Browserbase Stagehand

Stagehand is Browserbase’s open-source AI browser automation framework that blends deterministic code with natural-language actions for reliable web agents.

Overview

Stagehand lets developers write automation that mixes Playwright-style code with AI-powered actions such as act, extract and observe. Deterministic code handles the predictable parts, while AI figures out the messy ones, giving you automation that is both flexible and debuggable.

Running on Browserbase’s managed cloud browsers, Stagehand supports vision-based interaction, structured data extraction into JSON schemas, and caching that makes repeated runs faster and cheaper. It has become a popular foundation for production browser agents because it keeps humans in control of the code while the model fills the gaps. Caching learned actions makes repeat runs both faster and cheaper, which compounds nicely in production. The hybrid model also keeps agents predictable where it matters while delegating only the messy steps to AI.

Key Features

• Hybrid automation mixing code with natural-language actions
• act, extract and observe primitives for web agents
• Schema-based structured extraction from any page
• Playwright compatibility and familiar developer ergonomics
• Caching of repeated actions for speed and cost savings
• Runs locally or on Browserbase managed cloud browsers
• Open source with active community and examples

Pricing

Stagehand is open source and free to use with your own browsers. When paired with Browserbase’s cloud, pricing is usage-based on browser session time, with a free tier for evaluation and tiered plans for production scale. The open-source framework keeps experimentation free, and hosted browser costs scale directly with session usage.

Who Is It For

Stagehand is aimed at developers building web agents and automation who want AI flexibility without giving up code-level control. It fits teams shipping scraping products, testing tools and agent applications. Teams shipping scraping products appreciate being able to start small on local browsers and move to managed infrastructure as demand grows.

FAQ

Is Browserbase Stagehand free to use?

Yes, Stagehand is free and open source. Costs arise only from model usage and, optionally, Browserbase’s hosted browser infrastructure.

Does Browserbase Stagehand offer an API?

Stagehand is a framework you embed in your application, and the Browserbase platform provides REST APIs for managing sessions, recordings and proxies at scale.

How does Browserbase Stagehand compare to alternatives?

Stagehand’s hybrid approach is more maintainable than pure natural-language agents and more adaptable than pure Playwright scripts. Teams that want fully autonomous agents may prefer end-to-end agents, while Stagehand suits reliable production automation. Stagehand suits teams that want AI flexibility with code-level reliability, rather than fully autonomous agents whose behavior can be hard to constrain.