The deciding difference is operational: MCP (Model Context Protocol) can run on infrastructure you control, Browserbase cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered.
The open protocol for exposing tools and data to agents. The default answer.
Write your integrations as MCP servers and every harness on this page can use them unchanged.
Managed headless browsers with stealth and session replay, plus Stagehand.
| MCP (Model Context Protocol) | Browserbase | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Open source | Proprietary |
| Pricing | open source | freemium |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Languages | TypeScript, Python | TypeScript, Python |
| Install | npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk | — |
| Keys required | None | BROWSERBASE_API_KEY, BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID |
The deciding difference is operational: MCP (Model Context Protocol) can run on infrastructure you control, Browserbase cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered. MCP (Model Context Protocol): The open protocol for exposing tools and data to agents. The default answer. Browserbase: Managed headless browsers with stealth and session replay, plus Stagehand.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) can run on your own infrastructure. Browserbase is a hosted service only.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is open source (open source). 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/mcp-vs-browserbase