#1 Browserbase Alternative
Scrape, crawl, map, and search the web through one API, with JavaScript rendering and anti-bot proxies in every 1-credit page and no browser to run. On Browserbase, a rendered page in its own session bills at least one browser minute and 1 MB of proxy traffic at $10 to $12 per GB: about $11.67 per 1,000 pages on Startup, against $0.90 on Context.dev Pro.
1,000 protected pages, rendered in a browser
Pro ($90) vs Startup ($99), October 2026 list prices
The browser figure assumes one page per session at Browserbase’s billing minimums of one minute and 1 MB of proxy traffic, at Startup’s $0.10 per browser hour and $10 per GB. Heavier pages cost more. Fetch never runs JavaScript; raw HTML through Fetch without proxies is cheaper than Context.dev, at $0.50 per 1,000 on Startup.
Powering agents and products with the world's data.
Why switch
Browserbase runs cloud browsers for agents that click, type, and sign in, and adds Fetch and Search APIs for lighter reads. Context.dev is built for the read: every page is 1 credit with rendering and proxies included, so you get web data without paying for browser time or bandwidth.
- Key difference
One credit per page, not browser minutes plus proxy gigabytes
Browserbase bills browser time by the minute and proxy traffic by the MB, with a one-minute and one-MB minimum per session, at $0.10 to $0.12 per browser hour and $10 to $12 per GB after the plan’s allocation. Opening one session per rendered page on proxies comes to about $11.67 per 1,000 pages on Startup and $14.00 on Developer, before heavier pages or retries. Context.dev Pro is $90 for 100,000 credits, so the same 1,000 pages cost $0.90 with rendering, managed proxies, and anti-bot handling included.
- Independent benchmark
38 of 40 agent scrape tasks finished, against Browserbase’s 30
Scrapingbench v2 runs the same agent, model, and limits against every provider and checks answers by script. On its 40-task scrape track, the agent finished 38 tasks (95%) with Context.dev and 30 (75%) with Browserbase, a 20-point gap that the report marks as confident (site-clustered 95% range: 7.9 to 34.1 points). Each finished scrape task cost 1.36¢ on Context.dev and 1.93¢ on Browserbase, though Browserbase’s median was faster, 3.6 s against 4.6 s.
- Rendering
JavaScript rendering without writing a browser script
Browserbase’s Fetch API never executes JavaScript, stops at 5 MB, and cannot convert PDFs to Markdown or JSON; for those pages its docs send you to a browser session driven by your own Playwright, Puppeteer, or Stagehand code. Context.dev renders every page in a browser inside the same 1-credit scrape, with up to five browser actions for 2 credits on paid plans, and parses PDFs, DOCX, PPT, XLSX, and about 40 other formats.
- Search
Search results with page content, from $0.90 per 1,000
Browserbase Search returns titles, URLs, and optional dates and authors, up to 25 per call, for $5 per 1,000 searches by default ($1 to $12 depending on provider and mode). Reading the pages takes a Fetch per result, so ten results as Markdown add $40 per 1,000 searches, still without JavaScript. Context.dev Web Search costs 1 credit per 10 results, adds the passages that answer your query for 1 more, and returns every result page as Markdown for 11 credits: $9.90 per 1,000 searches on Pro.
- Throughput
No 5-requests-a-second cap on page reads
Browserbase limits Fetch to 5 requests a second and Search to 2 a second per project on every self-serve plan, and browser sessions to 25 or 50 new sessions a minute on Developer and Startup. Context.dev Pro runs 100 concurrent requests, Growth 250, and Scale 500, with no per-minute request cap on paid plans, and a single batch takes up to 100,000 URLs, refunds failed pages, and keeps results for 180 days.
- Crawl
Crawl, map, and change monitoring built in
Browserbase has no crawl, sitemap, or change-monitoring endpoint, so following links or watching a page means writing that loop yourself in sessions or Functions. Context.dev crawls for 1 credit per page, maps a site’s URLs for 1 credit per call, and watches pages and sitemaps for changes for 1 credit per run, calling your webhook when something changes.
