As AI agents take on tasks across the web, they often need to interact with websites that do not expose everything through an API. An agent may need to open a page, navigate an interface, fill out a form, sign into an account, or complete a workflow across multiple pages. Browser-based agents are designed to handle these kinds of interactions through the same web interfaces people use.
AI agent browser infrastructure provides the underlying browser environments needed to run these interactions. Depending on the platform, it can provision remote browsers, manage sessions, maintain browser state, support authenticated profiles, route traffic through proxies, or provide tools for observing and debugging browser activity.
That infrastructure becomes especially useful when browser-based agents move beyond individual local sessions. A straightforward application may only need to launch a browser for a single task, while other architectures need to run many browser sessions concurrently, preserve state between tasks, isolate sessions from one another, or reconnect to browsers that are running remotely.
There are several ways to address this. Some products focus primarily on providing managed browser environments that developers control through tools such as Playwright or the Chrome DevTools Protocol, while others combine browser infrastructure with higher-level APIs or agent tooling. Platforms also differ in how they handle browser persistence, authentication, networking, observability, and the lifecycle of each browser session.
Rather than trying to catalog every browser automation product available today, this guide focuses on nine solutions that represent different approaches to browser infrastructure for AI agents. By the end of this roundup, you'll have a better understanding of how these approaches differ, where each product fits within an agent's browser architecture, and which approach best fits your AI application.
What Is AI Agent Browser Infrastructure?
AI agent browser infrastructure provides the browsers that agents use to interact with websites and web applications.
A useful way to understand it is to separate the agent from the browser it uses. The agent decides what needs to happen, while the browser carries out the interactions needed to complete the task. For example, an agent might decide that it needs information from a website, while the browser handles loading the site and interacting with its pages.
With browser infrastructure, these browsers run remotely instead of alongside the application itself. An application can request a browser when it needs one, connect the agent to it, and release it when the task is complete. The infrastructure provider handles running the browser and the underlying computing resources it requires.
This separation also means the agent and browser can operate independently. The application can manage its agent logic while relying on a browser infrastructure platform to provide the browser resources needed for web-based tasks.
Browser infrastructure therefore sits between agent logic and the websites an agent needs to use. It provides the browser where web interactions take place, while the agent and application handle responsibilities such as reasoning, orchestration, and deciding what actions to perform.
How to Evaluate AI Agent Browser Infrastructure Platforms
Browser infrastructure platforms differ in what they manage and how they work, so the right choice depends on what your agents need from a browser.
Every application has different requirements, but we've found that these five considerations provide a useful starting point when evaluating browser infrastructure.
Browser Control
Start with how your application needs to interact with the browser.
A platform may support standard browser automation tools, provide its own SDK or API, or offer higher-level controls for common web interactions. These approaches give developers varying levels of control over the browser and can require different amounts of provider-specific code.
If you already have an automation stack, check how easily it connects to the service. For a new application, decide whether you want direct control over browser behavior or an abstraction that handles more of the interaction layer for you.
Authentication
Agents that work inside user accounts need a reliable way to return to authenticated websites.
A platform may let you create reusable browser profiles that retain the information needed for future visits. This allows an agent to continue working with an account across separate tasks without requiring a fresh sign-in each time.
Workload and Scale
A lightweight application might run short jobs as needed. A production system could have many browser tasks happening in parallel, long-running workflows, or traffic that changes significantly throughout the day.
Compare concurrency limits, maximum run times, startup behavior, and capacity options against your expected usage. Pricing should be evaluated alongside these limits because providers may measure browser consumption in different ways.
Deployment Model
Where the infrastructure runs can be just as important as how it works.
Managed services operate the underlying browser fleet on your behalf. Other products also support self-hosting or private deployments, which can give teams more control over where workloads and associated data are processed.
Choose based on the operational model your team prefers. A managed service can reduce infrastructure work, while deployment in your own environment may better fit applications with specific hosting, security, or data requirements.
