5 Best Scraping Browsers

Scraping browsers come in two forms: remote browsers that plug into existing Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium scripts, and API-based solutions where you define browser actions in the request. We benchmarked the top scraping browsers on sites with login walls, infinite scroll, and strict anti-bot rules.

Scraping browser pricing comparison

Scraping browser performance benchmark: Success rate results

1. Bright Data Browser API: 98.2% (Highest stability on infinite scroll)
2. Oxylabs Agent Browser: 96.5% (Fastest response times)
3. Zyte API: 95.1% (Best for static & semi-dynamic content)

Bright Data Browser API: Performance & alternatives

Ideal for enterprise-scale projects with high traffic needs. Bright Data is the easiest choice if your company

• is relying on a headless browser like Selenium or Puppeteer, or
• wants to retain the ability to easily switch to using proxies instead of these tools. Your tech team will not need to change their codebase and can resume using proxies after changing how their browser communicates with the web data infrastructure.

Oxylabs Agent Browser:

Strong support and reliable infrastructure for scaling. Oxylabs Agent Browser lets teams plug their existing Playwright or Puppeteer scripts into a managed remote browser, while Zyte API takes an API-first approach where browser actions are defined in the request itself.

Zyte API:

Best if you prefer paying per successful response rather than per GB, or don’t have Selenium/Playwright automation in place. Fully API-driven, with pay-as-you-go and commitment-based tiers starting at $100/month.

• You want predictable per-response costs instead of bandwidth-based billing
• Zyte’s API offers all the browser automation functionalities that you need and
• You didn’t have an automation built with a tool like Selenium or Puppeteer, or you can’t cost-effectively replicate it with the Zyte API.

For more details on how these tools performed in real tests, see our methodology.

Best scraping browsers compared

Bright Data Browser API can be used as a browser socket (with unblocking capabilities) and integrated with browser automation libraries such as Selenium or Puppeteer.

It is a proxy-unlocking solution that helps users scrape data from browsers while managing proxy and unblocking infrastructure, including CAPTCHA solving. Browser API operates in both “headfull” (GUI-based) and “headless” (no GUI, programmatically controlled) modes.

Pros

• Highest success rate (97%+) in our benchmark
• Integrates easily with Selenium/Puppeteer (drop-in setup)
• Built-in CAPTCHA solving and IP rotation
• Supports both headless and headful modes

Cons

• Per-GB savings require committing to the $499/month Scale plan; pay-as-you-go stays at $8/GB.

Oxylabs Agent Browser is a remote, Chrome-based browser that runs on Oxylabs’ infrastructure, so users don’t need to host or maintain browsers locally.

Instead of sending API requests, users connect to it over a WebSocket endpoint using any Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)-compatible library, such as Playwright or Puppeteer, and control the session with their existing automation code.

Residential proxies, CAPTCHA handling, and fingerprint management are built in, and geolocation can be targeted at the state, or city level through connection parameters.

Pros

• Strong support team (fastest responses in our benchmark)
• Drop-in integration with Playwright, Puppeteer, and other CDP-compatible tools
• MCP support for connecting AI agents directly to the browser

Cons

• No pay-as-you-go option; usage is billed through a monthly subscription starting at $30, with the lowest per-GB rates reserved for higher tiers.

Zyte offers a general-purpose scraper API with proxy management and browser automation capabilities. The scraper API enables the management of request headers, cookies, and toggling JavaScript.

Pros

• API-first design, no need to maintain Selenium/Playwright scripts
• Success rate on static + semi-dynamic pages

Cons

• Lacks full Selenium/Playwright integration
• Slower on heavy JavaScript rendering than Bright Data

Nimble Extract API retrieves rendered content from target URLs using headless browsers, with built-in proxies and anti-bot handling. Users choose between driver levels depending on the target: lighter drivers for fast, simple pages and stealth-enabled drivers for protected sites.

Browser actions such as clicking, scrolling, typing, and waiting can be defined in the request, and the API also supports geo-targeting, CSS-based parsing schemas, and network request capture. Like Zyte API, it is API-driven rather than a remote browser you control through Playwright or Puppeteer.

