# Browserbase

Cloud browser service that runs headless Chrome sessions for agents, controlled over CDP, with proxies, CAPTCHA solving and session replay.

- Provider: Browserbase, Inc. (https://www.browserbase.com)
- Category: Drive a browser
- Type: Hosted browser
- Pricing model: Monthly plan with included browser hours, then per-hour overage [2]
- Free tier: 1 browser hour, 3 concurrent sessions, 15 minutes per session, no card [2]
- Authentication: API key (`x-bb-api-key`); API key in URL for the hosted MCP server [18]
- Connect via: CDP (Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium), REST API, SDKs, hosted MCP server, Browse CLI, Stagehand [21]
- Read from the provider's pages on 2026-11-04
- Page: https://supermarket.dev/tools/drive-a-browser/browserbase

## Pricing

### Billing
- Pricing model: Monthly plan with an included allocation of browser hours; pay-as-you-go overage beyond it [2]
- Free tier: Free plan: 1 browser hour, 3 concurrent sessions, 15 minutes per session [2]
- Card required for free tier: No [2]
- Minimum spend: Free plan is $0; paid plans start at $20 a month (Developer) [1]
- Billing period: Monthly subscription; usage beyond the allocation billed on a separate usage invoice [3]

### Prices
Overage rates are as listed in the docs. If the included hours are fully used, the average cost per browser-hour of the plan itself is $20 / 100 = $0.20 (Developer) and $99 / 500 = $0.198 (Startup).
| Plan | Monthly fee | Browser hours included | Price per browser-hour beyond included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | Not available |
| Developer | $20 | 100 | $0.12 |
| Startup | $99 | 500 | $0.10 |
| Scale | Custom | Flexible | Custom |
Source [2]

### Plans
| Plan | Concurrent sessions | Max session length | Session creations a minute | Proxy included | Proxy overage | Data retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 3 | 15 minutes | 5 | 0 GB | Not available | 7 days |
| Developer | 25 | 6 hours | 25 | 1 GB | $12/GB | 7 days |
| Startup | 100 | 6 hours | 50 | 5 GB | $10/GB | 30 days |
| Scale | 250+ | 6+ hours | 150+ | Usage-based | Custom | 30+ days |
Source [2]

### Other charges
- Fetch API overage: $1 per 1,000 calls (Developer); $0.5 per 1,000 calls (Startup); $4 per 1,000 with proxies [1]
- Search API overage: $7 per 1,000 calls [2]
- Search API overage (other page): $1 to $12 per 1,000 searches by provider; $5 per 1,000 by default [1]
- Agent runs included: Free 3, Developer 15, Startup 50 a month [1]
- Model Gateway: Market price, pay as you go; $5 in tokens included on paid-plan cards [1]

## Tools

### MCP server
- Official MCP server: Yes, remote [5]
- Address or package: `https://mcp.browserbase.com/mcp`; legacy local package `@browserbasehq/mcp-server-browserbase` (deprecated, moved to `@browserbasehq/mcp`) [7]
- Local server status: The GitHub repository of the stdio server is archived [6]

### MCP tools
Six tools returned by tools/list on the hosted endpoint without credentials; no annotations were present.
| Tool | What it does | Read-only |
|---|---|---|
| `start` | Create or reuse a Browserbase session | Not stated |
| `end` | Close the current Browserbase session | Not stated |
| `navigate` | Navigate to a URL | Not stated |
| `act` | Perform an action on the page in natural language | Not stated |
| `observe` | Observe actionable elements on the page | Not stated |
| `extract` | Extract data from the page | Not stated |
Source [4]

### API
| Endpoint | What it does |
|---|---|
| `POST /v1/sessions` | Create a browser session |
| `GET /v1/sessions/{id}` | Get a session |
| `GET /v1/sessions/{id}/replays` | Session replay pages as HLS |
| `POST /v1/contexts` | Create a persistent context |
| `POST /v1/fetch` | Fetch a page and return its content |
| `POST /v1/search` | Web search |
| `POST /v1/agents/runs` | Run a browser agent |
| `POST /v1/functions/{id}/invoke` | Invoke a Function |
Source [20]

### Features
- Where the browser runs: Browserbase cloud; regions `us-west-2`, `us-east-1`, `eu-central-1`, `ap-southeast-1` [26]
- Default region: `us-west-2` [26]
- Browsers: Chrome (Chromium); Verified sessions use a purpose-built Chromium browser [16]
- Max session length: 15 minutes on Free; up to 6 hours on paid plans (`timeout` 60 to 21600 seconds) [9]
- Concurrent sessions: 3 Free, 25 Developer, 100 Startup, 250+ Scale [8]
- Proxies: Built-in residential proxies (`proxies: true`), or own HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS5 proxies; paid plans only [12]
- CAPTCHA solving: On by default; disable with `solveCaptchas` set to `false`; up to 30 seconds per challenge [11]
- Session recording: Video recording on by default; HLS replay and MP4 download; kept up to 30 days [15]
- Persistent logins: Contexts reuse cookies and local storage across sessions when `persist: true` [14]

