boat vs Scrapeless

Scrapeless rents you a stealth cloud browser with residential proxies and CAPTCHA solving, built for scraping. boat gives your agent a whole Linux machine with a browser and desktop inside, where it can also run code, Docker and servers for as long as the job takes.

Where boat stands out

A whole machine around the browser

A boat sandbox is a full Linux VM with root, a shell, Docker and systemd, and Chromium and a desktop already inside. Your agent can browse a site, then save what it found, run a script on it, build an app and serve it, all on the same machine.

Long jobs that keep their files

On paid plans a boat sandbox runs as long as you want. Its disk is saved every minute and when it stops, a stopped sandbox costs nothing, and you can fork a running one to try several paths at once.

Agents inside, driven from outside

Claude Code, Codex and five other coding agents come preinstalled, and you prompt, steer and follow them through one API. A credentials proxy keeps real API keys outside the sandbox for any HTTPS API, and a 60fps desktop lets them use apps beyond the browser.

The companies and products

boat

boat.dev runs sandboxes for AI agents: each one is a full Linux VM with its own kernel.

You start a machine with one command or one API call, then SSH in, run Docker, open a desktop, or let a built-in agent (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and others) work in it. The disk stays between sessions, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing.

Isolation: Full VM per sandbox, own kernel
Hardware: Dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (Zen 5) hosts
Regions: EU: Germany, Finland, France
Plans: From $20 a month, all of it usage credit, 7-day trial

Scrapeless

Scrapeless is a web scraping company that sells Agent Browser, a managed cloud browser, along with AI scrapers, a web unlocker and proxies.

Scrapeless Agent Browser is a different kind of product from boat: you get a Chromium browser in their cloud that you reach over a CDP WebSocket with Puppeteer or Playwright, an MCP server or their agent-browser CLI. Each session gets a random fingerprint, CAPTCHA solving and a residential proxy, and you pay per browser-hour plus proxy traffic. It is built for teams that scrape or automate many websites, not a machine to run their own code on.

Product: Managed cloud Chromium over a CDP WebSocket, with Puppeteer and Playwright support
Anti-bot: Random fingerprint per session and CAPTCHA solving included at no extra charge
Proxies: Over 70 million residential IPs in 195 countries; your own proxy on paid plans
Session length: Time to live of 3 minutes by default, 15 minutes recommended at most, longer allowed
Concurrency: 50, 100, 200 or 400 sessions by plan, custom above that; free tier has 1 session and 1 hour a month
Billing: Monthly amount prepaid into a balance; unused funds do not roll over
Compliance: Says it operates under SOC 2 Type II with GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA-aligned data handling

Which use cases each one fits

For each use case, Battleships prices every sandbox provider on the same workload and sorts them from the cheapest monthly bill up. “3rd cheapest of 367” means 2 of the other 366 providers run that workload, with every feature it needs, for less. “With limits” means the provider runs it but misses something, so it is listed after every full match. Open a use case for its whole ranking and what each provider misses.

Use case and its workload	boat: price rank	Scrapeless: price rank
Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month A software factory needs a shell, Docker and a place to build and test, which a managed browser does not give you.	3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month	96th of 367, with limits $868 a month
Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that runs all month needs a machine that keeps going and keeps its files; Scrapeless sessions are meant to last minutes and keep only a browser profile.	5th cheapest of 366 $657 a month	224th of 366, with limits $2,628 a month
Code interpreter bursts 100 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 200,000 sessions of 1 min a month	186th of 345, with limits $2,000 a month	246th of 345, with limits $249 a month
Sandboxes for your users 300 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 23 min a month Giving each of your users a sandbox means a machine they can run code on, which Scrapeless does not sell.	Cheapest of 361 $209 a month	354th of 361, with limits $741 a month
RL rollouts 1,000 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 1,000,000 sessions of 3 min a month	34th of 360, with limits $2,000 a month	249th of 360, with limits $3,580 a month
Agent evals 250 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 15,000 sessions of 20 min a month	10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month	347th of 364, with limits $399 a month
CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month	4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month	229th of 377, with limits $97 a month
24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB	18th cheapest of 368 $26 a month	234th of 368, with limits $59 a month
Computer-use agents 50 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 20,000 sessions of 15 min a month Computer-use agents that work outside the browser need a real desktop; boat streams a full Linux desktop at 60fps, while Scrapeless shows only the browser.	6th cheapest of 369 $200 a month	122nd of 369, with limits $274 a month
Browser-use agents 50 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 10 min a month Both fit: Scrapeless gives many short browser sessions with stealth and proxies included, and boat fits when the agent also needs a shell, files or code.	7th cheapest of 367 $200 a month	14th cheapest of 367 $274 a month
Scraping & bots (startup scale) 50 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 100,000 sessions of 3 min a month For startup-scale scraping and bots, boat gives each bot a whole machine with a browser and a disk that keeps its files; Scrapeless adds proxies and CAPTCHA solving.	6th cheapest of 346 $90 a month	33rd cheapest of 346 $370 a month
Mass scraping & bots (undetectable) 1,000 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 3,000,000 sessions of 2 min a month Mass scraping of sites with strong bot checks needs rotating residential IPs, fingerprints and CAPTCHA solving, which Scrapeless includes and boat does not.	71st of 338, with limits $1,800 a month	6th of 338, with limits $7,020 a month
Parallel red teaming 200 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 5,000 sessions of 30 min a month Red-team agents need their own tools and a shell; Scrapeless gives them a browser only.	2nd cheapest of 360 $200 a month	200th of 360, with limits $199 a month
GPU eval jobs 10 at once · 8 vCPU / 32 GB · 500 sessions of 30 min a month	Can't run it	Can't run it
macOS agents 5 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 1,000 sessions of 20 min a month	Can't run it	Can't run it

