Which parts of the browser stack will your team operate?
Managed browser access removes one infrastructure responsibility. Your team may still own the code runner, state store, scheduler and artifacts. A self-hosted engine moves more of that responsibility back into your environment.
Moving a browser to another region while leaving the controller in place changes the network path of every action. The advertised browser creation time does not describe those repeated round trips.
Compare deployment ownership
Notte: Use a remote browser from your existing process or deploy the browser automation as a Notte Function. These choices put lifecycle, scheduling and monitoring responsibilities in different places.
Steel: Compare managed Steel with the documented self-hosted path explicitly. Self-hosting gives the team infrastructure responsibility that a hosted browser subscription would otherwise cover.
Compare the execution model
Notte: Functions deploy Python code with a run() entry point. Invoke them over HTTP or with an SDK, inspect run history, and roll back code by redeploying an earlier version as the latest version.
Steel: The reviewed browser documentation establishes sessions, profiles and credentials. It does not establish a hosted Python handler with deployment and invocation APIs. An external worker can control a Steel browser; price and operate that worker separately.
Compare operational limits
Notte: The public plans list 5, 25 and 100 concurrent browser sessions, with custom limits on Enterprise. Session duration and concurrent capacity are separate plan limits; a larger technical API limit does not override the plan.
Steel: Steel's pricing and limits page describes hosted account entitlements. For a self-hosted deployment, capacity depends on the resources and orchestration you operate as well as the browser process.
Sources: notte.cc [1] ↗docs.steel.dev [2] ↗
How to evaluate this choice
Use the deployment that fits the work your team wants to own. Reusing an existing runner can be practical; a hosted Function can reduce operations; self-hosting can meet a specific infrastructure requirement at the cost of operating it.
- Draw the controller, browser, state store and scheduler as separate components.
- Check the available browser and execution regions independently.
- Identify which provider owns upgrades, capacity and recordings.
- Verify code and stored-state portability before changing providers.
- Include maintenance and on-call work in a self-hosting decision.
Requirements side by side
| Requirement | Notte | Steel |
|---|---|---|
| Browser control | Documented | Documented |
| Saved browser state | Documented | Documented |
| Code execution | Python Functions | External worker |
| Deployment choice | Enterprise options | Documented |
Sources: docs.notte.cc [1] ↗docs.notte.cc [2] ↗docs.notte.cc [3] ↗docs.notte.cc [4] ↗docs.notte.cc [5] ↗docs.notte.cc [6] ↗docs.steel.dev [7] ↗docs.steel.dev [8] ↗docs.steel.dev [9] ↗docs.steel.dev [10] ↗docs.steel.dev [11] ↗docs.steel.dev [12] ↗
Which approach fits?
Choose Notte when your browser workflow needs saved logins, credential fill or scheduled Python code alongside the browser.
Notte tradeoff: A saved profile restores browser state; it does not prove that a website still considers the user signed in. Use Managed Auth when the workflow needs connection readiness before it starts.
Choose Steel when you want browser infrastructure that can fit a self-hosted deployment, with profiles and credentials available through browser-focused APIs.
Steel tradeoff: Hosted and self-hosted Steel are different operating choices. A cloud feature's documentation does not establish identical packaging, retention or operational support in a self-hosted installation.
A useful acceptance check
Write a pass/fail result for the real task before running the evaluation. Record the account, configuration and code version next to that result. Repeat failures need an explanation, not an automatically different browser configuration.