Developer Tooling
Features such as live session views, recordings, logs, and traces can provide context when a task fails or behaves differently than expected. Usage metrics and session history can also help teams understand how browser workloads behave in production.
It’s key to know whether the available tooling gives developers enough information to reproduce problems and connect browser activity to the relevant agent run. The right level of visibility depends on how much debugging and operational tooling your team already has elsewhere in its stack.
The 9 Best AI Agent Browser Infrastructure Platforms
1. Browser Use
Best for: Teams that want managed cloud browsers with the option to use Browser Use's agent tooling as part of the same platform.
Browser Use provides cloud browser infrastructure for AI agents and web automation. Developers can run their own agent code with Browser Use's managed cloud browsers, or use its fully hosted Cloud API when they want Browser Use to run the agent as well.
Each cloud session provides a managed browser that applications can connect to remotely. Browser Use supports CDP connections, making its remote browsers compatible with browser automation tools such as Playwright and Puppeteer. This lets teams keep their existing automation logic while moving browser execution to Browser Use Cloud.
For workflows that require logged-in accounts, Browser Use provides profiles that preserve browser state across sessions. Profiles can retain data such as authentication cookies, local storage, saved credentials, and user preferences. Browser Use also offers Profile Sync for transferring cookies from a local Chrome profile to a cloud profile, so agents can reuse supported authenticated sessions without going through the login process on every task.
In addition, Browser Use provides residential proxies with country-level routing, custom proxy support, and live URLs for monitoring active sessions. Its cloud browsers include features designed to reduce bot detection and CAPTCHA prompts, while Browser Use automatically solves supported CAPTCHA challenges when they occur.
Why You Might Choose Browser Use
- Lets teams run their own agent code with Browser Use's managed cloud browsers.
- Supports CDP connections for browser automation tools such as Playwright and Puppeteer.
- Provides reusable browser profiles for maintaining browser state across separate sessions.
- Supports syncing cookies from a local Chrome profile to a cloud profile for authenticated workflows.
- Offers residential proxies with country-level routing as well as custom proxy configuration.
- Provides live URLs for monitoring browser sessions in real time.
Additional Highlights
Browser Use can also run the agent itself through its fully hosted Cloud API. This gives teams a choice between keeping their agent code and using Browser Use for managed browser infrastructure, or having Browser Use host both the browser and the agent.
2. Browserbase
Best for: Teams that want managed cloud browsers with strong observability and multiple options for building browser-based agents and automation.
Browserbase provides cloud browser infrastructure for AI agents and web automation. Each session gives an application a remote Chromium browser that it can control programmatically, including through the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). Developers can use browser automation tools such as Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium with these sessions while Browserbase manages the browser infrastructure.
For workflows that need to return to the same browser state, Browserbase provides Contexts. A Context acts as a reusable browser data directory that can persist across sessions, allowing an application to retain state such as authenticated logins instead of starting with a new browser environment each time.
Browserbase also includes tools for observing what happens inside a session. Live View shows the browser while it is running, while Session Recordings capture browser activity for later review. Browserbase also records information such as network activity, console output, CDP events, and session lifecycle events, giving developers additional context when investigating browser behavior.
Developers can use Browserbase directly as the browser layer or combine it with other products from the platform. Stagehand provides an SDK for building browser agents, while Browserbase Functions lets teams deploy browser automation code to Browserbase and run it alongside the sessions it controls. Browserbase also offers managed Agents for running browser tasks from natural-language instructions.
Why You Might Choose Browserbase
- Provides managed Chromium browsers that applications can control remotely through CDP.
- Works with browser automation tools including Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium.
- Uses Contexts to preserve browser state across separate sessions.
- Supports built-in proxies as well as custom proxy configurations.
- Provides Live View for watching and interacting with active browser sessions.
- Records browser sessions and makes MP4 recordings available through its API and Dashboard.
Additional Highlights
Browserbase offers Bring Your Own Storage (BYOS) for Enterprise customers that need supported session data delivered to their own storage. In August 2026, Browserbase added support for sending CDP session logs directly to a customer's AWS S3 bucket.
