Steel
Cloud browser API for controlling fleets of headless browsers at scale with session management, proxies, and developer-friendly infrastructure.
99.9%
Uptime SLA
1000s
Concurrent Browsers
2024
Founded
Overview
Steel is a managed browser API platform that lets developers control fleets of cloud-hosted browsers through a simple REST API. It handles browser infrastructure, session management, proxy rotation, and CAPTCHA solving, allowing teams to focus on building automation logic rather than managing infrastructure. The platform provides Playwright and Puppeteer-compatible APIs with built-in stealth features for production web scraping and automation.
The Verdict
Who Should Use Steel?
Best For
- Companies needing scalable browser automation without infrastructure overhead
- Development teams building web scraping or testing at scale
- Startups wanting managed browser infrastructure with pay-as-you-go pricing
- Applications requiring session persistence and proxy management
- Teams that need CAPTCHA solving and anti-detection features
Not Ideal For
- Simple automation tasks that can run locally
- Budget-constrained projects with low usage needs
- Teams requiring complete infrastructure control and self-hosting
What's Great
- Fully managed infrastructure with automatic scaling
- Built-in proxy rotation and IP management
- Session persistence for long-running automation workflows
- Playwright and Puppeteer-compatible API
- Stealth features and anti-detection capabilities included
Watch Out For
- Usage-based pricing can scale with heavy automation workloads
- Vendor lock-in compared to self-hosted solutions
- Less control over underlying browser configuration
Pricing
Starter
Pay-as-you-go
$0.01 per request, no minimum commitment
Pro
Volume Discounts
Custom pricing for high-volume usage
Enterprise
Custom
Dedicated infrastructure and SLA guarantees
View all features & details
Key Features
- Managed browser fleet infrastructure
- REST API with Playwright/Puppeteer compatibility
- Session persistence and state management
- Proxy rotation and IP management
- CAPTCHA solving capabilities
- Stealth mode and anti-detection
Platforms
- REST API (language-agnostic)
- Node.js SDK
- Python SDK
- Cloud-based deployment
How It Compares
| Feature | Steel | Browserbase | Apify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Usage-based | Usage-based | Platform fee + usage |
| Session Persistence | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open Source | No | Partial | Platform only |
| Best For | Managed browser API | AI-powered automation | Full scraping platform |
User Reviews
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