Steel review

Steel is the open-source choice among the hosted browser APIs. Steel Browser is published on GitHub, so you can read the code and run it yourself, while the cloud service adds a Sessions API that starts a browser in under a second, persistent profiles so each agent signs in as itself, readable traces and full-resolution session replays. A live viewer lets a person step in for 2FA or a payment and hand control back to the agent. Existing Playwright, Puppeteer or Selenium scripts connect without an agent layer. The Launch tier costs nothing up front, includes $30 of one-time credits, 10 concurrent sessions and up to 3 seats, then charges $0.10 per browser hour, $10 per GB of proxy and $3 per 1,000 captcha solves. The jump to Scale is steep at $250 a month, though it includes $100 of credits, cheaper rates, hour-long sessions and a HIPAA-ready BAA. Stealth browsing is held back for Enterprise.

Who it is for

Developers who want an open-source browser layer they can self-host or run on Steel's cloud.

Price

Launch is $0 a month plus usage with $30 of one-time credits; browser hours $0.10; Scale $250 per month.

Browser hours $0.10
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 7, 2026.

Key features

• Sessions API that starts a browser in under a second
• Profiles that keep logins and history across runs
• Live viewer with human takeover for 2FA or payments
• Readable traces and session replays
• CLI and agent skill for driving cloud browsers

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Steel Browser is open source and can be self-hosted
• Strength: Launch tier includes 10 concurrent sessions and up to 3 seats
• Strength: Scale drops browser hours to $0.08 and captchas to $1 per 1k
• Weakness: Stealth browser is Enterprise only
• Weakness: Launch sessions stop at 15 minutes
• Weakness: Scale jumps to $250 a month

Key facts

• Launch: $0 a month plus usage, $30 one-time credits
• Browser hours: $0.10 on Launch, $0.08 on Scale
• Scale: $250 a month with $100 of credits, 100 concurrent sessions
• Max session: 15 minutes on Launch, 1 hour on Scale, up to 24 hours on Enterprise
• Engineers: 30,000+ per the vendor

Where it ranks

Steel is No. 5 in our Best Browser Automation Tools verdict.