3. Kernel
Best for: Teams that want cloud browsers with access to the surrounding browser environment and preconfigured browser pools for larger workloads.
Kernel provides cloud browser infrastructure for AI agents and web automation. Developers can create remote Chromium sessions through its API and connect to them over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). Each session includes a CDP WebSocket URL that applications can use to control the browser with compatible automation tooling.
Kernel browsers run in isolated environments with writable filesystems. Developers can upload and retrieve files from a running session, while Kernel also provides SSH access to the browser VM for debugging, running commands, and setting up port forwarding. This makes it possible to work with the environment around the browser when a workflow requires more than page-level interactions.
Kernel also supports reusable browser profiles and several options for configuring individual browser sessions. Developers can choose among datacenter, ISP, residential, and custom proxies, load Chrome extensions, enable stealth mode, and configure the browser's viewport. Live View provides remote access to active headful sessions, while browser replays can be used to review previous session activity.
For applications that need browsers ready for incoming work, Kernel provides browser pools. A pool contains multiple browsers with the same configuration and tracks how many are available or currently acquired. Teams can configure pooled browsers with options including profiles, extensions, proxies, stealth mode, and viewport settings rather than creating and configuring each browser only when a task arrives.
Why You Might Choose Kernel
- Provides remote Chromium sessions with CDP WebSocket endpoints for connecting compatible browser automation tools.
- Gives developers access to the browser VM through SSH in addition to browser-level controls.
- Provides file APIs for uploading, downloading, and working with files inside a browser's writable filesystem.
- Supports datacenter, ISP, residential, and custom proxy configurations.
- Offers Live View and browser replays for inspecting headful browser sessions.
- Provides browser pools that keep identically configured browsers available for incoming workloads.
Additional Highlights
Kernel offers GPU acceleration for headful browsers on its Startup and Enterprise plans. GPU-enabled browsers are designed for graphics-intensive workloads such as WebGL content, complex 3D graphics, video playback, and canvas-heavy applications.
4. Steel
Best for: Teams that want an open-source browser API they can use through a managed cloud service or deploy on their own infrastructure.
Steel provides browser infrastructure for AI agents and web automation, with both Steel Cloud and an open-source browser API that teams can run themselves. Developers can create browser sessions through its API and connect their own automation code using Puppeteer, Playwright, or Selenium.
For workflows that need to carry browser state between sessions, Steel provides Profiles. A profile stores a snapshot of the browser's user data directory, including information such as cookies, extensions, credentials, and browser settings. Developers can load that profile into later sessions and use persistProfile when they want changes from a new session saved back to it.
Steel also provides several ways to configure the browser environment for a particular task. Its session API supports residential proxies with geographic targeting, dedicated IPs, CAPTCHA detection and solving, browser extensions, mobile device configuration, and custom browser dimensions. Teams that use another proxy provider can also supply their own proxy URL when creating a session.
For development and debugging, Steel provides a browser viewer that can either allow interaction with the running browser or operate in read-only mode. Developers can also use Steel's SDKs with either Steel Cloud or a self-hosted instance, giving teams a consistent API while allowing them to choose where the browser infrastructure runs.
Why You Might Choose Steel
- Offers both a managed cloud service and an open-source browser API that can be run locally or deployed to your own infrastructure.
- Supports Puppeteer and Playwright through its browser sessions, along with a separate Selenium-compatible session mode.
- Provides Profiles for carrying browser state and configuration across sessions.
- Supports residential proxies with geographic targeting, dedicated IPs, and custom proxy URLs.
- Can detect or solve CAPTCHAs through a configurable session option.
- Provides an interactive or read-only browser viewer for inspecting active sessions.
Additional Highlights
Steel also provides Quick Actions for browser tasks that do not require a persistent automation session. Its API includes dedicated endpoints for extracting page content, capturing screenshots, and generating PDFs, giving applications a simpler interface for individual browser operations.