- Plans
Zero data retention and $300 and $500 plans without a sales call
Browserbase’s self-serve plans stop at Startup ($99); Scale is custom-priced, and zero data retention is Enterprise only, though any plan can turn off logging and recording for a single session. Context.dev Growth is $300 for 500,000 credits and Scale is $500 for 1,000,000, and zero data retention is enabled on request at no extra credits. SDKs cover TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go, and PHP, alongside a CLI and an MCP server.
What one request really costs
What 1,000 requests cost on Context.dev Pro ($90) and at Browserbase Startup ($99) rates, by how the page is read. Browserbase’s price depends on whether you use Fetch or a browser session, how long the session runs, and how much proxy traffic it uses; Context.dev’s does not.
| Request | Context.dev | Browserbase | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static page as raw HTMLFetch, no JavaScript and no proxy | $0.90 | $0.50 (Fetch) | 1.8x less |
| JavaScript page in a reused session, no proxy10 seconds of browser time per page, in your own Playwright code | $0.90 | $0.28 (2.8 browser hours) | 3.2x less |
| Static page as MarkdownFetch Markdown is billed as Extract | $0.90 | $4.00 (Fetch Extract) | 4.4x more |
| Blocked page as Markdown through proxiesFetch Extract with proxies, still no JavaScript | $0.90 | $7.00 | 7.8x more |
| JavaScript page on proxies, one session eachOne-minute and 1 MB minimum per session | $0.90 | $11.67 (16.7 h + 1 GB) | 13x more |
| JSON extraction against your schemaStatic pages through Fetch; rendered pages need a session and your own model | $4.50 (5 credits) | $4.00 (Fetch Extract) | 11% less |
| Web search, 10 resultsRanked links, at each API’s default search mode | $0.90 (1 credit) | $5.00 (Parallel Advanced) | 5.6x more |
| Web search, 10 results as MarkdownEvery result page read in full | $9.90 (11 credits) | $45.00 (search + 10 Fetches) | 4.5x more |
Context.dev Pro ($90 for 100,000 credits) at monthly billing against Browserbase Startup’s overage rates, its lowest self-serve unit prices: $0.10 per browser hour, $10 per proxy GB, $0.50 per 1,000 Fetch calls, $4 per 1,000 with Extract or proxies, and $7 with both. Startup’s $99 covers 500 browser hours, 5 GB of proxy traffic, 10,000 Fetch calls, and 1,000 searches before those rates apply. Session rows assume the stated seconds per page and 1 MB of proxy traffic per page, Browserbase’s per-session minimum.
Full comparison
| Feature | Context.dev | Browserbase |
|---|---|---|
| Scraping & Crawling | ||
| Scrape to Markdown or HTML in one call | Yes | Fetch, no JavaScript |
| JavaScript rendering | Always included | Browser sessions only |
| Residential proxies and anti-bot handling | Always included | $10–$12 per GB |
| Price independent of page size and load time | Yes | No |
| Screenshots | Yes | Via Playwright or CDP |
| JSON extraction against your schema | 5 credits | Fetch, $4–$7 per 1K |
| Prebuilt parsers (Maps, app stores, G2) | Yes | No |
| Crawl a site | 1 credit/page | No |
| Map site URLs | Yes | No |
| Async batch scraping | Up to 100,000 URLs | No |
| Change monitoring with webhooks | Yes | No |
| Parse PDFs and office documents | Yes | Not in Fetch |
| Proxy geotargeting | Country | Country, US state, city |
| Signed-in scraping with saved logins | Browser profiles | Contexts, also in Fetch |
| Interaction & Search | ||
| Browser actions before capture | Up to 5, 2 credits | Unlimited, in your code |
| Full browser control over CDP (Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium) | No | Yes |
| Natural-language browser automation SDK | No | Stagehand (MIT) |
