# Browserbase

Official pricing: https://www.browserbase.com/pricing  
Category: browser · Isolation: vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Browser session, Developer overage rate ($0.12/browser-hour)** (sizes): browser-session ? vCPU/? GiB $0.12/h
- **Browser session, Startup overage rate ($0.10/browser-hour)** (sizes): browser-session ? vCPU/? GiB $0.1/h
- **Scale plan (custom usage-based rates, Verified/advanced stealth)** (sizes): browser-session ? vCPU/? GiB $null/h [sales]

## Features

Yes: persistent disk, idle auto-stop, full VM (own kernel), browser, browser automation API, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, egress allowlist, open internet, static egress IP, SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO, Python, Node.js, webhooks, EU data residency, zero data retention, MCP server, hosted agent API (their own agent), gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), secret proxy

No: snapshots, memory snapshots, fork/clone, pause/resume, volumes, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, your own Docker/OCI image, Docker inside, nested virtualization, root, systemd, desktop GUI, computer-use API, code interpreter, desktop control API, browser + desktop control, SSH, public IPv4, HTTPS preview URLs, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, GPU, arm64, Windows, macOS, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live resize, live fork (no pause), memory fork, automatic snapshots, snapshots on demand, agent harness API, inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), secret proxy for any API, extra volumes, shared volumes

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/browserbase.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- Browser-hour priced product: vCPU/RAM per browser VM not published (sizes vcpu/ram null); treat 1 session = 1 browser.
- Plan and overage rate are coupled ($0.12 Developer, $0.10 Startup). Each mode carries 'requires_plan' so the engine never mixes plans and rates.
- Plan included_usd is a dollar-equivalent of included browser-hours (100 h / 500 h) at the overage rate; in reality it cannot offset proxy or API usage, but the engine subtracts it from the whole bill (over-credit of at most $12 / $50 when proxy knobs are on). Included proxy GB (0 / 1 / 5 GB) is encoded as plan egress_free_gib.
- Proxy bandwidth is modelled by knobs proxy_developer ($12/GB) / proxy_startup ($10/GB) with effect 'egress_gib_rate', each restricted to its plan's mode; default 0 = no Browserbase proxy. Non-proxy traffic billing is not documented anywhere (network.egress_gib null); nothing on the pricing page suggests it is billed.
- ENGINE LIMITATION (verifier 2026-09-28): sizes have vcpu/ram_gib null (unpublished), and engine.js hourly() filters sizes with s.vcpu >= W.vcpu, which is false for null, so this card is currently never priced ('no preset'). Needs an engine rule for unsized browser-session presets.
- Startup Fetch overage conflict on the live pricing page: plan card says '$1/1k calls', comparison table and docs say $0.5/1k (not modelled).
- Max session 6 h on paid plans (15 min Free): an 8-hour job needs at least two sessions; state via Contexts.
- CAPTCHA solving is included on paid plans (no per-solve price published); Free has none.
- Data retention conflict: docs plans page says Developer 7 days, pricing page comparison table says 30 days.
- Free plan has no overage path (hard 1 browser-hour/month); paid plans say 'No caps. No cut-offs.'
- Search/Fetch/Extract/Agents/Model Gateway are separate metered APIs, not modelled. Functions runtime is free on all plans (browser time still billed).
- Regions us-west-2 (default), us-east-1, eu-central-1, ap-southeast-1; no regional price differences published.
- Isolation: docs say each browser runs in a dedicated VM destroyed after each session (VMM unnamed). No benchmark data available (perf null).

## How this provider charges


Browserbase sells cloud Chrome sessions (each in a dedicated VM destroyed after the session) plus metered side APIs
(Search, Fetch/Extract, Agents, Model Gateway). Paid plans are "allocation + overage": a monthly fee buys included
browser-hours and proxy GB, then pay-as-you-go overage with "no caps, no cut-offs". Browser vCPU/RAM are **not
published**. The plan sets the overage rate, concurrency, session length and creation rate.

Verified live 2026-09-28 against the www.browserbase.com/pricing HTML (cards + comparison table) and
docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans. No annual/commit pricing is published.

