The deciding difference is operational: Arcade can run on infrastructure you control, Browserbase cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered.
Tool-calling with per-user OAuth, so the agent acts as the user, not as root.
The per-user token model is what stops one user's agent reading another user's mailbox.
Managed headless browsers with stealth and session replay, plus Stagehand.
| Arcade | Browserbase | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Open source | Proprietary |
| Pricing | freemium | freemium |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Languages | Python, TypeScript | TypeScript, Python |
| Install | — | — |
| Keys required | ARCADE_API_KEY | BROWSERBASE_API_KEY, BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID |
The deciding difference is operational: Arcade can run on infrastructure you control, Browserbase cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered. Arcade: Tool-calling with per-user OAuth, so the agent acts as the user, not as root. Browserbase: Managed headless browsers with stealth and session replay, plus Stagehand.
Arcade can run on your own infrastructure. Browserbase is a hosted service only.
Arcade is open source (freemium). Browserbase is proprietary (freemium).
Every page here answers to Accept: text/markdown and returns the same content at roughly a tenth the tokens. No separate site, no toggle — same URL.
curl -s -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://newagent.build/compare/arcade-vs-browserbase