5. Anchor Browser
Best for: Teams that want managed cloud browsers with persistent authentication and tools for turning browser workflows into reusable automation.
Anchor Browser provides managed Chromium browsers for AI agents and web automation. Developers can create cloud browser sessions and control them with Playwright, Puppeteer, CDP, or Anchor's SDK. Anchor also provides higher-level browser tools that can perform tasks from natural-language instructions when developers do not want to define every browser action themselves.
For workflows that require logged-in accounts, Anchor provides Browser Profiles that save browser state for use in future sessions. A profile can retain the browser context created during authentication, including the cookies and session data needed to stay signed in. Anchor also provides OmniConnect, which is designed to handle authentication for browser-based agents interacting with applications built for human users.
Anchor also provides Automation Tasks for browser workflows that developers want to reuse. Teams can write tasks in TypeScript, create and update draft versions, deploy versions for production use, and execute them inside a secure sandbox with access to the Anchor Browser API. This provides a deterministic option for repeatable workflows alongside Anchor's AI-driven browser tools.
For browser access and debugging, Anchor provides interactive Live View URLs that can be embedded in an application. Sessions can also be configured with Anchor's proxy infrastructure, including geographic targeting, while its API supports additional browser settings such as recordings, timeouts, and read-only Live View access.
Why You Might Choose Anchor Browser
- Provides managed Chromium sessions that developers can control through Playwright, Puppeteer, CDP, or Anchor's SDK.
- Supports Browser Profiles for preserving authenticated browser state across separate sessions.
- Provides OmniConnect for authentication workflows used by computer-use agents.
- Offers Automation Tasks for creating, versioning, deploying, and executing reusable TypeScript browser workflows.
- Provides interactive Live View URLs that can be embedded directly into an application's interface.
- Offers browser-control API tools for operations such as capturing screenshots, retrieving webpage content, and performing tasks from natural-language instructions.
Additional Highlights
Anchor also offers an MCP integration for connecting MCP-compatible clients to its browser capabilities. Teams can use Anchor's hosted MCP server or self-host its open-source MCP server while the browser sessions continue to run on Anchor's managed infrastructure.
6. Browserless
Best for: Teams that want browser infrastructure they can access through automation libraries or task-specific APIs, with both managed and self-hosted deployment options.
Browserless provides cloud browsers for web automation and AI applications. Developers can connect their own automation code to remote browsers using Puppeteer or Playwright, while Browserless manages the browser runtime. Its infrastructure supports multiple browser engines, including Chromium, Chrome, Firefox, WebKit, and Edge.
Browserless also provides REST APIs for common browser tasks that do not require developers to build a complete automation flow. Dedicated endpoints can retrieve rendered page content, capture screenshots, generate PDFs, download files, and execute custom Puppeteer code. Applications can therefore choose between controlling a browser directly and making an HTTP request for a specific operation.
For workflows that need to hand off or resume a running browser, Browserless supports session reconnection. Its reconnect functionality can keep a browser alive after a client disconnects and return endpoints for reconnecting through BrowserQL, CDP, or Chrome DevTools. Browserless Cloud also provides built-in residential and datacenter proxies with geographic targeting, while developers can use external proxy providers when they need their own proxy infrastructure.
Browserless can be used as a managed service or deployed on infrastructure controlled by the customer. Its free open-source Docker images provide core browser automation and REST APIs, while Enterprise Docker adds capabilities for production self-hosted deployments. Browserless also offers Private Deployment, where Browserless operates dedicated cloud infrastructure for the customer.
Why You Might Choose Browserless
- Supports remote browser connections from Puppeteer and Playwright.
- Provides REST APIs for content retrieval, screenshots, PDFs, downloads, and custom Puppeteer functions.
- Lets applications keep a browser running temporarily after disconnection and reconnect to the same session.
- Offers built-in residential and datacenter proxies with geographic targeting in Browserless Cloud.
