Browser automation MCP servers, compared: Playwright MCP, Chrome DevTools MCP, Browser Use, and the two Browser MCPs
Short answer: for CI/CD and headless scale, use Playwright MCP. For performance tracing and DevTools-grade debugging, use Chrome DevTools MCP. For a Python agent framework with an optional cloud browser, use Browser Use. If the job needs your real, already-logged-in Chrome — your cookies, your 2FA, your sessions — that is the niche the two projects named "Browser MCP" occupy: browsermcp.io (larger, but no code change since April 24, 2025) and Browser MCP by Agent360 (this site — smaller, actively maintained). All numbers below were pulled from public APIs on 2026-07-21 and are individually dated.
The five projects at a glance
| Project | GitHub stars | Last commit | npm downloads/week | Latest release | Drives which browser? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playwright MCP | 35,325 | 2026-07-15 | 6,361,565 | 0.0.78 (2026-07-09) | Own managed profile (isolated or persistent); real Chrome only via opt-in --extension |
| Chrome DevTools MCP | 47,285 | 2026-07-20 | 2,721,730 | 1.6.0 (2026-07-14) | Own dedicated profile; attach to running Chrome via opt-in --browser-url |
| Browser Use | 105,795 | 2026-07-20 | n/a (Python/PyPI) | 0.13.6 (2026-07-17) | Own launched instance; real-profile reuse is an opt-in example |
| browsermcp.io | 6,849 | 2025-04-24 | 10,393 | 0.1.3 (2025-04-11) | Your real Chrome (extension) |
| Browser MCP by Agent360 | 23 | 2026-07-21 | 181 | 1.23.0 (2026-06-09) | Your real Chrome (extension) — only mode |
(All figures fetched 2026-07-21 from the GitHub API, npm downloads API and PyPI. Star counts and downloads move daily; the maintenance dates are the durable signal.)
Which browser does each one actually drive?
This is the axis that decides most real-world choices, and it splits the field cleanly:
- Fresh/managed browser by default: Playwright MCP, Chrome DevTools MCP, Browser Use. Clean-room profiles are a feature here — reproducible CI runs, no cookie contamination. The cost: every login wall, 2FA prompt and CAPTCHA is yours to script around.
- Your real, logged-in Chrome: the two Browser MCPs. The agent inherits your sessions, password manager state and 2FA-approved devices, and works on sites where a fresh headless profile gets blocked. The cost: it is your actual browser — not something you point at a farm of 50 parallel instances.
Honest note: Playwright MCP does offer an opt-in --extension mode to connect to a running Chrome/Edge, and Chrome DevTools MCP can attach via --browser-url. Neither is the default or the primary documented path; for both projects the managed profile is the designed-for mode.
What about the two projects both called "Browser MCP"?
An accident of naming: browsermcp.io (@browsermcp/mcp) and this project (@agent360/browser-mcp) are unaffiliated but solve the same problem the same way — a Chrome extension plus a local stdio MCP server. The practical difference in 2026 is maintenance: browsermcp.io's repository has had no code change since 2025-04-24 and has never shipped a GitHub release (checked 2026-07-21), while this project ships regularly (34 tools as of v1.23.0). We keep a dated, sourced side-by-side on the dedicated comparison page.
Which is most actively maintained?
As of 2026-07-21, by last commit: Browser Use and Chrome DevTools MCP (2026-07-20), Playwright MCP (2026-07-15), Browser MCP by Agent360 (2026-07-21). browsermcp.io: 2025-04-24. The archived official Puppeteer MCP (@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer) deserves a mention because it still shows ~36k npm downloads/week: it was moved to modelcontextprotocol/servers-archived and last saw a commit 2025-05-15 — if you are choosing today, choose something maintained.
When should you not pick each?
Every tool on this page loses somewhere. Playwright MCP is the wrong tool if the job depends on your personal logged-in sessions. The real-Chrome tools (including ours) are the wrong tool for CI pipelines, serverless scale-out, or anything that must run 50 instances in parallel — we say so explicitly in When NOT to use Browser MCP. Browser Use assumes a Python stack. Chrome DevTools MCP sends performance-trace URLs to Google's CrUX API and collects usage statistics by default (both can be disabled with flags — documented in its README, checked 2026-07-21).
FAQ
Which MCP server should I use for browser automation in CI? Playwright MCP — managed profiles, headless mode, 69 documented tools, and the scale evidence of 6.3M weekly npm downloads (2026-07-21).
Which MCP server can use my existing Chrome logins? The two "Browser MCP" projects drive your real Chrome by default. Of the two, only Browser MCP by Agent360 has shipped code since April 2025 (checked 2026-07-21).
Is Puppeteer MCP still maintained? No. The official @modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer was archived (moved to servers-archived, last commit 2025-05-15) and its npm package was last published 2025-05-12.
Are these tools free? All five are open source (Apache-2.0 or MIT). Browser Use additionally offers a paid cloud browser; the others run entirely locally.