## Regime table

| Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Default, no card | $0; hard allocation, overage N/A | 1 browser-hour/mo; 3 concurrent; 15-min sessions; 5 creations/min; no proxies, no CAPTCHA, no keepAlive; 3 agent runs, 1k Search, 1k Fetch, $5 model tokens; 7-day retention | https://www.browserbase.com/pricing, https://docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans |
| Developer | Small projects; unlocks proxies | $20/mo fee (not credit) + overage | 100 browser-h incl., then **$0.12/h**; 1 GB proxy incl., then **$12/GB**; 25 concurrent; 6 h sessions; 25 creations/min; auto CAPTCHA; basic stealth; 15 agent runs; up to 2 projects | same |
| Startup | Production | $99/mo fee + overage | 500 browser-h incl., then **$0.10/h**; 5 GB proxy incl., then **$10/GB**; 100 concurrent; 6 h sessions; 50 creations/min; 30-day retention; 50 agent runs; 10k Fetch; up to 5 projects | same |
| Scale | >100 concurrent, Verified, compliance | Custom, usage-based (sales) | 250+ concurrent; 500+ / "Flexible" hours; 6+ h sessions; 150+ creations/min; HIPAA BAA, DPA, SSO; 30+ day retention | same |
| Browser time | Any session | Per minute (rounded), 1-min minimum per session | — | https://docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans |
| Residential proxy | Developer+ (`proxies: true`) | Per MB (rounded), 1-MB minimum per session; all data through the proxy incl. headers | $12/GB Dev, $10/GB Startup, custom Scale, after included GB | https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/proxies |
| Custom (BYO) proxy | Developer+ | No Browserbase charge documented | $0 (your vendor bills) | https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/identity/proxies |
| CAPTCHA solving | Paid plans | Included, no per-solve price | $0 | https://www.browserbase.com/pricing |
| keepAlive sessions | Paid plans only | Session survives disconnects; billed until REQUEST_RELEASE or timeout | per-minute browser rate | https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/browser/long-sessions/overview |
| Search API | All plans | Per call after 1k/mo | $7/1k | https://www.browserbase.com/pricing |
| Fetch / Extract API | All plans | Per call after allocation (1k Dev / 10k Startup) | Fetch $1/1k (Dev), $0.50/1k (Startup); $4/1k with proxies; Extract $4/1k, $7/1k with proxies | same |
| Functions | All plans | Hosted TS runtime free (us-west-2, 60-900 s); browser time still billed | $0 | https://docs.browserbase.com/account/billing/plans, https://docs.browserbase.com/platform/functions/limits |
| Model Gateway | All plans | Pass-through at market price | $5 tokens on Free | https://www.browserbase.com/pricing |
| Regions | us-west-2 default; us-east-1, eu-central-1, ap-southeast-1 | No regional price difference published | multiplier 1 | https://docs.browserbase.com/optimizations/latency/multi-region.md |

## Gotchas

1. **Included hours cost more than overage**: Developer's $20 for 100 h = $0.20/h vs $0.12/h overage; Startup $99 /
   500 h = $0.198/h vs $0.10/h. The fee is not a usage credit.
2. **6-hour session cap** on Developer/Startup (15 min on Free): long agent runs need to be split; carry state in Contexts.
3. **keepAlive leaks money**: sessions survive disconnects and bill "unneeded browser minutes" until released or timed out.
4. **Per-session minimums**: 1 minute and 1 MB per session. Thousands of 5-second sessions each bill a full minute.
5. **Proxy GB dominates** at $10-12/GB; the 1 / 5 GB included is tiny for scraping.
6. **Concurrency steps**: 25 → 100 → Scale (sales). 26 concurrent browsers forces Startup; 101 forces a sales call.
7. **Creation rate limits**: 50/min on Startup means 100 browsers take ~2 min to spin up.
8. **Docs vs pricing page conflict** on Developer data retention (7 days in docs, 30 days in the pricing table).
9. Browser VM size unknown, so heavy pages can't be sized or compared per core.

## Worked example

Adapted for a browser product: 50 concurrent browsers × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 browser-hours**, 100 GiB
Browserbase-proxied traffic. Snapshots / CPU util not applicable (Contexts storage not priced).

| Regime | Feasible? | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No (3 concurrent, 1 h/month) | n/a |
| Developer | No (50 > 25 concurrent) | n/a (list math: $20 + 8,700×$0.12 + 99 GB×$12 = $2,252) |
| Startup, no proxy | Yes; each 8 h browser-day split into ≥ 2 sessions (6 h cap) | $99 + (8,800 − 500)×$0.10 = **$929** |
| Startup, 100 GB proxy | Yes | $929 + (100 − 5)×$10 = **$1,879** |
| Startup, custom proxy | Yes | $929 + your proxy vendor |
| Scale | Yes | unknown (custom) |
| Anti-pattern: keepAlive sessions left 30 min after each job (2 per browser-day) | Yes | +50×2×22×0.5 h = +1,100 h ≈ **+$110** |