| Hosted browser agents | No | Agents API |
| Session replay and live view | No | Yes |
| Web search | 1 credit per 10 results | Links only, up to 25 |
| Web search with page content | 11 credits | Search + Fetch per result |
| Research answers with sources | 10 credits | Via hosted Agents |
| Pricing & Billing | ||
| Billing unit | 1 credit per page | Browser minutes, GB, calls |
| Minimum per browser session | None | 1 minute and 1 MB |
| Page-read rate limit on paid plans | No per-minute cap | Fetch 5/s, Search 2/s |
| Concurrency at about $90 to $99 | 100 requests on Pro | 100 browsers on Startup |
| Self-serve plans above $99 | $300 and $500 | No |
| Free plan | 1,000 credits/mo | 1 browser hour, 1,000 Fetch |
| Deployment | ||
| Managed scraping API | Yes | Fetch (no JavaScript) |
| Hosted code next to the browser | No | Functions (TypeScript) |
| Bring your own proxies | No | Browser sessions |
| Zero data retention | On request, +0 credits | Enterprise only |
| Developer Experience | ||
| TypeScript and Python SDKs | Yes | Yes |
| Go and Ruby SDKs | Yes | Stagehand only |
| PHP SDK | Yes | No |
| Java SDK | No | Stagehand |
| CLI | Yes | Browse CLI |
| MCP server | Yes | Open source (Apache-2.0) |
| Also Included: Brand & Company Data | ||
| Brand profile by domain, name, email, or ticker | Yes | No |
| Logo CDN for direct embedding (Logo Link) | Yes | No |
Cost per 1,000 pages
Public list prices on both sites, broken down to the cost of 1,000 pages at each tier. Browserbase’s price depends on whether a page goes through Fetch or a browser session, so both are shown.
| Tier | Context.dev | Browserbase |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free $0/mo 1,000 credits 2 concurrent requests $0 per 1K pages, any page | Free $0/mo 1 browser hour, 1,000 Fetch calls, 1,000 searches 3 concurrent browsers 60 one-minute browser sessions a month, no proxies 1,000 Fetch calls a month, no JavaScript |
| Entry | Developer $20/mo 10,000 credits 10 concurrent requests $1.67–$2.00 per 1K pages, any page | Developer $20/mo 100 browser hours, 1 GB proxy, 1,000 Fetch calls 25 concurrent browsers $14.00 per 1K rendered pages on proxies, one session each $7.00 per 1K Fetch pages as Markdown on proxies $1.00 per 1K raw Fetch calls, no JavaScript |
| Mid | Pro $90/mo 100,000 credits 100 concurrent requests $0.75–$0.90 per 1K pages, any page | Startup $99/mo 500 browser hours, 5 GB proxy, 10,000 Fetch calls 100 concurrent browsers $11.67 per 1K rendered pages on proxies, one session each $7.00 per 1K Fetch pages as Markdown on proxies $0.50 per 1K raw Fetch calls, no JavaScript |
| Growth | Growth $300/mo 500,000 credits 250 concurrent requests $0.50–$0.60 per 1K pages, any page | No self-serve plan between $99 and custom Scale |
| High volume | Scale $500/mo 1,000,000 credits 500 concurrent requests $0.42–$0.50 per 1K pages, any page | Scale Custom 500+ browser hours, 10,000+ Fetch calls 250+ concurrent browsers Usage-based priced by Browserbase sales Verified sessions, SSO, HIPAA BAA, and DPA |
- Rendered pages on Browserbase assume one page per browser session on built-in proxies, billed at Browserbase’s minimums of one browser minute and 1 MB of proxy traffic per session: 16.7 browser hours and 1 GB per 1,000 pages, at $0.12 per hour and $12 per GB on Developer or $0.10 and $10 on Startup. Heavier pages, longer loads, and CAPTCHA solves (up to 30 seconds each, per Browserbase) cost more. Reusing a warm session on unprotected pages costs less: about $0.28 per 1,000 pages on Startup at 10 seconds each. Browserbase’s own pricing page puts a typical scrape at under 2 minutes, or about 3,000 page-level tasks per 100 browser hours.