Key features

Feature	boat	Scrapeless
What you get	A full Linux VM with its own kernel and root, on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts	A managed Chromium browser you reach over a CDP WebSocket
Shell, code and Docker	Yes: SSH, any language, Docker, systemd and nested virtualization	No shell on the machine running the browser
Machine size	4 vCPU / 8 GB by default, up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB on larger plans	Not published; you buy browser-hours
Session length	No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live	3 minutes by default, 15 minutes recommended at most, longer allowed
State between sessions	The whole disk is saved every minute and on stop; a stopped sandbox costs nothing	Browser profiles keep cookies, storage, cache and logins, saved when the session closes
Fork	Fork a running sandbox into many	No fork; several sessions can load one profile, and only the last to close is saved
Desktop and live view	A full Linux desktop streamed at 60fps, or Chrome alone; embed it, record it	Live URL to watch and control the browser, plus optional session recording
Stealth and CAPTCHAs	Chromium on datacenter IPs; no fingerprint rotation or CAPTCHA solving	Random fingerprint per session, CAPTCHA solving included
Proxies	None managed; you can run your own proxy client inside the VM	Residential proxies in 195+ countries, down to state and city; your own proxy on paid plans
Agents	Seven coding agents preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API	A CLI skill and an MCP server so an agent on your own machine can drive the cloud browser
Secrets	Credentials proxy: real keys never enter the sandbox, for any HTTPS API	Credential store and 1Password link that fill website logins into the browser
Hosting	HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default; raw TCP	No way to serve your own ports
Ready-made scrapers	None; you write or run your own	AI Scraper tasks for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more, plus crawl and search tools over MCP
Compliance and transparency	SOC 2 is in progress. We're open about where we stand: live status and data retention policy.	SOC 2

Every feature Battleships tracks (43)

Feature	boat	Scrapeless
Full VM (own kernel)	Yes	Not published
Docker inside	Yes	No
Nested virtualization	Yes	No
Root	Yes	Not published
Systemd	Yes	Not published
Desktop GUI	Yes	No
Browser	Yes	Yes
Computer-use API	Yes	Yes
SSH	Yes	No
Persistent disk	Yes	No
Pause/resume	Yes	No
Automatic snapshots	Yes	No
Fork/clone	Yes	No
Live fork (no pause)	Yes	No
Memory fork	No	No
Custom image (Docker or snapshot)	Yes	Not published
≥24 h sessions	Yes	No
Idle auto-stop	No	Yes
Wake on request	No	No
HTTPS preview URLs	Yes	No
Raw TCP inbound	Yes	Not published
Public IPv4	No	No
Egress allowlist	No	No
Secret proxy	Yes	No
Secret proxy for any API	Yes	No
Preinstalled agents	Yes	No
Agent harness API	Yes	No
MCP server	No	Yes
GPU	No	No
Windows	No	No
Arm64	No	No
Self-hosting	No	No
BYOC	No	No
Open source	No	No
Scoped API keys	Yes	Not published
Spend limits	Yes	Not published
Usage per sandbox (API)	Yes	No
Audit logs	No	Not published
SSO	No	Yes
SOC 2	No	Yes
HIPAA	No	Yes
EU data residency	Yes	No
Zero data retention	Yes	Not published

Performance

boat26.69 runs/s

ScrapelessNot measured

There is no comparable measurement. Scrapeless sells browser-hours and does not publish the CPU or memory behind each browser, and it is not in the CPU benchmark. boat scored 26.69 runs per second on the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks Node.js test at 4 vCPU / 8 GB.

Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Scrapeless has no published run in this suite yet, so there is no like-for-like number to compare.

Pricing in five scenarios

Each bill is priced from the providers' public price lists by the open Battleships engine, with the cheapest plan that runs the scenario.

