# Steel Browser review

> Steel Browser is an open-source browser API and sandbox that lets AI agents and apps automate the web through managed Chrome sessions.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/steel/

## TL;DR

Steel Browser is an open-source browser API for building AI agents and browser automation tools. It manages sessions, pages and browser processes, so developers can control Chrome with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium. It also includes proxy support, anti-detection, a debugging UI and quick endpoints for scraping, screenshots and PDFs.

## Steel Browser at a glance

- **Category:** [Browser and computer use](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/browser-and-computer-use/)
- **Maintained by:** Steel (organization, [@steel-dev](https://github.com/steel-dev) on GitHub)
- **License:** Apache 2.0
- **Language:** TypeScript, EJS, CSS
- **Repository:** [github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser)
- **Website:** [steel.dev](https://steel.dev)
- **npm package:** [steel-sdk](https://www.npmjs.com/package/steel-sdk) 0.18.0
- **PyPI package:** [steel-sdk](https://pypi.org/project/steel-sdk/) 0.19.0
- **Latest release:** [v0.5.4-beta](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/releases/tag/v0.5.4-beta) on GitHub, Aug 25, 2026
- **First published:** Nov 1, 2024

## What Steel Browser does

- Steel Browser gives full control over Chrome instances through Puppeteer and CDP, with connections from Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium.
- Steel Browser maintains browser state, cookies and local storage across requests within a session.
- Steel Browser includes built-in proxy chain management for IP rotation, plus stealth plugins and fingerprint management.
- Steel Browser can load custom Chrome extensions into sessions.
- Steel Browser provides quick action endpoints to scrape pages, take screenshots, and download PDFs of web pages.
- Steel Browser includes request logging and a UI to view and debug sessions.
- Steel Browser handles automatic cleanup and browser lifecycle management.

### How it works

Steel Browser runs as a server, by default on port 3000, with a UI and a console debugger on port 9223. You create sessions through the REST API, or through the Node and Python steel-sdk packages. You then drive the browser with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium. The SDKs work with both Steel Cloud and self-hosted instances.

## How to install Steel Browser

**With Docker**

```
docker run -p 3000:3000 -p 9223:9223 ghcr.io/steel-dev/steel-browser
```

**With Docker Compose**

```
docker compose up
```

### Requirements

- Docker, or Node.js with Chrome installed in a standard path or set through CHROME_EXECUTABLE_PATH.
- Python 3.9 or newer for the Python SDK.
- Mac Silicon users need DOCKER_DEFAULT_PLATFORM=linux/arm64 when using docker compose.

### First steps

1. Run the Docker image, then open the API at http://localhost:3000 and the UI at http://localhost:3000/ui.
2. Create a browser session with a POST request to /v1/sessions or with client.sessions.create in the SDK.
3. Connect to the session with Puppeteer or Playwright using the session ID or the root URL.
4. Browse the local API documentation at http://localhost:3000/documentation.

## Who Steel Browser is for

- Developers building AI agents that need a real browser to navigate, click and type.
- Teams that want to self-host browser automation infrastructure instead of building it from scratch.
- Teams with existing Selenium workflows that want a WebDriver-compatible browser backend.
- Developers who need quick scraping, screenshots or PDFs from web pages.

### Limitations

- Steel Browser is in public beta and changing frequently.
- Selenium sessions do not support all features of the CDP-based sessions API.
- Running with Node.js directly requires a local Chrome executable.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Board rank: #183 overall, #7 in Browser and computer use, momentum score 47
- Downloads that week: 158.7k (+26% vs 4-week average)
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 41; Aug 16: 39; Aug 23: 41; Aug 30: 31; Sep 6: 46; Sep 13: 37; Sep 20: 33; Sep 27: 40; Oct 4: 61; Oct 11: 52; Oct 18: 38; Oct 25: 35

## Steel Browser alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [ego lite](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/citrolabs-ego-lite/) | 21k | – |
| #2 | [Moli](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/lexmount-moli/) | 21.9k | – |
| #3 | [Cua](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/cua/) | 31.4k | – |
| #4 | [Browser Harness](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-browser-harness/) | 18.8k | 3.3M |
| #5 | [Jev Ultrafast](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-jev-ultrafast/) | 24k | – |
| #6 | [Stagehand](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/stagehand/) | 25.9k | 3M |

## Steel Browser FAQ

### Is Steel Browser free and open source?

Yes. Steel Browser's source code is on GitHub (steel-dev/steel-browser) under the Apache 2.0 license, so you can use it for free. Its website also links to a pricing page (https://steel.dev/pricing) for any paid plans.

### How do I install Steel Browser?

Run `docker run -p 3000:3000 -p 9223:9223 ghcr.io/steel-dev/steel-browser`. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Steel Browser still maintained?

Yes. The steel-dev/steel-browser repository was last updated on Oct 20, 2026, and the latest release, v0.5.4-beta on GitHub, came out on Aug 25, 2026.

### How popular is Steel Browser?

Steel Browser has 7.9k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 35 new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 41 a week. Its main package had about 158.7k downloads that week, +26% against its own 4-week average. That made it #7 among browser and computer-use agents on the Devtoolwatch Board.

### Steel Browser vs Browser Use: how do they compare?

Steel Browser and Browser Use are both tracked by Devtoolwatch as browser and computer-use agents. Steel Browser has 7.9k GitHub stars and Browser Use has 119.7k. In the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, Steel Browser's main package had 158.7k downloads and Browser Use's had 1.5M. [Browser Use review](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use/)

### What are the best alternatives to Steel Browser?

Other browser and computer-use agents on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: ego lite (#1), Moli (#2), Cua (#3), Browser Harness (#4), Jev Ultrafast (#5). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### Can I use Playwright or Selenium with Steel Browser?

Yes. Steel Browser lets you connect with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium. For Selenium, create a session with the isSelenium option. Selenium sessions do not support every feature of the CDP-based sessions.

### Can I self-host Steel Browser instead of using Steel Cloud?

Yes. You can run Steel Browser locally with Docker or Node.js, or deploy it to a cloud provider. The README lists a prebuilt Docker image and one-click deploys to Railway and Render. The SDKs work with both self-hosted instances and Steel Cloud.

### Does Steel Browser have SDKs?

Yes. Steel Browser has fully typed Node and Python SDKs, both published as steel-sdk. They are built on the REST API. Use the baseURL option in Node or base_url in Python to point them at your instance.

### What ports does Steel Browser use?

With the Docker image, Steel Browser serves the API and UI on port 3000 and uses port 9223 for the console debugger. When run with Node.js or the dev compose file, the UI runs on port 5173.

## Sources

1. [steel-dev/steel-browser on GitHub](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser)
2. [Steel Browser README](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/blob/main/README.md)
3. [steel-sdk on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/steel-sdk)
4. [steel-sdk on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/steel-sdk/)
5. [Steel Browser website](https://steel.dev)
6. [Release v0.5.4-beta (Aug 25, 2026)](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/releases/tag/v0.5.4-beta)
7. [Release v0.5.3-beta (Apr 24, 2026)](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/releases/tag/v0.5.3-beta)
8. [Release v0.5.2-beta (Mar 15, 2026)](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/releases/tag/v0.5.2-beta)
9. [Hacker News: Show HN: Steel.dev – An open-source browser API for AI agents and apps](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42245573)
10. [Hacker News: Show HN: AI Browser Agent Leaderboard](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43259918)
11. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)