retention. Hobbyist costs $30 per month plus usage and raises those limits to 10 concurrent browsers, unlimited managed-auth connections, and seven days of replays. Start-up costs $200 per month plus usage and includes 150 concurrent browsers and 30 days of replays. Enterprise pricing requires a quote.
GB-second billing gives you a different way to account for browser usage, but the rate alone cannot establish a cheaper completed workflow. If fast starts affect your workload, test Kernel with your own login steps, retries, and session sizes before comparing its bill with browser-hour plans.
browserless
browserless fits operations teams that want control over where their agent browsers run and how usage is metered. It offers cloud, managed, and self-hosted deployment, alongside authenticated profiles, session reconnects, debugging tools, and an optional browser agent. Its practical guides address bot-detection challenges, but no provider can guarantee access to a protected site.
browserless pricing counts one unit for up to 30 seconds of a browser connection. A reconnect starts a new unit. Residential proxy traffic costs six units per MB, datacenter proxy traffic costs two units per MB, and a successful CAPTCHA solve costs 10 units. The Prototyping plan lists $25 per month billed annually for 20,000 units and 10 concurrent browsers. The Starter plan lists $140 per month billed annually for 180,000 units and 40 concurrent browsers. Compare those units with your actual connection lengths, traffic, and retries rather than a competitor’s browser-hour rate.
browserless reports SOC 2 Type II and GDPR support, with a HIPAA BAA available. Buyers with deployment or compliance requirements should confirm which arrangements apply to their chosen plan.
Infrastructure versus the agent and RPA layer
A cloud browser supplies the environment where an AI agent opens pages, maintains sessions, and performs web actions. The agent decides which actions to take. Mastra, for example, provides a TypeScript framework for building agents, and you can pair an agent built with it with managed browser infrastructure such as Anchor.
Skyvern operates at a different layer. Its vision-based automation interprets an interface and chooses actions, which can help when a workflow encounters unfamiliar pages. Those actions still run in a browser. Traditional RPA typically follows predefined steps instead of choosing each action based on the page it sees, but it can also use browser infrastructure.
You can combine these approaches within one workflow. An agent might handle an unfamiliar page, while a predefined action handles a known form. When choosing a provider, check what it supplies at each layer rather than assuming that a browser service, an agent framework, or an RPA tool replaces the others.
Judging cost per completed workflow, not sticker price
Compare providers by dividing the total cost of every attempt by the number of verified completed workflows. Include browser runtime, proxy traffic, agent runs or model tokens, retries, and recovery after failed sessions. Spread subscription fees across the workflows you actually run, and account for included usage before applying overage rates.
Billing units change what a headline price covers. Browser Use lists browser time at $0.02 per hour and default residential traffic at $5 per GB, with hosted-agent and model charges billed separately. At those rates, ten one-hour attempts using 0.1 GB each would cost $5.20 for browser time and traffic. If eight attempts completed the task, that would be $0.65 per verified completion before agent fees or further recovery costs. Browser Use also rounds browser time up to the minute, so shorter attempts need a calculation based on billed minutes.
Other meters require the same accounting. Browserbase includes browser hours and proxy data by plan before overage charges apply. Hyperbrowser charges credits for browser time, proxy data, and agent steps. Kernel meters browser use by GB-second, while browserless charges connection units and additional units for proxies or successful CAPTCHA solves.
Run the same authenticated tasks, site mix, completion checks, and retry policy on each provider. Only matched tests can support a comparative cost or reliability ranking.
How to choose
If authenticated enterprise workflows dominate, start with Anchor. OmniConnect manages authentication across onboarding and use, while Web Action Cache keeps repeatable actions in code. Check the comparison table for each provider’s session recovery, security, and deployment options.
For high-scale or stealth-heavy work, evaluate Anchor’s managed fleet, Anchor Chromium, proxy options, and Web Unlocker against the sites and workflows you actually use. Anchor supports batch creation of up to 5,000 sessions and reports Enterprise launch throughput of at least 100,000 sessions per minute. Its Enterprise plan lists 500 or more concurrent browsers. Batch size, launch rate, and active concurrency measure different things, and none guarantees access to a protected site.
If you need deployment control, start with Anchor Enterprise’s bring-your-own-cloud and on-premises options. Compare Steel and browserless against your hosting and support requirements using their current deployment documentation.
For cost-sensitive prototypes, Anchor’s Free tier offers a starting point. Test it alongside Browser Use and Hyperbrowser on the same small workflow. Use the comparison table to shortlist candidates, then count retries and verified completions before comparing costs.
FAQs
How does a cloud browser differ from a headless browser? A cloud browser provider manages the browser environment you use for automation. You typically run a headless browser yourself. The infrastructure guide covers the technical differences.
What do the browser capacity figures measure? Active concurrency counts browsers running at the same time. Batch creation counts sessions submitted together, while launch throughput counts sessions started per minute. Anchor supports batches of up to 5,000 sessions and Enterprise launch throughput of at least 100,000 sessions per minute. Neither figure states how many browsers run concurrently.
Can a provider guarantee access through site protections? No provider can guarantee access to every protected site. Website controls vary and can change, so test your actual workflows against the sites you need.
Do agent frameworks replace browser infrastructure? Agent frameworks decide what actions to take, while browser infrastructure supplies the environment in which those actions run. You can combine a framework, a cloud browser, and traditional RPA where the workflow calls for them.
Conclusion
Engineering and enterprise buyers moving AI agents into production should choose a cloud browser provider based on documented capabilities and results from their own workflows. Run the same tasks across shortlisted providers, including authentication, recovery after failure, and expected traffic levels. Then compare total spend per verified completion, counting browser runtime, proxy traffic, agent fees, and retries. Headline capacity and usage prices cannot replace that test.
