← Autonomous web-acting agent
Browserbase vs Steel.dev for Autonomous web-acting agent (Oct 2026)
Depot Pick for this job: Browserbase. Steel.dev is a ranked runner-up. Both have a sourced price in usd_per_browser_hour, so this comparison is like for like on price. Prices are each provider's lowest sourced SKU in that unit only (no blending across units, input/output or context tiers), not quality-adjusted.
Scores as of 2026-10-19 / 2026-09-14 (8 / 43 days; stale after 30). Prices carry their own dates.
| Browserbase (Depot Pick) | Steel.dev | |
|---|---|---|
| Job-weighted overall | 8.30 | 8.27 |
| Capability fit | 9.2 | 8.6 |
| Price / performance | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| Latency / reliability | 8.8 | 8 |
| Developer & agent DX | 9.4 | 8.6 |
| Privacy / data retention | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 5 | 2.5 |
| Maturity / track record | 8.2 | 7.2 |
| Lowest sourced SKU (usd_per_browser_hour) | $0.1 (Startup browser hour overage) source · as of 2026-10-03 | $0.08 (Scale browser hours) source · as of 2026-10-03 |
| Free option for this job | none listed | none listed |
| Score kind / confidence | curated_estimate / high | curated_estimate / high |
When not to use Browserbase
Read-only extraction — Firecrawl. Pure search — Exa/Tavily.
Lock-in
Stored lock-in risk (0–10, higher = more lock-in): Browserbase 5, Steel.dev 2.5. Self-host fallback for this job: browser-use, WebArena, VisualWebArena.
Agents: GET /api/compare?providers=browserbase,steel-dev&jtbd=web-agent · full job page · methodology