{"slug":"steel","name":"Steel","domain":"steel.dev","verdict":"As of 2026-08-10, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok collectively rank Steel #2 of 7 for hosted browser infrastructure for agents using authenticated websites (one of 3 leaderboards it appears on). Source: https://modelsagree.com/product/steel (modelsagree.com, CC BY 4.0).","best_rank":2,"categories":3,"entries":[{"slug":"best-hosted-browser-infrastructure-for-agents-using-authenticated-websites","title":"Best hosted browser infrastructure for agents using authenticated websites","rank":2,"of":7,"score":13,"appearances":4,"modelRanks":{"ChatGPT":4,"Claude":3,"Gemini":2,"Grok":2},"reason":"Open-source browser infrastructure paired with a managed cloud service, providing persistent session profiles, built-in proxy rotation, and full deployment flexibility without vendor lock-in; near-tie with Browserbase for teams prioritizing self-hosting capabilities. (Assumes open control and data sovereignty are critical).","reasons":[{"model":"Gemini","reason":"Open-source browser infrastructure paired with a managed cloud service, providing persistent session profiles, built-in proxy rotation, and full deployment flexibility without vendor lock-in; near-tie with Browserbase for teams prioritizing self-hosting capabilities. (Assumes open control and data sovereignty are critical)."},{"model":"Grok","reason":"Profiles persist full browser identity (cookies, auth tokens, fingerprints, extensions, localStorage) so authenticated agents resume exactly where they left off; Credentials API injects secrets/TOTP without exposing them to the LLM or logs; open-source + self-hostable with strong stealth/CAPTCHA/proxy primitives; fastest measured session lifecycle among peers for production authenticated runs. Near-tie with Browserbase on pure auth durability."},{"model":"Claude","reason":"Open-source browser-API with a hosted option, giving self-host control over where cookies and session data live — a real advantage when credentials are sensitive or compliance forbids third-party auth storage. Clean session API, proxy and CAPTCHA support, and no vendor lock-in. Best value for engineering teams willing to run infra."},{"model":"ChatGPT","reason":"Strong value and portability: fast CDP browsers, persistent profiles, secure credential injection, automatic TOTP, proxies, CAPTCHA solving, dedicated IPs, and an Apache-licensed self-hostable core."}],"fixes":[{"model":"ChatGPT","fix":"Profiles are limited to 300 MB and automatically deleted after 30 inactive days, a poor fit for large or infrequently used account fleets."},{"model":"Claude","fix":"Self-hosting the stealth/proxy/anti-bot stack is on you; the managed tier is less feature-deep than Browserbase, so heavy anti-bot targets take more work."},{"model":"Gemini","fix":"Requires more manual orchestration for complex anti-bot challenges and lacks turnkey higher-level agent frameworks out of the box."},{"model":"Grok","fix":"Less opinionated agent SDK/orchestration layer (you wire Playwright or browser-use yourself); smaller ecosystem and adoption than the managed leaders."}],"updated":"2026-08-10","rank_history":{"days":["2026-08-03","2026-08-10"],"ranks":[3,2]},"api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-hosted-browser-infrastructure-for-agents-using-authenticated-websites.json"},{"slug":"best-managed-browser-infrastructure-for-ai-agents","title":"Best managed browser infrastructure for AI agents","rank":2,"of":6,"score":8,"appearances":2,"modelRanks":{"Claude":2,"Gemini":2},"reason":"The strongest open-source-first choice — Steel Browser can be self-hosted for full data control, with a managed cloud offering the same API; purpose-built for agents (session recording, proxies, anti-detect, auth/cookie persistence) and a clean REST/SDK that mirrors Browserbase's ergonomics.","reasons":[{"model":"Claude","reason":"The strongest open-source-first choice — Steel Browser can be self-hosted for full data control, with a managed cloud offering the same API; purpose-built for agents (session recording, proxies, anti-detect, auth/cookie persistence) and a clean REST/SDK that mirrors Browserbase's ergonomics."},{"model":"Gemini","reason":"Open-source-first managed browser infrastructure designed explicitly for AI agents, providing session management, anti-detect browser instances, proxy rotation, and CDP compatibility while eliminating vendor lock-in via self-hosting capabilities; assumes self-hostability is vital for privacy and cost control. Near-tied with Browserbase on agent feature design."}],"fixes":[{"model":"Claude","fix":"The managed cloud is smaller and less proven at extreme scale than Browserbase, and self-hosting shifts stealth/proxy/ops burden onto you — not for teams that want a hands-off, guaranteed-scale SLA."},{"model":"Gemini","fix":"Managed cloud infrastructure platform has a shorter operational track record and a smaller ecosystem of turnkey agent integrations than older legacy platforms."}],"updated":"2026-08-09","api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-managed-browser-infrastructure-for-ai-agents.json"},{"slug":"best-browser-automation-platform-for-ai-agents","title":"Best browser automation platform for AI agents","rank":4,"of":9,"score":7,"appearances":3,"modelRanks":{"ChatGPT":4,"Gemini":3,"Grok":4},"reason":"A near-tie with Browserbase for developers prioritizing open-source, delivering a robust API-compatible browser-as-a-service with stealth features and session recordings that can be fully self-hosted.","reasons":[{"model":"Gemini","reason":"A near-tie with Browserbase for developers prioritizing open-source, delivering a robust API-compatible browser-as-a-service with stealth features and session recordings that can be fully self-hosted."},{"model":"ChatGPT","reason":"Best open-source browser-infrastructure choice for AI applications, combining self-hostability with managed sessions, CDP/Playwright/Puppeteer/Selenium access, persistent state, proxies, and agent-framework integrations"},{"model":"Grok","reason":"Strong open-source headless browser API tailored for AI agents with cloud/self-host options, session management, anti-bot features, good for fleets and production scaling without vendor lock-in."}],"fixes":[{"model":"ChatGPT","fix":"A smaller and less battle-tested managed ecosystem than the top three makes it a higher-ownership choice for demanding production workloads"},{"model":"Gemini","fix":"Running it self-hosted requires substantial DevOps and infrastructure overhead to manage and rotate proxies to bypass aggressive bot detection."},{"model":"Grok","fix":"Younger/less mature ecosystem than Playwright/Browserbase for some edge cases."}],"updated":"2026-07-15","rank_history":{"days":["2026-07-12","2026-07-13","2026-07-14","2026-07-15"],"ranks":[2,4,3,3]},"reasoning_shift":[{"model":"ChatGPT","from":"2026-07-14","to":"2026-07-15","added":[{"t":"Playwright/Puppeteer/Selenium access","q":"CDP/Playwright/Puppeteer/Selenium access"},{"t":"persistent state, proxies","q":"persistent state, proxies"},{"t":"agent-framework integrations","q":"agent-framework integrations"}],"dropped":[{"t":"fleet control","q":"fleet control"},{"t":"CAPTCHA handling","q":"CAPTCHA handling"}]}],"api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-browser-automation-platform-for-ai-agents.json"}],"page":"https://modelsagree.com/product/steel","check":"https://modelsagree.com/check?q=Steel","updated":"2026-08-10T18:18:45.051Z","attribution":"modelsagree.com, CC BY 4.0"}