Stagehand

What it is for

Stagehand is an open-source AI browser SDK: the official docs still (see the cover: Quickstart with act, extract, and observe, plus a TypeScript install block) is the getting-started surface. Use it when the job is drive a page with natural-language primitives, not when you need a no-code cockpit.

The SDK is MIT. Local Chrome is $0. Cloud sessions bill on Browserbase. Free there is $0/mo. Developer is the first public paid card.

What makes it unique: the cover is Stagehand’s own v4 Quickstart with the three primitives in the page chrome — not a logo tile.

Key features

• act / extract / observe — click or type by prompt, pull typed data, or list candidate actions (cover).
• Local or Browserbase — CDP against Chrome on your machine, or browserbase.launch.
• TypeScript, Python, Go — same primitives; Zod / Pydantic schemas on extract.
• Playground Functions — write a Stagehand script in the Browserbase dashboard and deploy it.
• MIT repo — self-host the driver; cloud hours are a separate SKU.

Who it's for

Best fit: developers who already write Playwright and want self-healing prompts on top.

Poor fit: people who want a hosted no-code agent (Manus) or a scrape-to-markdown API (Firecrawl).

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from docs.stagehand.dev and the live cards on browserbase.com/pricing. Re-check before you buy.

• Self-host / local SDK — $0. MIT. You bring a model key and Chrome.
• Browserbase Free — $0/mo. 3 concurrent; 1 browser hour; 3 Agent runs; 1,000 Search; 1,000 Fetch.
• Developer — $20/mo. 25 concurrent; 100 browser hours then $0.12/hr; captcha solving.
• Startup — $99/mo. 100 concurrent; 500 hours then $0.10/hr; 5 GB proxies.
• Scale — custom (250+ concurrent; HIPAA/BAA, SSO).

Do not invent a Stagehand seat SKU. The SDK page has no monthly card of its own.

Limitations / costs

• Local is free; cloud hours are Browserbase. Developer overage is $0.12/hr.
• You still pick a model. Tokens sit on top of browser hours.
• It is a library. There is no signed-out Studio canvas on stagehand.dev.
• Playground Functions are us-west-2 on the Browserbase docs we copied.

Alternatives

• Browserbase — the hosted session grid Stagehand talks to.
• Browser Use — MIT agent loop plus Cloud at $0.02/hour.
• Steel — CDP browsers you attach Stagehand to; Launch $0 + $30 credits.

Official tutorial

Written path: Quickstart plus Browserbase Stagehand. Official Browserbase channel: youtube.com/@browserbase.

Website

https://docs.stagehand.dev

Repository

https://github.com/browserbase/stagehand

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Stagehand v4 Quickstart (act / extract / observe + TypeScript install). Cloud dollars checked on browserbase.com/pricing (Free $0; Developer $20; Startup $99). License MIT.

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.