Alternatives / Browserbase
A Browserbase alternative without the SDK or the plan picker
Standard CDP URL. Pay-per-minute from dollar one. No Stagehand, no plan tiers, same Playwright code.
Browserbase is a fine product. If you want session replay, residential proxies, and Stagehand built in, use it. This page is for the other case: you have working Playwright code and you want a cloud Chromium endpoint without adopting a new SDK or picking between $20, $99, and Scale.
Free tier · $0.15/hour after · No credit card
Side by side
| Bug0 Browsers | Browserbase | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly minimum | $0 | $0 free / $20+ paid |
| Effective hourly rate | $0.15 | $0.10 to $0.12 (overage) |
| Billing unit | Per minute | Per hour |
| Free tier, no credit card | Yes | Yes |
| Standard CDP URL | Yes | Yes |
| Live preview | noVNC on every session | Session replay |
| Self-host option | No | No |
| Stealth / captcha built in | No | Yes |
| Proxies built in | No | Yes ($10 to $12/GB) |
Pricing accurate as of April 2026. We update as Browserbase changes theirs.
Migrate in three lines
If you're on Stagehand, you're already over CDP. The migration is dropping Stagehand-specific calls and using Playwright directly.
Browserbase + Stagehand
import { Stagehand } from "@browserbasehq/stagehand";
const stagehand = new Stagehand({ env: "BROWSERBASE" });
await stagehand.init();
const page = stagehand.page;Bug0 + Playwright
import { Bug0 } from "@bug0/sdk";
import { chromium } from "playwright";
const bug0 = new Bug0({ apiKey: process.env.BUG0_API_KEY });
const { cdpUrl } = await bug0.createBrowser();
const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(cdpUrl);
const page = browser.contexts()[0].pages()[0];If your Stagehand code uses act() or extract(), those move to Playwright equivalents. The CDP plumbing underneath is the same.
Where Browserbase wins
- Category leader. Stealth, captcha solve, residential proxies, and session replay all work out of the box.
- Stagehand SDK is well known in the agent community and well documented.
- Polished dashboard with solid logs and debugging.
Where Bug0 wins
- No monthly plan to pick. You pay per minute from dollar one.
- Free tier needs no credit card. No 15-minute session cap. Default session is 15 minutes, configurable up to 45.
- Standard CDP URL. No proprietary SDK to learn. Existing Playwright or Puppeteer code runs unchanged.
Pricing math
Browserbase Developer is $20/mo for 100 hours, then $0.12/hr overage. Bug0 is $0.15/hr from minute one. Crossover is at ~267 hours/month. Below that, Bug0 is cheaper. Above that, Browserbase Developer is cheaper. If your usage is spiky or seasonal, the no-minimum side of the curve matters more than the per-hour cliff.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bug0 a true Browserbase alternative?
For the cloud-Chromium-over-CDP slice of Browserbase, yes. Connect with Playwright or Puppeteer the same way. For Stagehand, session replay, or built-in residential proxies, no. Those are Browserbase's territory.
Will my Browserbase Playwright code work on Bug0?
Yes, with one URL change. If you used Browserbase's @browserbasehq/sdk to create a session, swap it for @bug0/sdk and call createBrowser(). The chromium.connectOverCDP line is identical.
What about Stagehand?
Stagehand is Browserbase's act/extract layer for agents. Bug0 doesn't ship an equivalent. If you used it, you swap to vanilla Playwright. If you didn't, nothing to do.
Pricing comparison?
Bug0 is $0.15/hr billed per minute, no minimum. Browserbase Developer is $20/mo + $0.12/hr overage. Below ~267 hr/mo, Bug0 is cheaper. Above, Browserbase Developer is cheaper.
Can I keep my Browserbase account and use both?
Yes. Run them in parallel and route per workload. Bug0 for spiky agent runs, Browserbase for jobs that need its stealth or proxies.
Free tier?
10 browser-minutes free, no credit card. Browserbase free is 1 hour but capped at 15-min sessions and 3 concurrent.