Pros

• Low per-request pricing with a free monthly allowance
• Browser actions, parsing, and network capture in a single API call

Cons

• No direct Playwright/Puppeteer/Selenium connection; existing browser scripts must be rewritten as API requests

Browse AI is a no-code web automation tool that simplifies scraping data from target websites. This platform features an extension that enables users to easily select webpage elements for capture by pointing and clicking.

It automates user interactions necessary for data extraction, such as logging in, clicking buttons, filling out forms, and selecting options from dropdown menus. This functionality makes it easier to scrape web data without manual input. The platform can monitor websites for changes and notify users via email about the updates.

Pros

• No-code setup: point-and-click interface for selecting elements
• Free plan available, easy to start

Cons

• Less control than code-based browser scraping APIs (limited for complex sites)
• Slower for dynamic sites with heavy JavaScript than Bright Data or Oxylabs
• Paid plans are billed annually, with credits allocated upfront

What is a scraping browser?

A scraping browser, also known as a web scraping browser, is an automated tool designed for extracting data. These browsers come with built-in tools to

• help users select and extract specific elements from web pages, such as images, links, and text.
• interact with websites by clicking, scrolling, or inputting data,
• automatically overcome advanced bot detection software via residential proxies and other algorithmic solutions.

A web scraping browser can function in either a headless or a headful environment. In headless mode, the browser emulates a web browsing experience without displaying a graphical user interface, providing enhanced control and flexibility.

Scraping browser methodology

To benchmark scraping browsers, we

• Coded a Selenium script to extract the top trending topic in the US on Google Trends. The script selects the topic, navigates to its URL, and downloads the trends data.
• We validated that the script returned correct results.
• We tested the script on the anti-bot tests. Its results were not significantly different from those of the unblocker.

Participants

We benchmarked the top browser scraping APIs currently available. These tools are still relatively new and complex to build, as providers must combine unblocking (CAPTCHA bypass, IP rotation) with full browser capabilities, such as JavaScript rendering.

We selected the 3 largest providers in the market by number of employees and tested their scraping browsers. We chose the number of employees since it is publicly available on LinkedIn, regularly updated, and is correlated with a company’s market share.

Selected providers sorted by their number of employees:

• Bright Data
• Oxylabs
• Zyte

Why use a scraping browser?

For tasks like data collection, businesses often need browser automation to interact with websites by clicking buttons or filling out forms. One way to do this is to add proxies to browsers, but this method requires frequent proxy updates to work well.

Browser automation solutions combine an unblocker with a browser that users can control via an API or software library. This means users do not have to set up proxies, making it simpler to access web data.

Don’t miss our benchmarks and data-driven insights. The button opens Google; selecting AIMultiple confirms that you wish to see AIMultiple more often in Google search results.

Add as preferred source

Are scraping browsers legal?

Web scraping is usually legal if you access data that is publicly available. Still, it is important to follow GDPR and CCPA rules, especially when collecting personal information.

Using a scraping browser doesn’t exempt you from web scraping legal guidelines, but it does ensure your collection process doesn’t disrupt the target site’s performance.

FAQs

Cite this benchmark

Pick the format that matches where you're publishing. Pasting the link version into your CMS preserves the backlink.

@misc{karatas2026,
  author = {Karatas, Gulbahar},
  title  = {{5 Best Scraping Browsers}},
  year   = {2026},
  month  = oct,
  howpublished    = {\url{https://aimultiple.com/scraping-browser}},
  note   = {AIMultiple. Retrieved October 23, 2026}
}

Changelog

7 updates

All7General6Methodology1

20262025

1. Mar 3

   Replaced product names in the "Scraping browser performance benchmark: Success rate results" section.

2. Jan 30

   Updated the benchmark results for Bright Data, Oxylabs, and Zyte API.

Gulbahar Karatas

Industry Analyst

Follow On

Gülbahar is an AIMultiple industry analyst focused on web data collection, applications of web data and application security.

View Full Profile

Be the first to comment

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required. Comments are left in their original language.

Name

Email Address

Comment

0/450

Post Comment