Browsa vs Steel
Steel is open source and has the cheapest browser-hour of the two. Browsa costs more per hour, and includes realistic fingerprints, hour-long sessions and hosted agent tasks without a monthly plan.
Last checked: 7 November 2026
The short version. Per browser-hour, Browsa costs more than Steel, often several times more. Browsa makes sense when you want fingerprints, one-hour sessions, schedules and hosted agent tasks without a $250 monthly plan or an Enterprise contract. If you want to self-host, need proxies or CAPTCHA solving, or run large volumes, Steel is the better fit.
At a glance
Browsa figures come from our own pricing and product. Steel figures come from their public pages, numbered in the sources at the bottom.
| Browsa | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Prepaid credit packs, no subscription: $20 for 200, $100 for 1,200, $500 for 7,500 credits$0.10, $0.083 or $0.067 per credit. Credits never expire. | Launch: $0 plus usage. Scale: $250/mo plus usage, with $100 of usage included each month. Enterprise: custom1 |
| Free tier | 100 credits once you verify your email, about 100 five-minute browsersNo card. | $30 of one-time usage credits on Launch1, valid for 90 days2About 300 browser-hours at the Launch rate. |
| Price per browser-hour | 5 credits per session up to 1 hour: $0.50 at the Starter rate, $0.33 at the Pro rateBilled per session, not per minute. A session up to 5 minutes is 1 credit. | $0.10 on Launch, $0.08 on Scale1Billed by the minute, rounded up2 |
| Session length and concurrency | Up to 1 hour per session on every pack; 15 concurrent browsers per workspace, raised on request | 15 minutes on Launch, 1 hour on Scale, up to 24 hours on Enterprise; 10, 100 or 1,000+ concurrent sessions1Data kept 7 days on Launch, 14 on Scale. |
| Stealth | Realistic fingerprints from Browsa's own Chromium build, on every packA fresh browser passes 4 of 6 public detection tests, 5 of 6 with a saved identity. Benchmarks. | Stealth Browser, Steel's custom Chromium fork, on Enterprise only12 |
| CAPTCHA solving | Not offered | $3 per 1,000 solves on Launch, $1 per 1,000 on Scale1On Launch, unlocked by adding $10 of paid balance2 |
| Proxies | Not provided. Bring your own HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy per browser | $10/GB on Launch, $6/GB on Scale; dedicated IPs $5 each on Scale1Same $10 paid-balance step on Launch2 |
| Hosted AI agent | Yes: describe a task, get the result as data5 credits for the browser, plus 1, plus 1 per 5 steps. 5 more on Browsa's hosted model. | No hosted agent listed. Steel is browser infrastructure your own agent connects to4, with a Commands API for agent-style control over HTTP6 |
| BYOK LLM keys | Yes, self-serve. Your key is encrypted and deleted when each run ends | Not applicable: you run the agent and its model yourself |
| Schedules and webhooks | Recurring tasks every 1 hour to 30 days; HMAC-signed webhooks | Neither is listed on the pricing page or in the docs index16 |
| MCP and SDKs | MCP server @browsa/mcp; Python and TypeScript SDKs |
Hosted MCP server5; Python and Node.js SDKs, plus a CLI4. /scrape tools at $5 per 1,0001 |
| Open source | No | Yes: steel-browser, Apache-2.0, self-hostable with Docker3 |
| Compliance | No SOC 2 or HIPAA today | HIPAA-ready BAA on Scale and Enterprise; SSO on Enterprise1. Security details in their trust center7 |
Which one fits
Where Browsa fits better
- Fingerprints on every packThe 100 free credits get the same Chromium build as the $500 pack. On Steel, Stealth Browser is an Enterprise feature. We publish where ours passes and misses on the benchmarks page.
- One-hour sessions without a monthly planEvery Browsa session can run up to an hour. On Steel, Launch sessions stop at 15 minutes and an hour needs the $250 Scale plan.
- Hosted agent tasks on your own keySend a task in plain language with your Anthropic or OpenAI key and get data back. The key is encrypted for the run and deleted when it ends. No key? Use Browsa's model for 5 more credits.
- Schedules and webhooks built inRun a task every hour, every day or once a month, and get each result on an HMAC-signed webhook. No cron job of your own to run.
- Credits that never expireBuy a pack once and use it over months. Steel's $30 Launch credits are valid for 90 days.
Where Steel fits better
- The lowest browser-hour$0.08 to $0.10 an hour, billed by the minute. A five-minute session costs under a cent, against 1 credit on Browsa. For pure browser time, Steel costs less at almost every volume.
- Open source and self-hostingsteel-browser is Apache-2.0. You can read the code, run it on your own machines with Docker, and use Steel Cloud only when you want it managed.