- Provides free open-source Docker images for running core Browserless functionality on your own infrastructure.
- Offers Enterprise Docker and managed private deployments for teams that need dedicated infrastructure or greater control over where browser workloads run.
Additional Highlights
Browserless provides an /unblock API for sites protected by bot-detection systems and CAPTCHAs. The endpoint can return page content, cookies, a screenshot, and a browser WebSocket endpoint, allowing an application to continue working with the resulting browser when further interaction is required.
7. Hyperbrowser
Best for: Teams that want scalable cloud browsers with built-in stealth, proxy, and agent tooling for production web automation.
Hyperbrowser provides cloud browser infrastructure for AI agents and web automation. Browser sessions run in isolated containers and can be controlled through Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, or other CDP-compatible tooling. Hyperbrowser also provides Node.js and Python SDKs for creating and managing browser sessions from an application.
For workflows that need browser state to carry across sessions, Hyperbrowser provides Profiles. Developers can create a profile and associate it with browser sessions rather than treating every run as an entirely separate browser environment. Sessions can also be configured with managed or custom proxies, allowing applications to control how browser traffic is routed.
Hyperbrowser includes browser-level features for sites that are difficult to automate reliably. Stealth mode is designed to reduce browser signals associated with automation, while CAPTCHA solving can be enabled as a session option. These capabilities sit within the browser infrastructure itself, so developers can configure them when creating a session rather than integrating separate browser extensions or CAPTCHA tooling.
Hyperbrowser also provides higher-level tools that run on top of its browser infrastructure. HyperAgent combines Playwright with AI-driven browser actions while still allowing developers to use regular Playwright when deterministic control is more appropriate. Hyperbrowser separately provides an Extract API for retrieving structured data from websites using a requested schema.
Why You Might Choose Hyperbrowser
- Supports Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, and CDP-compatible tooling for controlling cloud browsers.
- Provides Node.js and Python SDKs for creating and managing browser sessions.
- Offers Profiles for workflows that need browser state to persist across separate sessions.
- Supports managed proxy configuration and custom proxies for controlling browser network traffic.
- Provides configurable stealth mode and automatic CAPTCHA solving at the browser-session level.
- Records browser sessions and provides logging and debugging tools for reviewing browser activity.
Additional Highlights
Hyperbrowser is designed for high-concurrency browser workloads. Its current documentation states support for more than 10,000 simultaneous browser sessions with low-latency startup, allowing teams to scale parallel browser workloads without operating their own browser fleet.
8. Cloudflare Browser Run
Best for: Teams that want headless browser infrastructure integrated with Cloudflare Workers and the broader Cloudflare developer platform.
Cloudflare Browser Run, formerly Browser Rendering, provides headless Chrome instances on Cloudflare's global network for browser automation and AI agents. Developers can control browser sessions with Puppeteer, Playwright, or CDP-compatible clients. Browser Run also supports Stagehand as another option for building browser workflows.
For tasks that do not require direct control of a browser session, Browser Run provides Quick Actions. These can be called through REST APIs or Workers Bindings and cover operations such as capturing screenshots, generating PDFs, retrieving rendered HTML, converting pages to Markdown, extracting links or page elements, crawling websites, and returning structured data with AI.
Browser Run also supports reusing browser sessions instead of launching a new browser for each request. An application can disconnect from a browser while keeping it available, then reconnect to an existing session later. For stateful applications that need a specific browser to remain available across requests, Cloudflare also documents using Durable Objects to hold and manage long-running browser sessions.
For monitoring and intervention, Live View lets developers inspect and interact with an active browser in real time. Human in the Loop builds on Live View by allowing a person to take control when a workflow requires manual input and then return control to the automation. Browser Run also supports opt-in Session Recordings, which capture DOM changes, mouse and keyboard events, and page navigation as structured events that can be replayed after the session ends.
Why You Might Choose Cloudflare Browser Run
- Runs headless Chrome instances on Cloudflare's global network.
- Supports Puppeteer, Playwright, CDP, and Stagehand for Browser Sessions.
