Stagehand vs Steel
A side-by-side comparison of Stagehand and Steel, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Stagehand | Steel |
|---|---|---|
| Category (differs) | Automation | Infra |
| Pricing (differs) | FREE | FREEMIUM |
| License (differs) | Open source | Open core |
| Deployment (differs) | — | Hybrid |
| Platforms (differs) | API | Web, API |
| Model support (differs) | BYO key / model | Model-agnostic |
| Vendor (differs) | Browserbase | Nen Labs |
The honest brief
Stagehand
Mixes deterministic code with natural-language act()/extract() — no all-or-nothing handoff to a black-box agent.
- CDP-native v3 driver, no Playwright lock-in
- Mix code and NL primitives
- TypeScript and Python SDKs
- Model-agnostic (OpenAI/Anthropic/Google)
- SDK, not a no-code tool
- Best paired with Browserbase cloud
- Reliability depends on model choice
- Newer than raw Playwright/Puppeteer
Steel
Open-source, Docker-self-hostable browser sandbox unlike most closed agent-browser APIs — run local or in cloud.
- Self-host via Docker or use the cloud
- Handles sessions/proxies/CAPTCHAs
- Page-to-markdown/screenshot/PDF
- Framework- and model-agnostic
- Infrastructure, not a full agent
- Managed cloud is metered
- Younger than incumbent scrapers
- Needs an agent framework on top