- Higher limits100 concurrent sessions on Scale and 1,000+ on Enterprise, with sessions up to 24 hours. Browsa caps sessions at 1 hour.
- Proxies, CAPTCHAs and dedicated IPsManaged proxies, CAPTCHA solving and dedicated IPs, priced per use. With Browsa you bring your own proxy and handle CAPTCHAs yourself.
- Compliance and ecosystemA HIPAA-ready BAA from the Scale plan, SSO on Enterprise, a hosted MCP server, a CLI and skills for coding agents, and integrations with frameworks such as Browser Use, Stagehand and the OpenAI Agents SDK.
What a month costs
Two workloads, browser time only. Proxy bandwidth, CAPTCHA solves and model tokens are left out because Browsa does not sell them.
A steady month: 1,000 five-minute sessions and 100 one-hour sessions
That is about 183 browser-hours. On Browsa it is 1,000 × 1 credit plus 100 × 5 credits, so 1,500 credits.
| Option | Monthly | How |
|---|---|---|
| Steel Launch | $18.33 | 183.3 hours × $0.101. Sessions stop at 15 minutes, so each one-hour job runs as four sessions |
| Steel Scale | $250.00 | The plan fee. 183.3 hours × $0.08 = $14.67, inside the $100 of included usage1 |
| Browsa, Starter rate | $150.00 | 1,500 credits × $0.10 |
| Browsa, Pro rate | $100.00 | 1,500 credits × $0.067, from the $500 pack |
Steel bills by the minute, rounded up2. Browsa bills per session: 1 credit up to 5 minutes, 5 credits up to 1 hour. Browsa figures use the per-credit rate; packs come in $20, $100 and $500 and unused credits carry over.
If your long jobs can be split, Steel is far cheaper. On Launch this month costs about $18, roughly a fifth to an eighth of Browsa. If each job needs one unbroken hour, Steel needs the Scale plan at $250 and Browsa comes out lower at $100 to $150.
A quiet month: 150 five-minute sessions, nothing else
About 12.5 browser-hours, or 150 credits on Browsa.
| Option | Monthly | How |
|---|---|---|
| Steel Launch | $1.25 | 12.5 hours × $0.101, covered by the $30 credits in the first 90 days2 |
| Browsa, first month | $20.00 | 100 free credits plus a $20 pack for the other 50; 150 credits carry over |
| Browsa, after that | $15.00 | 150 credits × $0.10 |
Steel is cheaper here too. Browsa's case at this volume is the features, not the price: fingerprints on every session, hosted agent tasks and schedules. A 10-step agent task is 8 credits on your own model key, 13 on Browsa's.
Questions
Is Browsa cheaper than Steel?
For browser time, no. Steel's $0.08 to $0.10 an hour, billed by the minute, is cheaper than Browsa's credits at almost any volume. Browsa can cost less when you need one-hour sessions and would otherwise move to Steel's $250 Scale plan just for the longer limit.
Can I self-host Browsa?
No. Browsa runs only as a hosted service. If you need to run the browser on your own machines, Steel's open-source steel-browser is Apache-2.0 and ships a Docker image.
Does Steel include stealth?
Steel's pricing page lists its Stealth Browser, a custom Chromium fork, on Enterprise only. Browsa's own Chromium build with realistic fingerprints is used for every browser on every pack, including the free credits.
Does Browsa provide proxies or solve CAPTCHAs?
No. You can bring any HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy per browser, and the browser's timezone and language follow the proxy's country. Browsa does not solve CAPTCHAs; your code sees the challenge and decides what to do. Steel sells both per use, and on Launch you unlock them by adding $10 of paid balance.
Will my Playwright or Puppeteer code move over?
Yes. Both give you a Chromium browser over CDP. Create a Browsa browser, then pass its cdp_http address and an X-API-Key header to chromium.connect_over_cdp() in Playwright or puppeteer.connect(). Steel's session options and Browsa's saved identities each need their own small change.
Does Browsa have SOC 2 or HIPAA?
No, not today. Steel offers a HIPAA-ready BAA from its Scale plan. If your security review requires it, Steel is the better choice.
Sources
Steel figures were read from these pages on 7 November 2026. Prices change; check the source before you decide. Browsa figures come from our pricing page and benchmarks. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it.
- Steel pricing: https://steel.dev/pricing
- Steel pricing and limits docs: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/pricinglimits
- steel-browser repository: https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser
- Steel homepage: https://steel.dev
- Steel MCP server docs: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/mcp
- Steel docs index: https://docs.steel.dev/llms.txt
- Steel trust center: https://trust.steel.dev
Try it on your own workload.
100 free credits once you verify your email. No card, no subscription.