Browser Harness vs Browser Use
Browser Harness (Browser Use) and Browser Use (Browser Use) side by side on public data, as of Oct 21, 2026.
Browser Harness has 1.4x the weekly package downloads of Browser Use (2.3M against 1.7M). Browser Use has 6.4x the GitHub stars of Browser Harness (119K against 18.5K). Browser Harness shipped 6 stable releases in the past 90 days. Browser Use shipped 7 stable releases in the past 90 days.
Which should you choose?
Choose Browser Harness if
- you want the one gaining users faster (downloads up 32% in 30 days)
Choose Browser Use if
- you need to run local models
- you want to use your own model API key
- you want to switch between model providers (10 documented against 0)
- you want to run it unattended in scripts or CI
- you want subagents or several agents working in parallel
Built from documented features, official prices, status pages and usage data on this page; it does not judge output quality.
Side-by-side numbers
| Metric | Browser Harness | Browser Use |
|---|---|---|
| Gid Score | 54 | 58 |
| Usage data as of | Oct 20 | Oct 20 |
| Rank by Gid Score | #28 | #22 |
| Downloads, last 7 days | 2.3M | 1.7M |
| Downloads, 7-day change | up 51.4% | down 6.5% |
| Downloads, 30-day change | up 31.7% | — |
| VS Code installs | — | — |
| Marketplace rating | — | — |
| GitHub stars | 18.5K | 119K |
| Homebrew installs, 30 days | — | — |
| Hacker News mentions, 30 days | 3 | 5 |
| Latest stable release | 0.1.13 · 47d ago | 0.13.13 · 6d ago |
| Stable releases, 90 days | 6 | 7 |
| Terminal-Bench (best run) | — | — |
| Price | Free (OSS) | Free |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| First released | April 2026 | November 2024 |
| Interfaces | — | API, CLI |
| Models | Any LLM of your choice (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others) plus its own BU 2.0 model via the cloud |
Trends
Browser Harness
Browser Harness | Self-healing harness that enables LLMs to complete any task.
Pricing: Open source under the MIT licence; check the website for any paid hosted plans.
Latest release 0.1.13:
- Pin the MCP extra to mcp 2.1.1.
- Pin release build tooling to build 1.6.0 and setuptools 84.0.0.
- Preserve the Chrome permission and macOS accessibility reliability improvements from 0.1.12.
- 251 unit tests passed with the MCP extra.
Browser Use
Open-source Python library and hosted cloud that let LLM agents control a real browser to complete web tasks, with a CLI, a cloud API for hosted agents and browsers, and its own BU 2.0 model option.
Pricing: Open-source library is free (MIT). Cloud is pay-as-you-go with no subscription: credits from a $5 top-up, browsers $0.02/hour, residential proxies $5/GB, hosted agents billed at model cost plus 20%; the pricing page lists $1 in free credits for eligible signups (the README mentions $15).
Latest release 0.13.13:
- Handle temporary empty Cloud tab URLs during navigation.
- Keep screenshots, crops, and pointer coordinates aligned on scaled displays.
- Provide 18 default browser tools and six optional actions through Browser Use Actor.
- Support local browsers, Browser Use Cloud, and borrowed browser sessions.
Browser Harness vs Browser Use: common questions
How do Browser Harness and Browser Use prices compare?
Browser Harness: Free (OSS). Browser Use: Free. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page.
Which is more popular, Browser Harness or Browser Use?
Browser Use has a Gid Score of 58 against 54 for Browser Harness. The score combines package downloads, editor installs, GitHub activity and attention, updated daily.
Do Browser Harness and Browser Use support local models?
Browser Use documents support for local models; Browser Harness's documentation does not.