Steel Browser

license

Apache-2.0(OSI)

source

public(the browser API, the session manager and the Docker image)

self-host

yes(docker run, or Steel Cloud)

core features withheld

no — nothing withheld from the published tree

Apache-2.0 covers the whole API and its session management. Steel Cloud exists as a hosted alternative to the complete self-hostable core rather than a withheld feature, and the same SDKs point at either deployment through a baseURL option.

• https://api.github.com/repos/steel-dev/steel-browser recorded 2026-09-17

  Repository metadata: spdx_id Apache-2.0, 7,654 stars, not archived, not a fork, last pushed 2026-09-16, described as an "Open Source Browser API for AI Agents & Apps" and a "batteries-included browser sandbox".

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-09-17

  The LICENSE body: the verbatim Apache License 2.0 text.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-17

  The README names the commercial offering as a deployment of the same product rather than a tier above it, which is what the `ungated` acceptance standard asks for: self-hosting is `docker run ghcr.io/steel-dev/steel-browser` with Railway and Render one-click alternatives, "The easiest way to get started with Steel is by creating a Steel Cloud account", and the SDKs "are compatible with both Steel Cloud and self-hosted Steel instances (changeable using the baseURL option)" - one API, two places to run it.

GitHub stars are the adoption signal here because Steel Browser ships as a Docker image, which publishes no download count. The steel-sdk npm package does report real downloads, but it is a client library for the API rather than the product itself, so counting it would measure a different population.

• https://api.github.com/repos/steel-dev/steel-browser recorded 2026-09-17

  Repository metadata for steel-dev/steel-browser: 7,654 stargazers.

Steel runs no authentication flow itself - the only secret in its documentation is a proxy string the caller supplies - but it does host execution: Steel Cloud runs the browsers, and the same SDKs point at either deployment. Hosting the execution is what lifts it above a bare curated surface, the same reason Browserbase, which sells the same shape commercially, sits at the same level.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steel-dev/steel-browser/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-17

  The README: "Steel.dev is an open-source browser API that makes it easy to build AI apps and agents that interact with the web... Under the hood, it manages sessions, pages, and browser processes", with "Session Management: Maintains browser state, cookies, and local storage across requests". Its only credential is `proxyUrl: "user:pass@host:port"`, supplied by the caller. Deployment is `docker run ... ghcr.io/steel-dev/steel-browser` or "The easiest way to get started with Steel is by creating a Steel Cloud account".