Skyvern alternative · prices as of Sep 2026
A Skyvern alternative that bills by the minute, not by the plan
Skyvern is an open-source AI agent for browser workflows, sold in monthly credit plans. Human Browser takes the same kind of task in plain English and runs it on a real Chrome with a residential IP, prepaid, with no plan.
$0.10 per browser-hour, billed per second, plus $0.02 per agent step with the AI included. No subscription. First top-up can be $1.
What Skyvern is
Skyvern automates browser workflows with LLMs and computer vision instead of hand-written selectors. You describe the goal, and its agent reads the page, decides the next action and carries on until the goal is met. The core is open source (AGPL-3.0, about 23,000 GitHub stars); Skyvern Cloud adds a workflow builder, stored credentials, 2FA and TOTP, SMS numbers, 1Password and Bitwarden integrations, and SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA on the higher tiers. It is aimed hard at operations teams replacing manual portal work in healthcare, insurance and finance.
Human Browser is closer to Skyvern than a raw browser API like Steel or Browserbase: both take a goal, not browser commands. The differences are in how you pay, which IPs your tasks come from, and who each product is built for.
Skyvern pricing, as of Sep 2026
From skyvern.com/pricing, read 27 Sep 2026. The per-action figure is ours: plan price divided by Skyvern's own estimated actions.
| Plan | Price | Credits | Est. actions | Per action | Concurrency | Proxy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5,000 | ~170 | free | 1 | Datacenter |
| Hobby | $29 / month | 30,000 / month | ~1,200 | ~$0.024 | 10 | Datacenter |
| Pro | $149 / month | 150,000 / month | ~6,200 | ~$0.024 | 25 | Residential, city-level |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | 100 | Residential |
Where Human Browser differs
| Human Browser | Skyvern Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Pay as you go: first top-up $1, then from $5, no monthly fee | Monthly plan with credits: $0, $29, $149 or custom |
| Unit of billing | $0.10/hr, billed per second; under 30 s and takeover time free | Credits per action (about $0.024 each on Hobby and Pro) |
| AI model | Included in $0.02 per agent step (default gpt-6-luna) | Included in credits |
| Residential IP | $4 / GB residential, on by default, 75 countries | Pro and Enterprise only; datacenter on Free and Hobby |
| Captcha | $0.005 each ($5 / 1,000), 12+ types | Basic solver on Hobby, advanced on Pro |
| Concurrency | 10 per paid token | 1, 10, 25 or 100 by plan |
| Human in the loop | Live viewer on every task; human takeover not billed | Human-in-the-loop on Enterprise |
| Logins | Persistent named profiles; OTP entered by a person in the viewer | Stored credentials, 2FA/TOTP (Pro), password-manager integrations |
| Access | A2A 1.0 (JSON-RPC + SSE), remote MCP, OpenAPI. No raw CDP endpoint | REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, MCP, workflow builder UI |
| Self-host | No, managed cloud only | Yes, open source (AGPL-3.0) |
When to pick Skyvern instead
- You need to self-host or keep data inside your own cloud. We are managed-only.
- Your team wants a no-code workflow builder with stored credentials, TOTP and 1Password or Bitwarden. We have profiles and a live viewer, not a workflow editor.
- You need compliance paperwork: SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA are on Skyvern's pages; we do not have them.
- You run a steady volume of short tasks that fit a plan, or need more than 10 at once. Skyvern Pro runs 25, Enterprise 100.
When Human Browser fits better
- Uneven usage. A prepaid balance that does not expire, instead of a monthly plan you may not use up.
- Residential IP from the first task, in 75 countries, at $4 per GB, without the $149 plan.
- Agent-to-agent calls. An A2A (v0.3) endpoint (JSON-RPC and SSE) next to the remote MCP server, on one token.
- A person in the loop on any plan. Every task returns a live viewer URL; takeover time is not billed.
Run a task on Human Browser
Send the goal with message/send. Pass metadata.profile to keep a login between runs and metadata.country to choose the exit country.
curl -X POST https://agent.humanbrowser.cloud/a2a \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer hb_live_xxxx' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "message/send",
"params": {
"message": { "role": "user",
"parts": [{"kind":"text","text":"Open news.ycombinator.com and return the top 5 story titles as JSON."}] },
"metadata": { "country": "us" }
}
}'curl -X POST https://agent.humanbrowser.cloud/a2a \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer hb_live_xxxx' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tasks/get","params":{"id":"<task id from result.id>","wait_seconds":30}}'Or give the tool to your own agent over MCP:
{ "mcpServers": { "humanbrowser": {
"url": "https://agent.humanbrowser.cloud/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer hb_live_..." } } } }Full reference in the docs and MCP guide. Rates on the pricing page.
FAQ
What is Skyvern?
Skyvern is an AI browser automation platform that uses LLMs and computer vision to run workflows on websites: logins, form filling, downloads, portal work. The core is open source under AGPL-3.0 on GitHub, and Skyvern Cloud is the hosted version with a workflow builder, stored credentials, 2FA and TOTP support, and plans billed in credits.
How much does Skyvern cost?
As of Sep 2026: Free is $0 with 5,000 credits (about 170 actions) and 1 concurrent run; Hobby is $29 a month with 30,000 credits (about 1,200 actions) and 10 concurrent runs; Pro is $149 a month with 150,000 credits (about 6,200 actions) and 25 concurrent runs; Enterprise is custom with 100 concurrent runs. That works out to roughly $0.024 per action on Hobby and Pro. Free and Hobby use datacenter proxies; residential proxies start on Pro.
How is Human Browser priced differently?
There is no plan. Browser time is $0.10 per hour billed per second, the agent is $0.02 per step with the model included, captchas are $0.005 each and residential traffic is $4 per GB. You top up from $5 and the balance does not expire. On our production the median task took about 8 agent steps and cost $0.24 all-in.
Which one is cheaper?
It depends on how many actions your tasks take. At about $0.024 per action, a 20-action Skyvern task on Hobby costs about $0.48; on Human Browser a 20-step task is $0.40 in steps plus browser time and traffic, and our median task is $0.24. Per step the two are close ($0.024 against $0.02). Skyvern can still come out cheaper for short tasks run steadily every month inside your plan; Human Browser is cheaper when usage is uneven, because unused plan credits are money you paid for nothing, and when you need residential IPs without moving to the $149 Pro plan.
Can I self-host Human Browser like Skyvern?
No. Human Browser is managed cloud only. If you need to run the agent inside your own infrastructure, Skyvern open source is the better choice; note that AGPL-3.0 has obligations if you offer a modified version as a network service.
Does Human Browser have workflows, stored credentials and 2FA like Skyvern?
Not in the same form. Human Browser has persistent profiles (log in once, cookies carry over to later tasks), a live viewer where a person can enter an OTP or take over, and file upload. It has no visual workflow builder and no password-manager integrations. If your team wants a no-code workflow editor with 1Password or Bitwarden, Skyvern fits better.
Try it on a real task
A $1 first top-up covers about four median tasks. Later top-ups from $5.
Try it for $1
