Bright Data Scraping Browser (Browser API): Setup, Pricing

If you've ever built a scraper that worked perfectly in testing only to get blocked, fingerprinted, or buried under CAPTCHAs the moment it hit production, the Bright Data Scraping Browser, which Bright Data's docs now call Browser API, is built to solve exactly that problem. It's a fully hosted, cloud-based browser that combines real browser automation with Bright Data's industry-leading unblocking infrastructure — so you can run Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium scripts at scale without managing proxies, headless browser farms, or anti-bot countermeasures yourself.

Want to try it? Start scraping →

What Is the Scraping Browser?

The Scraping Browser is a remote, GUI-style browser hosted on Bright Data's infrastructure. Instead of spinning up Chromium on your own servers and bolting on proxy rotation and CAPTCHA handling, you connect your existing automation framework to Bright Data's browser over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) with a single line of code. Every session automatically routes through Bright Data's residential proxy network and unlocking engine.

In short: you write normal browser-automation code, and Bright Data handles the part that's hard to keep working — staying unblocked.

Key Features

• Fully hosted with unlimited concurrent sessions. Scale from one browser to thousands without provisioning any infrastructure of your own.
• Massive residential IP pool. Access to 400M+ residential IPs across 195 countries, so your traffic looks like a real user from virtually anywhere.
• Built-in CAPTCHA solving. CAPTCHAs are detected and solved automatically as part of the unlocking flow.
• Automatic anti-bot evasion. Browser fingerprint management, cookie handling, user-agent and referral header configuration, and automatic retries with IP rotation are all handled for you.
• Full JavaScript rendering. Dynamic, JS-heavy sites render exactly as they would in a real browser, with data-integrity validation built in.
• Native framework support. Works out of the box with Playwright, Puppeteer, and Selenium via a CDP/WebSocket endpoint.
• Session inspection. Bright Data's quick-start code calls the CDP command Page.inspect and prints a URL where you can watch and inspect the live remote session.

Why Use It Instead of a Self-Hosted Headless Browser?

Running headless Chrome yourself means you're also responsible for proxy rotation, CAPTCHA services, fingerprint randomization, and constant maintenance as targets update their defenses. The Scraping Browser bundles all of that into a managed service:

Getting Started: Connecting Your Code

Because the Scraping Browser speaks the Chrome DevTools Protocol, integration is a one-liner — you just point your automation library at Bright Data's WebSocket endpoint instead of a local browser.

Puppeteer (Node.js)

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer-core');

// Your Bright Data Scraping Browser endpoint
const BROWSER_WS = 'wss://USERNAME:[email protected]:9222';

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.connect({ browserWSEndpoint: BROWSER_WS });
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  await page.goto('https://example.com', { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' });
  console.log(await page.title());

  await browser.close();
})();

Playwright (Node.js)

const { chromium } = require('playwright');

const BROWSER_WS = 'wss://USERNAME:[email protected]:9222';

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(BROWSER_WS);
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  console.log(await page.title());

  await browser.close();
})();

Selenium (Python)

Selenium connects to a remote WebDriver on port 9515 rather than the CDP WebSocket on 9222. Bright Data's quick start builds the address like this:

server_addr = f"https://{AUTH}@brd.superproxy.io:9515"

AUTH is your Browser API zone's username and password, joined with a colon. Pass server_addr to Selenium's remote connection, and the rest of your script stays unchanged.

Watch a live session

Bright Data's quick-start examples open a CDP session and ask for an inspect link, so you can watch the remote browser while your script runs. In Playwright:

const client = await page.context().newCDPSession(page);
const { frameTree: { frame } } = await client.send('Page.getFrameTree');
const { url: inspectUrl } = await client.send('Page.inspect', { frameId: frame.id });
console.log(`You can inspect this session at: ${inspectUrl}`);

Best Use Cases

• Scraping heavily protected sites that block datacenter IPs or aggressively serve CAPTCHAs.
• Large-scale data collection where you need many parallel browser sessions without managing servers.
• Dynamic, JavaScript-rendered pages (infinite scroll, SPAs, lazy-loaded content) that require a real browser.
• Price monitoring, SERP tracking, and market research across many geographies thanks to the global residential network.

Pricing

Bright Data's pricing page listed these plans when we checked on 30 October 2026:

• The free tier is ongoing, not a trial. Bright Data's quick start says the 5,000 monthly credits come from a pool shared with other products. Browser traffic costs 5 credits per MB.
• Billing is by bandwidth. Heavy pages with images and scripts cost more than light ones, so block assets you don't need.
• AWS Marketplace. You can pay through the AWS Marketplace instead of a card.

The Bottom Line

If your scraping projects keep running into blocks, the Bright Data Scraping Browser removes the most painful parts of browser automation — proxies, CAPTCHAs, and fingerprinting — while letting you keep the Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium code you already know. For teams that need reliable, scalable access to tough targets, it's one of the most capable options on the market.

Get started with the Bright Data Scraping Browser →

Want the full picture on Bright Data's tools and pricing? Read our complete Bright Data review. Writing the browser code yourself? Our Playwright in Python guide covers the scraping side, and how to solve CAPTCHAs explains what the built-in solving replaces.

FAQ

Is Bright Data's Scraping Browser the same as Browser API?

Yes. Bright Data's documentation now calls the product Browser API, while its pricing page title still says Scraping Browser. It is the same hosted browser, connected over the Chrome DevTools Protocol with the same brd.superproxy.io endpoint.

How much does Bright Data's Browser API cost?

Bright Data lists pay-as-you-go at $8/GB with no monthly commitment, and a Scale plan at $499/month with 71 GB included. A free tier gives 5,000 credits a month; at 5 credits per MB of browser traffic, that covers about 1 GB.

Does it work with Selenium?

Yes. Puppeteer and Playwright connect over WebSocket to brd.superproxy.io on port 9222, and Selenium connects to a remote WebDriver at brd.superproxy.io on port 9515, using your Browser API zone credentials.

How do I debug a remote Browser API session?

Bright Data's quick-start code calls the Chrome DevTools Protocol command Page.inspect and prints a URL. Open it and you can watch and inspect the live remote session.