- Provides Quick Actions for browser tasks such as screenshots, PDFs, Markdown extraction, scraping, and crawling.
- Supports reconnecting to existing browsers instead of launching a new session for every request.
- Can use Durable Objects to maintain specific browser sessions across multiple requests.
- Provides Live View, Human in the Loop, and opt-in Session Recordings for inspecting browser workflows and handling tasks that require human intervention.
Additional Highlights
Browser Run supports WebMCP, an emerging browser API that allows compatible websites to expose structured tools that AI agents can discover and execute directly. The feature is available through Cloudflare's experimental Chrome Lab environment and Kitesurf browser backend, with both using the document.modelContext API from the WebMCP Community Group draft.
9. Bright Data
Best for: Teams that want scalable browser infrastructure with built-in proxy management and website-unblocking capabilities for AI agents.
Bright Data's Agent Browser provides cloud browser infrastructure designed for AI agents. Developers can control browsers through Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium, while Bright Data operates the underlying browser environment. The service supports both headful and headless browser capabilities and can also be accessed through an API or MCP.
Agent Browser combines browser execution with Bright Data's website-unblocking infrastructure. It can manage browser fingerprints, CAPTCHAs, cookies, automatic retries, and IP rotation as part of the browser environment. Geographic targeting is available by country, city, state, and ASN, allowing agents to access localized public web content from different locations.
The platform is also designed for browser workloads that need to run in parallel. Bright Data provides auto-scaling infrastructure and support for unlimited parallel sessions, with browser instances running in isolated environments. Developers can continue using supported browser automation frameworks rather than moving their workflows to a Bright Data-specific automation language.
For development and troubleshooting, Bright Data provides session monitoring through Chrome DevTools. Its browser infrastructure also records session logs containing information such as duration, navigations, CAPTCHA events, and errors, giving developers additional context when investigating browser activity.
Why You Might Choose Bright Data
- Supports Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium for controlling cloud browsers.
- Provides headful and headless browser capabilities for AI agent workloads.
- Combines browser infrastructure with built-in fingerprinting, CAPTCHA solving, retries, and IP rotation.
- Supports geographic targeting by country, city, state, and ASN.
- Provides auto-scaling infrastructure for running large numbers of browser sessions in parallel.
- Offers real-time monitoring through Chrome DevTools and session logs for troubleshooting browser activity.
Additional Highlights
Bright Data exposes custom CDP functions for controlling infrastructure-specific behavior from browser automation code. These functions can be used for capabilities such as managing CAPTCHA solving, retrieving session IDs, maintaining a consistent proxy peer, downloading files, and installing client SSL/TLS certificates.
Which AI Agent Browser Infrastructure Platform Should You Choose?
Choose Browser Use if...
You want managed cloud browsers with reusable profiles and proxy support, plus the option to use Browser Use's agent tooling on the same platform.
Choose Browserbase if...
You want managed cloud browsers with strong observability and multiple options for building and deploying browser-based agents and automation.
Choose Kernel if...
You want cloud browsers with access to the surrounding browser environment, including files and SSH, or preconfigured browser pools for larger workloads.
Choose Steel if...
You want an open-source browser API that you can use through a managed cloud service or deploy on your own infrastructure.
Choose Anchor Browser if...
You want managed cloud browsers with persistent authentication and tools for turning browser workflows into reusable automation.
Choose Browserless if...
You want browser infrastructure with both managed and self-hosted deployment options, plus APIs for tasks such as screenshots, PDFs, and content extraction.
Choose Hyperbrowser if...
You want scalable cloud browsers with built-in stealth, proxy, and agent tooling for production web automation.
Choose Cloudflare Browser Run if...
You want headless browser infrastructure that works directly with Cloudflare Workers and other parts of the Cloudflare developer platform.
Choose Bright Data if...
You want scalable browser infrastructure that combines cloud browsers with built-in proxy management and website-unblocking capabilities for AI agents.