Scenario	boat, a month	Scrapeless, a month
One coding agent, workdays 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, 8 hours a day, 22 days a month, files kept between days	$20 · $20/mo	$399 · Business · with limits
One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month	$26 · $20/mo	$399 · Business · with limits
50 agents in parallel 50 machines of 4 vCPU / 8 GB at once, 8-hour sessions, 1,100 sessions a month, Docker inside	$317 · $20/mo × 3 seats	$570 · Business · with limits
Sandboxes for your users 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 30,000 sessions of 10 minutes a month, up to 300 at once	$200 · $100/mo × 2 seats	$399 · Business · with limits
1,000 short jobs at once 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 1,000 at once, 3 minutes each, 200,000 jobs a month	$2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits	$716 · Business · with limits

boat: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit. You pay per second while a sandbox runs, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.

Scrapeless: Scrapeless plans of $49, $199 or $399 a month are prepaid into your balance, and unused funds do not roll over. Browser time runs from $0.09 an hour down to $0.072 on larger plans, and residential proxy traffic is billed per GB on top, from $1.80 on the base plan.

Limits in those scenarios

None of the five scenarios fits Scrapeless as written, because each one asks for a general machine and Scrapeless sells a browser session with no disk, no shell and no published size. Its sessions are built to last minutes, which rules out the workday and always-on agents, and its biggest self-serve plan stops at 400 sessions at once, so 1,000 short jobs need a custom plan. boat fits four scenarios; at 1,000 short jobs at once its $2,000 plan queues the starts and allows fewer starts per day than the job needs.

Scenario	boat	Scrapeless
One coding agent, workdays	None that bite	missing persistent disk machine size not published browser-session product, not a general sandbox different kind of product: browser session
One agent that never stops	None that bite	missing persistent disk machine size not published browser-session product, not a general sandbox different kind of product: browser session
50 agents in parallel	None that bite	missing persistent disk, Docker inside machine size not published browser-session product, not a general sandbox different kind of product: browser session
Sandboxes for your users	None that bite	machine size not published browser-session product, not a general sandbox different kind of product: browser session machine size per session not published
1,000 short jobs at once	max 2,400 starts/day (needs ~6,667) max 600 starts/hour (needs ~1,000) bursts above 90 starts/min are queued (a burst of 333 takes ~4 min to start)	Business: max 400 concurrent machine size not published browser-session product, not a general sandbox different kind of product: browser session

Which one should you use?

Use Scrapeless when

you need lots of short browser sessions on sites with strong bot checks, with residential proxies, fingerprints and CAPTCHA solving handled for you.

Built to get past bot checks. For scraping sites with strong bot checks: random fingerprints, free CAPTCHA solving and residential IPs in 195 countries.
A full scraping toolkit. For teams that want data, not browsers: ready-made AI scrapers, crawls and search tools behind one API key.
Short sessions, no setup. For many short browser tasks: sessions start in under 2 seconds and the free tier gives 1 browser-hour a month without a card.

Use boat when

your agent does more than browse: it needs a shell, files, Docker, a desktop or a server next to the browser, and it has to keep working for hours or days.

A whole machine around the browser. With Scrapeless, the browser lives in their cloud and everything else runs somewhere you manage. Each page, file and result has to cross between the two, and you run a second machine for the code.
Long jobs that keep their files. Scrapeless sessions default to 3 minutes and keep only a browser profile, saved when the session closes. If two sessions share a profile, only the last one to close is kept, and files on disk are never saved.
Agents inside, driven from outside. Scrapeless lets an agent on your own laptop or server drive its cloud browser, so you still host, start and watch that agent yourself, and its model keys live on that machine.

Questions people ask

Is Scrapeless a sandbox like boat?

No. Scrapeless Agent Browser gives you a managed Chromium browser that you drive over CDP, with no shell on the machine underneath. boat gives you a whole Linux VM with Chromium, a desktop, Docker and root, so the browser is one tool among many.

Is boat cheaper than Scrapeless?

In four of the five scenarios we priced, yes: one coding agent on workdays comes to $20 a month on boat and $399 on Scrapeless, and 50 agents in parallel come to $317 versus $570. For 1,000 short jobs at once, Scrapeless lands lower at $716 against $2,000, but it fits none of the scenarios as a general machine, and proxy traffic is billed on top.

How long can a Scrapeless session run?

A session closes when its time to live runs out: 3 minutes by default, with 15 minutes as the recommended maximum, though longer values can be set. A boat sandbox has no session cap on paid plans and keeps its disk when it stops.

Which one is better at getting past bot checks?

Scrapeless. Every session gets a random fingerprint, CAPTCHA solving is included, and traffic goes through residential IPs in 195 countries. boat runs Chromium on datacenter IPs.

Can I use Scrapeless from inside a boat sandbox?

Yes. Scrapeless is reached over a CDP WebSocket, so an agent running on boat can connect to it with Puppeteer or Playwright when it needs a stealth browser, and keep its code, files and other tools on the boat machine.

Is boat SOC 2 compliant?

SOC 2 is in progress. We're open about where we stand: live status at status.ascii.dev and our data retention policy at docs.boat.dev/data-retention. Scrapeless says on its pricing page that it operates under SOC 2 Type II.

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