Steel Browser Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Steel Browser hosting runs a browser API for AI agents on your own domain: Chrome driven over HTTP, WebSocket, Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium, with a session UI at /ui. Deploy Steel Browser as a pinned container behind a Caddy Basic Auth gateway, with files and profile volumes and 1 GB of shared memory, over HTTPS in minutes. It is a public beta upstream.

Deploy your Steel Browser

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Steel Browser?

Steel Browser is an open-source browser API for AI agents and apps. Upstream says it manages sessions, pages and browser processes, and lets you connect with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium, with proxy support, extensions, request logging and tools for markdown, screenshots and PDFs. Upstream calls it public beta. A self-hosted Steel Browser is an alternative to a hosted browser automation API, released under Apache-2.0, with a Swagger UI for its API.

On xCloud it runs the Steel Browser image, a GHCR latest build pinned by digest because upstream publishes no version tags on GHCR, with a Caddy gateway that adds Basic Auth. Files live on steel_files and Chrome profiles and logs on steel_data. xCloud serves it over HTTPS. Sessions are in memory and end on restart.

From Sign-Up to a Live Steel Browser In Just 3 Easy Steps

A browser API needs Chromium, shared memory, an authentication layer, volumes, a domain and a certificate before the first session. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Steel Browser from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain, an API username and a password, or let one be generated.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We start the Steel Browser image and a Caddy 2.11 gateway, both pinned by digest, with 1 GB of shared memory, mount steel_files and steel_data and publish only the gateway over HTTPS. Chromium can take up to two minutes to start.
Step 03
Call The API With Basic Auth
Check /v1/health with curl -u username:password until it returns ok, open the session UI at /ui, then point Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium at your domain with the same credentials on every request.

Puppeteer Playwright Selenium Endpoint: Steel Browser On Your Own Server

Steel Browser runs here as one container with Chromium, with every request authenticated and state on volumes you control.

Full Browser Control
Upstream uses Puppeteer and CDP for control of Chrome, so you can connect with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium.
Session Management
Steel maintains browser state, cookies and local storage across requests. Live sessions are in memory and end on restart.
Proxy And Extension Support
Upstream lists built-in proxy chain management for IP rotation and loading custom Chrome extensions.
Debugging Tools
Request logging and a session UI at /ui let you view and debug sessions. API docs are served at /documentation.
Page Tools
Upstream exposes APIs to convert pages to markdown, readability output, screenshots or PDFs.
Basic Auth On Every Path
Steel has no application login, so Caddy requires HTTP Basic Authentication on every public path and publishes only the gateway.

Everything You Need To Run Your Browser API 24/7

Managed hosting for Steel Browser, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

Pinned Steel Browser image
Gateway image pinned by digest
Basic Auth on every path
Chrome DevTools port not published
Free SSL certificate
Files and profiles on persistent volumes
Server backups and snapshots
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Steel Browser

Give an AI agent a browser
Let an agent navigate pages and read content through an authenticated API on your own server.
Run scripted browsing from CI
Point existing Puppeteer or Playwright scripts at one remote Chrome instead of installing browsers everywhere.
Capture pages as markdown or PDF
Convert pages to markdown, screenshots or PDFs through the browser tools API.
Debug a session in the UI
Open the session UI at /ui to watch a session and inspect request logs while a script runs.

Steel Browser vs Alternatives

Hosted browser automation APIs: As a Steel Browser alternative to hosted browser automation APIs, you keep sessions, profiles and logs on a server you control, behind your own credentials.
Browserless: Browserless has its own OneClick page. In a Steel Browser vs Browserless comparison, Steel Browser offers session management, page tools and a session UI under Apache-2.0, so compare that against the tooling and licence you need.
n8n: n8n has its own OneClick page. Steel Browser exposes an authenticated HTTP API, so a workflow that sends HTTP requests can call it from a step.
Local headless Chrome: Running Chrome on each developer machine works for one script, but a shared endpoint gives one place to log, authenticate and size resources.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Steel Browser hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom for many concurrent sessions.

59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. Steel Browser is licensed under Apache-2.0.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Steel Browser on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Run Your Own Browser API?

Steel Browser on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Your agents, your sessions, your domain.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Is the Steel Browser API protected?

Yes. Steel has no application login, so a Caddy gateway requires HTTP Basic Authentication on every public path, including the session UI, API docs and WebSocket. The API port and the Chrome DevTools listener are not published.

How do I authenticate to Steel Browser?

Send the username and password on every call, for example curl -u USERNAME:PASSWORD against /v1/health, or an Authorization Basic header. WebSocket clients can use wss://USERNAME:PASSWORD@your-domain. Change them in the Environment editor and update every client.

Does Steel Browser work with Puppeteer, Playwright and Selenium?

Yes. Upstream uses Puppeteer and CDP, so you can connect with Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium, using your domain and the Basic Auth credentials on every request. Test your scripts, because upstream is a public beta.

Can you self-host Steel Browser with Docker?

Yes. Upstream publishes a container image, and this template is Steel Browser Docker hosting without the setup: the image and a Caddy gateway pinned by digest, 1 GB of shared memory, two volumes and HTTPS on your own domain.

How much RAM does Steel Browser need?

The manifest asks for 2048 MB of RAM, 2 CPU cores and 16 GB of disk, with 1 GB of shared memory so Chromium can render heavier pages. Many concurrent sessions need more, so size up before heavy use.

Do Steel Browser sessions survive a restart?

No. Live sessions are in memory and end on restart. Only the Chrome profile directory and request log persist on steel_data, and uploaded session files persist on steel_files. Chrome profile data is not guaranteed compatible across Chromium upgrades.

Is Steel Browser open source?

Yes. Steel Browser is released under Apache-2.0, so the browser API itself is free. Your only cost is the Cloud VPS, which turns this into a Steel Browser cloud of your own rather than a hosted browser API subscription.

Why is there no version number on this page?

Upstream publishes no version tags on GHCR, only latest. The pinned image is a latest build from upstream main, five commits after the v0.5.4-beta tag, fixed by an immutable digest so installs do not change underneath you.

How do I back up Steel Browser?

Back up steel_data, which holds Chrome profiles and request logs, and steel_files, which holds uploaded session files. Live sessions cannot be backed up. Nothing backs the volumes up automatically, so copy them off the server.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade Steel Browser?

The install stays on its pinned image until you adopt a newer template version. Copy both volumes and read the upstream release notes first. Nothing upgrades automatically, and profile data may not carry across Chromium upgrades.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.