- Fetch figures use Browserbase’s per-call prices: $1 per 1,000 on Developer and $0.50 on Startup, $4 per 1,000 with proxies or with Extract (Markdown and JSON output), and $7 with both. Fetch never executes JavaScript, has a 5 MB limit, and cannot convert PDFs. Context.dev bills 1 credit per page with rendering, managed proxies, and anti-bot handling always on, and its ranges run from yearly to monthly billing.
- Per-1,000 Browserbase figures use overage rates, after each plan’s included browser hours, proxy GB, and Fetch calls. Search costs $1 to $12 per 1,000 calls by provider and mode, $5 by default, after 1,000 included searches a month; Browserbase’s billing docs list a $7 search overage, so check your invoice. Fetch is limited to 5 requests a second and Search to 2 a second per project on self-serve plans.
- Sources: browserbase.com/pricing, docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans, docs.browserbase.com/platform/fetch/overview, docs.browserbase.com/platform/search/overview, docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/captcha-solving, and docs.browserbase.com/account/enterprise/zero-data-retention, accessed October 30, 2026.
Prices and plans checked on .
Which one fits
Browserbase runs browsers for agents; Context.dev returns web data from an API. These are the cases where the choice is clear. For formats, pricing, and code, see the Context.dev web scraping API.
Choose Context.dev if
- You need the content of rendered, protected pages, not a browser to drive, and want 1 credit per page with no session minimums or per-GB proxy bills.
- You want search with page content, crawl, map, batches of up to 100,000 URLs, and change monitoring from one API, without a 5-requests-a-second cap.
- You need JSON against your schema from JavaScript-built pages, PDFs, or office documents, or prebuilt parsers for Google Maps, app stores, and G2.
- You want zero data retention without an Enterprise contract, self-serve plans above $99, or PHP, Ruby, and Go SDKs for the API itself.
Choose Browserbase if
- Your agent clicks through multi-step flows, fills forms, files on portals, or signs in to accounts. Browserbase gives it a full cloud browser over CDP for Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, or Stagehand, with automatic CAPTCHA solving on paid plans.
- You need session control: sessions of up to 6 hours, keep-alive, saved Contexts, your own proxies or Chrome extensions, and city-level geolocation.
- You debug agents with session replay, live view, and logs, or want to run TypeScript Functions next to the browser and hosted Agents with one API call.
- Your pages are static and raw HTML is enough: Fetch costs $0.50 per 1,000 on Startup, and a warm session on unprotected pages runs about $0.28 per 1,000 at 10 seconds each, both under Context.dev Pro’s $0.90.
A few things to know.
More details in the API documentation.
What is the best Browserbase alternative?
For getting web data rather than driving a browser, Context.dev is a Browserbase alternative: every scrape renders JavaScript and runs through managed proxies for 1 credit, $0.90 per 1,000 pages on Pro, and the same API covers search, crawl, map, batches, monitors, and JSON extraction. On Scrapingbench, an agent finished 38 of 40 scrape tasks with Context.dev and 30 with Browserbase. If your agent needs to click, type, sign in, and work through multi-step flows, Browserbase is the better fit.
Is Browserbase cheaper than Context.dev?
It depends on how you read the page. Raw HTML through Browserbase Fetch costs $0.50 per 1,000 on Startup, less than Context.dev Pro’s $0.90, but Fetch never runs JavaScript, and Markdown output costs $4 per 1,000, or $7 with proxies. Rendered pages need a browser session billed by the minute and proxy traffic by the GB, with a one-minute and 1 MB minimum per session, which comes to about $11.67 per 1,000 one-session pages on Startup. A warm, reused session on unprotected pages can run about $0.28 per 1,000 at 10 seconds a page. Context.dev is 1 credit per page either way.
