---
title: Browserless
slug: browserless
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/browserless"
homepage: "https://www.browserless.io"
categories: browser-automation-apis
last_verified: 2026-11-07
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Browserless

> Self-hostable headless Chrome service; BrowserQL for bot-heavy sites

- The oldest product here, and the one most teams have already run in Docker
- Cloud service bills time in short units and exposes the same CDP endpoint as the self-hosted image
- BrowserQL, its GraphQL-style API, is the stealth-first path: declarative navigation, challenge handling and a live takeover URL

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Browserless |
| Company | Browserless |
| One-liner | Self-hostable headless Chrome service; BrowserQL for bot-heavy sites |
| Site | https://www.browserless.io |
| Docs | https://docs.browserless.io |
| Repo | https://github.com/browserless/browserless |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Open source | Yes |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Browser APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis)
Ranked **#7 of 14** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Anti-bot pass rate | - | Unknown | - | - | Panel not yet run. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--antibot_success |
| Stealth mode | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.browserless.io/browserql/start | BrowserQL is the stealth-first API; the classic REST endpoints are weaker. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--stealth_mode |
| CAPTCHA solving | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://docs.browserless.io/browserql/bot-detection/solving-captchas | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--captcha_solving |
| Residential proxy | metered-extra | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://www.browserless.io/pricing | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--residential_proxy |
| Cold start | - | Unknown | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--cold_start |
| CDP endpoint | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.browserless.io | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--cdp_endpoint |
| Playwright | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.browserless.io/examples/playwright-connection | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--playwright_support |
| Puppeteer | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.browserless.io/examples/puppeteer-connection | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--puppeteer_support |
| Session persistence | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Reconnect and keep-alive hold a session open; durable named profiles are a self-host concern. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--session_persistence |
| Live view | ● | Inferred | - | - | BrowserQL exposes a live URL you can embed for takeover. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--live_view |
| Session replay | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Recording is possible via the function API rather than retained automatically. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--session_replay |
| Max concurrency | 100 sessions | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://www.browserless.io/pricing | Scale plan self-serve ceiling; Enterprise higher. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--concurrency_ceiling |
| File downloads | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.browserless.io/baas/features/file-transfers | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--file_downloads |
| Chrome extensions | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Straightforward when self-hosting; constrained on the shared cloud. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--extension_support |
| Browser regions | us-west, eu-west, eu-central | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://www.browserless.io/pricing | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--regions |
| Agent API | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--computer_use_api |
| MCP server | ● | Inferred | - | - | Vendor MCP server exists; confirm the package before relying on it. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--mcp_server |
| Human handoff | ● | Inferred | - | - | Live URL hands control to a person mid-script and returns it. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--human_handoff |
| Pricing model | per-hour | Inferred | - | - | Billed in short time units rather than whole hours. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--pricing_model |
| Per browser-hour | - | Unknown | - | - | Unit-based pricing varies enough by plan that a single hourly figure would mislead. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--price_per_hour |
| Free tier | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-06 | https://www.browserless.io/pricing | Free plan: 1k units/month, 2 min max session, 2 concurrent browsers. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--free_tier |
| GitHub stars | 10,000 | Inferred | - | - | Rounded. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--github_stars |
| Funding stage | bootstrapped | Inferred | - | - | No publicly reported venture round. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--funding_stage |
| Open-source core | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://github.com/browserless/browserless | Docker image is the same service the cloud runs; check the current licence terms before commercial self-hosting. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--open_source_core |
| Positioning | Headless browser automation you can host yourself | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--positioning |
| Launched | 2018 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#browserless--launch_year |

**Verdict.** The pragmatic choice when you may bring everything in-house later, though BrowserQL and the classic API diverge.

## Alternatives

- [Airtop](https://toolweight.com/tools/airtop), Natural-language browser API, describe the page, skip the selectors
- [Anchor Browser](https://toolweight.com/tools/anchor-browser), Cloud browsers built around authenticated sessions and human takeover
- [Apify](https://toolweight.com/tools/apify), Actor platform for scraping and agents, with Crawlee as the open-source core
- [Bright Data Browser API](https://toolweight.com/tools/bright-data-browser-api), CDP browsers on a 70M+ residential IP network with challenge handling built in
- [Browser Use](https://toolweight.com/tools/browser-use), The open-source browser agent library, with stealth cloud browsers and a hosted agent API
- [Browserbase](https://toolweight.com/tools/browserbase), Managed headless browsers for AI agents, with Stagehand as the SDK
- [Cloudflare Browser Rendering](https://toolweight.com/tools/cloudflare-browser-rendering), Puppeteer and Playwright bindings for Workers, plus REST render endpoints
- [Hyperbrowser](https://toolweight.com/tools/hyperbrowser), Agent-first browsers with hosted scrape, crawl and CUA endpoints
- [Kernel](https://toolweight.com/tools/kernel), Fast-starting browsers plus a runtime for deploying browser agents
- [Self-hosted Playwright](https://toolweight.com/tools/playwright-self-hosted), The baseline: run Chromium in your own container and own everything
- [ScrapingBee](https://toolweight.com/tools/scrapingbee), One-call HTML API with JavaScript rendering and premium proxy tiers
- [Steel.dev](https://toolweight.com/tools/steel-dev), Open-source browser API for AI agents, hosted or self-run

## Logo & brand colours

SVG files: https://toolweight.com/teams/browserless/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/browserless/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/browserless.

| Hex | oklch |
| --- | --- |
| #000000 | oklch(0.0% 0.000 0.0) |

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/browserless
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/browserless.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.