#14 in Automation & WorkflowUpdated 2026-08

Steel

by Steel · Open-source cloud browser API for AI agents

65.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

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Pricing page

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Overview

Steel is an open-source browser API for running fleets of browsers in the cloud, aimed at AI agents and web automation. The Sessions API creates sessions on demand, and existing Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium scripts connect with a one-line change. Sessions run up to 24 hours, and cookies and local storage can be saved and reinjected across runs.

Best for: Developers running Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium browser automation for AI agents in the cloud
Pricing: Launch is $0/month with $30 of one-off credits, Scale is $250/month with $100 of credits each month, and Enterprise is custom priced; all plans add usage charges on top, and the usage rates are not shown.
Runs on: WebSelf-hostedCLI

Strengths and trade-offs

Strengths

Open source; self-hostable with a Docker container
Existing Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium code needs a 1-line change
Built-in CAPTCHA solving, proxy and fingerprint controls
Session Viewer for debugging live or recorded sessions

Trade-offs

Every plan charges usage on top of the monthly fee; rates are on another page
Large gap between the $0 Launch tier and the $250/month Scale tier
Sessions are capped at 24 hours
1,000+ concurrent sessions and reserved browser pools need Enterprise

Pricing

Published plans from Steel’s own pricing page, in USD. Usage charges and add-ons may apply on top.

Steel pricing tiers, monthly rates in USD
Plan	Monthly	Includes
Launch	Freeper month, plus usage	$30 of credits (one time) Email support Community support
Scale	$250per month, plus usage	$100 of credits per month Dedicated Slack channel Enterprise SSO HIPAA-ready BAA
Enterprise	Contact sales	Custom free usage credits 1,000+ concurrent browser sessions Core Browser Reserve browser pools

How this score is made up

Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.

MCP support: 60 out of 100
API quality: 40 out of 100
Documentation: 90 out of 100
Agent friendliness: 97 out of 100
Pricing transparency: 100 out of 100
Changelog: 55 out of 100
Marketing site structure: 40 out of 100
Operational trust: 25 out of 100

Measured, but not part of the score

Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.

Openness: 85 out of 100
Maintenance: 100 out of 100

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