How do Context.dev and Browserbase compare in independent benchmarks?
On Scrapingbench v2, which gives every provider the same agent, model, and limits and checks answers by script, the agent finished 38 of 40 scrape tasks (95%) with Context.dev and 30 of 40 (75%) with Browserbase, a confident 20-point gap (site-clustered 95% range: 7.9 to 34.1 points), at 1.36¢ against 1.93¢ per finished task. Browserbase had the faster scrape median, 3.6 s against 4.6 s, and the scrape track mostly tests docs headings and page structure. The track does not measure multi-step browser automation, which is what Browserbase sessions are built for.
Does Browserbase Fetch render JavaScript?
No. Browserbase’s docs say Fetch never renders the page in a browser, has a 5 MB content limit and a 60-second timeout, and cannot convert PDFs to Markdown or JSON; for those pages they recommend a browser session. Context.dev renders every page in a browser as part of the 1-credit scrape and parses PDFs and office documents through the same endpoint.
How does Browserbase Search compare with Context.dev Web Search?
Browserbase Search returns up to 25 results with titles, URLs, and optional dates and authors, for $5 per 1,000 searches by default, or $1 to $12 depending on the provider and mode you pick. Page content needs a Fetch per result. Context.dev Web Search costs 1 credit per 10 results, adds the relevant passages for 1 more credit, and returns every result as Markdown for 11 credits, $9.90 per 1,000 searches on Pro. On Scrapingbench’s search track, Context.dev finished 25 of 30 tasks and Browserbase 21.
How do I migrate from Browserbase to Context.dev?
Fetch calls map to Scrape: format markdown becomes the Markdown output, format json with a schema becomes the JSON output with your JSON Schema, and the proxies flag can go, since proxies are always on. Search calls map to Web Search. Session scripts that only load a page and read it become a single Scrape, with up to five browser actions where you need a click or scroll, and saved Contexts become browser profiles. Multi-step agent flows, CDP control, Stagehand, Functions, and session replay have no Context.dev equivalent. SDKs are available for TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go, and PHP.
When is Browserbase the better choice?
Choose Browserbase when your agent has to act on the web: fill forms, click through portals, sign in, download files, or run long multi-step sessions. It gives you full cloud browsers over CDP for Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium, the MIT-licensed Stagehand SDK, automatic CAPTCHA solving on paid plans, sessions of up to 6 hours, session replay and live view, Functions that run next to the browser, and hosted Agents. It also costs less for static pages read as raw HTML, at $0.50 per 1,000 Fetch calls on Startup, and its median scrape on Scrapingbench was faster, 3.6 s against 4.6 s.
Can Context.dev replace Stagehand or a cloud browser?
No. Context.dev is a managed web data API, not a browser you control. It renders pages, runs up to five browser actions before capture, and reuses saved logins through browser profiles, but it has no CDP endpoint, no session you keep open, and no natural-language automation SDK. Many teams use both: Context.dev for search, scraping, and crawling, and a browser platform such as Browserbase for the steps that need a live session.
More comparisons
Other web scraping APIs that teams compare with Context.dev, or see every comparison.
- Context.dev vs FirecrawlThe same 100,000 credits for $90 instead of $99, with 100 concurrent requests instead of 25. Blocked 403 pages are not billed.
- Context.dev vs ScraperAPINo credit multipliers for JavaScript rendering or protected domains. Crawl, search, and JSON extraction on the same key.
- Context.dev vs ScrapingBeeJavaScript rendering, premium proxies, and stealth mode stack credits on ScrapingBee. Every page is 1 credit here.
Ready to switch from Browserbase?
Send the URLs your agents read to Context.dev and get rendered, proxied pages for 1 credit each, with no browser minutes to meter, starting with the free plan’s 1,000 credits a month.