compare

Compare fastbrowse with other browser agents.

fastbrowse is MIT licensed: the agent, CLI, MCP server and runtime are all in the repository. This page lists each alternative's licence, whether you can run it yourself, and the one head-to-head we measured.

back to fastbrowse.ai·all benchmarks

At a glance

Five things that decide whether you can run the agent where your work already is.

YesPartlyNo

fastbrowseours
Licence
MIT
Run it yourself
Yes, the open source code
In a browser you already have
Yes
Agent loop in the open
Yes
Managed cloud option
Yes
Browser Use
Licence
MIT
Run it yourself
The library, not the cloud
In a browser you already have
Yes
Agent loop in the open
Yes
Managed cloud option
Yes
Browser Use Ultrafast
Licence
closed
Run it yourself
No, hosted only
In a browser you already have
No
Agent loop in the open
No
Managed cloud option
Yes
Browserbase
Licence
closed
Run it yourself
No, hosted only
In a browser you already have
No
Agent loop in the open
No
Managed cloud option
Yes
Stagehand
Licence
MIT
Run it yourself
The library, not the cloud
In a browser you already have
Yes
Agent loop in the open
Partly
Managed cloud option
Yes
Steel
Licence
Apache-2.0
Run it yourself
Yes, the open source code
In a browser you already have
No
Agent loop in the open
n/a
Managed cloud option
Yes

Browser agents compared on licence, self-hosting, attaching to your own browser, whether the agent loop is open, and whether a managed cloud exists. Read from each project's repository on 2026-11-01.
	fastbrowseours	Browser Use	Browser Use Ultrafast	Browserbase	Stagehand	Steel
LicenceThe licence of the part that drives the browser.	MIT	MIT	closed	closed	MIT	Apache-2.0
Run it yourselfWhether you can run the browser-driving code on your own machines.	Yes, the open source code	The library, not the cloud	No, hosted only	No, hosted only	The library, not the cloud	Yes, the open source code
In a browser you already haveAttaches to a Chrome on your machine instead of starting its own.	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Agent loop in the openThe code that decides the next action is published.	Yes	Yes	No	No	Partly	n/a
Managed cloud optionA hosted browser or agent from the same vendor, if you want to stop running it.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Every cell was read on 2026-11-01 from that project's own repository, licence file or documentation. A no on the licence row means the browser-driving code is not published. Prices for fastbrowse hosted are on the pricing page.

Open source, and what that buys you

Run it yourself

The MIT licence covers the agent and the runtime. Point it at local Chrome, a browser you already have open, your own pool or fastbrowse hosted.

Read the loop

Control indexing, action choice, the authorization gate and the quote check are all in the repository. When a task fails you can see which step failed.

Change it and ship it

MIT carries no network-copyleft and no service clause. Embed it in a closed product, fork it, or wire in your own model, tools and graders without asking us or releasing your code.

No lock-in on the browser

The same agent runs on local Chrome, a Chrome you already have open, or a hosted browser. Switching between them is a configuration change.

What each licence obliges you to do

MIT: Permissive. Keep the notice, ship it inside a closed product, and change what you like.
Apache-2.0: Permissive, with an explicit patent grant and a patent-retaliation clause.
AGPL-3.0: Copyleft over a network. Run a modified version as a service and its source has to be offered.
SSPL-1.0: Not an OSI-approved open source licence. Offering it as a service carries a source-release obligation.

The field, by licence and hosting

Checked on 2026-11-01 against each project's own repository or licence file. A project whose browser-driving core is a hosted service is marked closed, even if its SDK is open source. For a vendor's own performance numbers, follow its link.

Browser agents and browser infrastructure, with licence and self-hosting for each, checked on 2026-11-01
Project	What it is	Licence	Run it yourself
fastbrowseOur agent	An agent that picks from the page's controls, cites what it read, and runs locally, in your own browser or in fastbrowse hosted.	MIT	Yes, the open source code
Browser Use	A Python agent library, with Browser Use Cloud selling managed browsers and a hosted agent on top of it.	MIT	The library, not the cloud
Browser Use Ultrafast	A hosted Browser Use agent mode tuned for short tasks, run on their cloud only.	closed	No, hosted only
Browser Harness	A small Browser Use project that points a coding agent at the Chrome you are already signed into.	MIT	Yes, the open source code
Browserbase	Managed cloud browsers and a hosted agent platform; the SDK and MCP server around it are open source.	closed	No, hosted only
Stagehand	Browserbase's SDK that mixes Playwright code with act, extract and observe calls, on a local browser or theirs.	MIT	The library, not the cloud
Steel	A browser API you run in Docker or buy hosted; the browser service itself is the open source part.	Apache-2.0	Yes, the open source code
Browserless	The long-running Docker headless Chrome service, sold as a cloud and as a self-hosted container.	SSPL-1.0 or commercial	Yes, the open source code
Hyperbrowser	Hosted browsers with agent and scraping APIs on top, sold per browser hour and per step.	closed	No, hosted only
Anchor Browser	Hosted browsers built around authenticated sessions, with on-premises deployment sold at the top tier.	closed	On contract
Kernel	A managed browser runtime sold as a platform, with fast session starts and browser pools as the pitch.	closed	No, hosted only
Skyvern	A browser workflow agent that drives pages from screenshots, self-hostable, with a managed cloud as well.	AGPL-3.0	Yes, the open source code
Notte	Browser and automation infrastructure for agents, sold as a cloud, with an open source SDK that also runs browser sessions locally.	SSPL-1.0	The library, not the cloud
Playwright MCP	Microsoft's MCP server that gives a coding agent Playwright's own controls in a browser it drives.	Apache-2.0	Yes, the open source code
agent-browser	Vercel Labs' command line browser driver for coding agents, with no cloud account in the loop.	Apache-2.0	Yes, the open source code
Lightpanda	A headless browser written from scratch for automation, rather than a wrapper around Chromium.	AGPL-3.0	Yes, the open source code

"Not declared on the repository" means the repository metadata names no licence; it is not a statement about the vendor's terms.

The measured head-to-head

46 tasks, 3 repeats each, both agents run by us on the same task list with the hosted Browser Use agent at its defaults. The method, limits and per-task rows are on the benchmarks page.

Task success, execution time and cost per run for fastbrowse and the hosted Browser Use agent on the same tasks
Agent	Task success	Execution time	Cost per run
fastbrowse	99.2%	18.9s	$0.0296
Browser Use agent	96.3%	15.3s	$0.3180

Task success is the share of scored runs the grader passed. Execution time is the median run, dispatch to answer, cold start included for both. Cost per run is the mean recorded charge. Read the method and limits before comparing these figures with any other suite.

Where each one fits

Open source agents: fastbrowse, Browser Use and Skyvern publish the loop that picks each action. Skyvern reads pages from screenshots.
Hosted agents: Browser Use Ultrafast is tuned for short tasks and publishes its own median time.
Browser infrastructure: Browserbase, Steel, Hyperbrowser, Anchor and Kernel sell browsers with stealth, proxies, CAPTCHA handling and concurrency. An agent runs on top of them.
Before you choose, run your own tasks on each candidate, ours included.

More on how fastbrowse acts: why an AI agent clicks the wrong button and an MCP browser server with spending limits.

Sources

Licences and hosting states: each project's own repository or licence file, linked in the table above, checked 2026-11-01.
The measured figures: the approved benchmark feed at build time, the same source the benchmarks page renders, with its method and limits published there.
fastbrowse's own licence: the MIT licence in the repository.