## Authentication

### Methods
| Method | Used for | How |
|---|---|---|
| API key | REST API, SDKs, Stagehand | Header `x-bb-api-key` |
| API key in URL | Hosted MCP server | Query parameter `browserbaseApiKey` on `https://mcp.browserbase.com/mcp` |
| Link CLI payment (MPP) | Create a session without an account | Pay the `402 Payment Required` challenge with `link-cli mpp pay` |
Source [18]

### Getting access
- Who creates the account: A person signs up for an account and copies the API key; the MPP route needs no Browserbase account or API key [25]
- Where to get a key: Browserbase dashboard [4]
- Other requirements: Project ID for the SDK and the stdio server; an LLM key when not using the default model on the MCP server [4]

## Setup

### Addresses
- REST API: `https://api.browserbase.com/v1` [18]
- MCP server: `https://mcp.browserbase.com/mcp` [4]
- OpenAPI spec: `https://docs.browserbase.com/reference/api/openapi.v1.yaml` [21]
- Docs for agents: `https://docs.browserbase.com/llms.txt` [21]
- Status page: `https://status.browserbase.com` [29]

### Install
Commands as given on the MCP setup, Playwright, Stagehand and Browse CLI pages.
| What | Command |
|---|---|
| Claude Code, hosted MCP | `claude mcp add --transport http browserbase "https://mcp.browserbase.com/mcp?browserbaseApiKey=YOUR_BROWSERBASE_API_KEY"` |
| Node.js SDK with Playwright | `npm i playwright-core @browserbasehq/sdk` |
| Python SDK with Playwright | `pip install playwright browserbase` |
| Stagehand | `pnpm add @browserbasehq/stagehand zod` |
| Browse CLI | `npm install -g browse` |
Source [22]

## Limits

### Rate limits
- Session creation: 5 a minute Free, 25 Developer, 50 Startup, 150+ Scale; 429 when exceeded [8]
- Search API: 2 requests a second [1]
- Fetch API: 5 requests a second [1]

### Other limits
- Minimum billed time: One minute per session [8]
- Maximum session duration: 6 hours [9]
- Concurrency across projects: Concurrency is set per organization and split across projects [8]

## Privacy

### Your data
- Data location: Region chosen per session: US West, US East, EU (Germany), Asia (Singapore); default `us-west-2` [16]
- Retention: Session recording source kept up to 30 days; plan data retention 7 days (Free) or 30 days (Startup) [15]
- Retention (other page): Developer plan data retention 30 days on the pricing page, 7 days on the docs plans page [1]
- Used for training: Not without consent: browser data is not used to train generative AI models without affirmative consent [27]
- Zero data retention: Per-session on every plan via `logSession` and `recordSession` set to `false`; account-level ZDR on Enterprise only [17]

### Compliance
- Certifications: SOC 2 Type II [16]
- HIPAA: Yes, Business Associate Agreements available on the Scale plan [16]

## Sources

1. Pricing: https://www.browserbase.com/pricing
2. Plans & pricing (docs): https://docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans.md
3. Manage billing: https://docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plan-management.md
4. Browserbase MCP server setup: https://docs.browserbase.com/integrations/mcp/setup.md
5. Browserbase MCP server: https://docs.browserbase.com/integrations/mcp/introduction.md
6. mcp-server-browserbase on GitHub: https://github.com/browserbase/mcp-server-browserbase
7. @browserbasehq/mcp-server-browserbase on the npm registry: https://registry.npmjs.org/@browserbasehq/mcp-server-browserbase/latest
8. Concurrency management: https://docs.browserbase.com/optimizations/concurrency/overview.md
9. Timeout: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/browser/long-sessions/timeouts.md
10. Keep alive: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/browser/long-sessions/keep-alive.md
11. CAPTCHA solving: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/captcha-solving.md
12. Proxies: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/proxies.md
13. Agent Identity: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/overview.md
14. Contexts: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/browser/core-features/contexts.md
15. Session replay: https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/browser/observability/session-replay.md
16. Enterprise security: https://docs.browserbase.com/account/enterprise/security.md
17. Zero data retention: https://docs.browserbase.com/account/enterprise/zero-data-retention.md
18. API overview: https://docs.browserbase.com/reference/api/overview.md
19. Create a Session: https://docs.browserbase.com/reference/api/create-a-session.md
20. OpenAPI spec: https://docs.browserbase.com/reference/api/openapi.v1.yaml
21. llms.txt: https://docs.browserbase.com/llms.txt
22. Playwright quickstart: https://docs.browserbase.com/welcome/quickstarts/playwright.md
23. Stagehand quickstart: https://docs.browserbase.com/welcome/quickstarts/stagehand.md
24. Browse CLI: https://docs.browserbase.com/integrations/skills/browse-cli.md
25. MPP quickstart: https://docs.browserbase.com/integrations/mpp/quickstart.md
26. Browser regions: https://docs.browserbase.com/optimizations/latency/multi-region.md
27. Privacy policy: https://www.browserbase.com/privacy-policy
28. Status page: https://status.browserbase.com
29. Checked by supermarket.dev