{"id":"browserless-api","name":"Browserless (Headless Chrome API)","homepage":"https://browserless.io","repo_url":"https://github.com/browserless/browserless","category":"document-generation","subcategories":["pdf-generation","web-scraping","headless-browser","automation"],"tags":["browserless","puppeteer","playwright","headless-chrome","pdf","screenshot","web-scraping","rest-api"],"what_it_does":"Hosted headless Chrome service with REST API and WebSocket connections for Puppeteer/Playwright, enabling PDF generation, screenshots, web scraping, and browser automation without managing Chrome infrastructure.","use_cases":["HTML-to-PDF generation for invoices, reports, and documents requiring pixel-perfect CSS rendering","Full-page screenshots for visual testing or content previews in automated pipelines","Web scraping JavaScript-heavy sites that require browser rendering","Browser automation for testing workflows via Puppeteer or Playwright over WebSocket","Content extraction from dynamic SPAs that API-only scrapers cannot handle"],"not_for":["Simple HTML-to-PDF without JavaScript (use DocRaptor or WeasyPrint for simpler use cases)","Very high-concurrency PDF generation at low cost (browser rendering is resource-intensive)","Static site scraping where simpler HTTP clients suffice","Applications requiring browser state persistence across many sessions"],"best_when":"You need Puppeteer/Playwright-compatible headless Chrome as a managed service, especially for PDF generation that must faithfully render complex CSS and JavaScript.","avoid_when":"Your PDF needs are template-based and don't require full browser rendering, or you're budget-sensitive about per-session costs.","alternatives":["docraptor-api","carbone-api"],"af_score":79.2,"security_score":null,"reliability_score":null,"package_type":"mcp_server","discovery_source":["github"],"priority":"low","status":"evaluated","version_evaluated":"current","last_evaluated":"2026-03-01T09:50:05.349329+00:00","performance":{"latency_p50_ms":3000,"latency_p99_ms":10000,"uptime_sla_percent":99.9,"rate_limits":"Limited by concurrent session count per plan","data_source":"llm_estimated","measured_on":null}}