Browserless is an open-source solution that containerizes headless browsers (Chrome, Firefox, WebKit) to simplify web automation tasks like scraping, testing, and screenshotting. It eliminates the complexity of managing browser dependencies, fonts, system packages, and crashes by providing a stable, Docker-based service. Designed for developers and DevOps teams, it supports both local development and cloud deployments with seamless integration into existing Puppeteer and Playwright scripts. The project offers a free tier for non-commercial use, with enterprise-grade features available via paid licenses for production and CI/CD environments.
What You Get
- Parallelism and queueing - Handles multiple browser sessions concurrently with configurable limits to prevent resource exhaustion, ideal for high-throughput automation tasks.
- Debug Viewer - Real-time visual interface to inspect and troubleshoot active browser sessions directly from the web UI at
http://localhost:3000/docs.
- Unforked libraries - Fully compatible with standard Puppeteer and Playwright without requiring code modifications or custom drivers.
- Fonts & emoji support - Pre-installed system fonts and full emoji rendering out-of-the-box, eliminating common rendering issues in headless environments.
- Configurable timeouts - Customize session durations and health-check intervals to maintain stable long-running browser instances.
- Error tolerant - The service remains operational even if the underlying Chrome process crashes, automatically restarting sessions without downtime.
- ARM64 architecture support - Native compatibility with Apple Silicon and other ARM64 platforms, though some browsers like Edge and Chrome have limited ARM64 functionality.
- BrowserQL - (Premium) Advanced bot detection avoidance, including CAPTCHA solving and fingerprint randomization.
- Hybrid automations - (Premium) Stream live browser sessions during script execution for real-time debugging and interaction.
- Persistent Sessions - (Premium) Maintain cookies, localStorage, and cache across multiple sessions with up to 90 days of data retention.
- Session Replay - (Premium) Record and replay browser sessions with event capture and video playback for debugging automation failures.
- Chrome Extensions Support - (Premium) Load custom extensions such as ad blockers and CAPTCHA solvers into the browser instance.
- Advanced Captcha/Stealth Routes - (Premium) Anti-detection features including residential proxy rotation and fingerprint obfuscation.
- REST APIs - (Premium) Retrieve HTML, PDFs, screenshots, and other page assets via HTTP endpoints without needing Puppeteer/Playwright clients.
- Inbuilt residential proxy - (Premium) Automatic IP rotation and geo-targeting using residential proxy networks to avoid IP bans.
- Webhook Integrations - (Premium) Receive alerts for queue events, session timeouts, errors, and health failures via HTTP callbacks.
Common Use Cases
- Building a web scraping pipeline for e-commerce price monitoring - Use Browserless to scrape product prices across 100+ sites using Puppeteer, with persistent sessions to maintain login state and residential proxies to avoid IP blocks.
- Running automated UI tests in CI/CD pipelines - Integrate Browserless into GitHub Actions or Jenkins to run Playwright tests in a stable, containerized environment without dependency conflicts.
- Generating PDFs and screenshots at scale for reporting - Use the REST API to convert HTML pages into high-fidelity PDFs or PNGs without installing Chromium on your server.
- DevOps teams managing multi-tenant SaaS dashboards - Self-host Browserless on Kubernetes to serve browser automation requests for multiple clients with isolated sessions and configurable resource limits.
- Problem → Solution flow: Missing fonts in headless Chrome on Linux → Browserless includes all system fonts and emoji, eliminating rendering issues without manual configuration.
- Team/workflow scenario: Developers in a remote team using Puppeteer for automated testing → They use Browserless to standardize browser environments across macOS, Windows, and Linux machines via Docker.
Under The Hood
Browserless is a unified browser automation platform designed to provide consistent, multi-browser support through a single API interface. It abstracts the complexities of different browser engines while enabling deep integration with both CDP and Playwright ecosystems. The system is built with extensibility and modular design in mind, making it suitable for enterprise-level use cases.
Architecture
The system follows a layered monolithic architecture with well-defined modules for browser management, configuration, and routing. It emphasizes dependency injection and modular patterns to support multi-browser environments.
- Clear separation of concerns between browser handling, routing, and metrics collection
- Layered structure that promotes decoupling and maintainability
- Support for extensible hooks and SDK-style customization
Tech Stack
The project is implemented in TypeScript, leveraging Node.js and modern JavaScript features for type safety and runtime flexibility. It integrates with popular browser automation tools and utility libraries.
- Built with TypeScript and Node.js, ensuring type safety and runtime consistency
- Relies on Puppeteer and Playwright for browser automation with additional Node.js utilities
- Employs Mocha, Chai, and c8 for testing and coverage reporting
- Uses esbuild and tsc for build and bundling workflows
Code Quality
The codebase demonstrates a mature approach to handling browser automation with consistent error handling and extensible architecture. It maintains clear separation between components and supports comprehensive testing practices.
- Comprehensive test suite with assertions and coverage reporting
- Consistent error handling and logging across modules
- Modular design that supports easy extension and maintenance
- Strong focus on type safety and code consistency through TypeScript
What Makes It Unique
Browserless introduces a unique abstraction layer that unifies browser automation across multiple engines without sacrificing functionality or performance. It addresses real-world challenges in cross-platform compatibility and system stability.
- Unified API that supports both CDP and Playwright browser engines through shared routing
- Intelligent handling of ARM64 compatibility with filtered route support and logging
- Extensible SDK architecture that enables plugin-like customization for enterprise use
- Built-in metrics and session management with automatic cleanup for long-running processes