Skyvern
Open-source autonomous browser agent that uses computer vision + LLMs to navigate websites. Workflow-based: agents follow recorded plans that adapt to layout changes. Skyvern Inc. raised $4.5M seed (Sep-2024, Felicis lead). Self-hostable; cloud version on skyvern.com.
Active · Verified 2026-10-31 · fresh as of 2026-10-31 · 54 cited facts, 4 with a third-party source · 1 recorded change · Suggest a correction
At a glance
- Type
- OSS browser-automation agent (Python; LLM-driven) vendor fix
- Tier
- T2
- Section
- Computer-use & desktop agents
- Created
- 2024-02 (GitHub first commit) repo fix
- Latest release
- v1.0.56 (2026-10-14) repo fix
- Pricing
- Cloud usage tiers + self-host (free OSS) vendor fix
- Funding
- $4.5M seed Sep-2024 (Felicis lead) third-party fix
- Freshness
- 2026-10-31 fix
- Layer
- agent-infra repo fix
- Licensing
- open-source repo fix
- Deployment locus
- computer-use vendor fix
- SDK languages
- python, rest, typescript vendor fix
- Protocols
- mcp-server vendor fix
- Compliance
- hipaa, soc2-type2 vendor fix
- Developer activity
- OpenRank 14.65 (12-mo avg 22.73) · 42 participants — 2026-09 third-party fix
When to use
Optimised for: Repeatable browser workflows with brittle layouts (insurance, govt forms)
Anti-fit: Not for desktop apps (browser-only); SOC 2 / compliance docs limited at OSS tier
Pros & cons
Pros
OSS with permissive (AGPL) license; self-host option; YC + Felicis backing; mature workflow product.
Cons
AGPL excludes some commercial use; browser-only; limited public SOC 2 / compliance docs.
Claims & capabilities
Open-sourced 2024; YC W24; supports Anthropic/OpenAI/Azure/Gemini models.
Technical surface
- API surface
- REST API + Python SDK + cloud UI
- Backend storage
- PostgreSQL for workflow state
- Deployment
- Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — Docker/pip self-host + Skyvern Cloud (cloud anti-bot features not in OSS)
- Embedding model
- not applicable — not a memory product
- Multi-tenancy
- Cloud multi-tenant; self-host = single-tenant per deployment
- MCP
- yes — MCP server so any MCP-capable LLM client can drive Skyvern
- A2A
- searched not found
- OpenTelemetry
- searched not found
Alternatives to Skyvern → live options ranked by shared design, licence, hosting and MCP support
Similar systems
Other computer-use & desktop agents in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.
- Browser Use T1
Python library that turns any LLM into a browser agent — extracts DOM into a structured representation the LLM can act on (rather than pure screenshot). Browser Use Inc. raised $17M seed Q1 2025 (Felicis); cloud product at cloud.browser-use.com. Project is one of the most-starred browser-agent OSS repos.
- Stagehand T1
Open-source browser-automation framework by Browserbase (TypeScript core plus Python and Go SDKs). Mixes Playwright-style code with natural-language act/extract/observe; pairs with Browserbase Cloud.
- Hyperbrowser T2
Cloud-hosted headless browser API tuned for AI agents — captcha solving, stealth mode, session recordings. Y Combinator S24; pitched as a faster / cheaper Browserbase alternative. Used as substrate by agents that need browser execution but don't want to run their own Chromium fleet.
- UI-TARS T2
ByteDance Seed's open-source GUI-agent foundation model — released Jan 2025; trained end-to-end on screenshot → action pairs. Comes with UI-TARS-Desktop (Electron app) that runs the model against the user's screen. SOTA on OSWorld at release; weights on HuggingFace.
- Anthropic Computer Use T1
Anthropic's API-surface capability that lets Claude control a virtual desktop — see screenshots, type, click. Launched 2024-10 as a public beta. Not a finished IDE itself; it's the substrate that other harnesses (and Anthropic's own Claude apps) use to operate a computer.
- Bytebot T3
Open-source desktop-agent runtime that runs an LLM-controlled Linux desktop inside Docker — uses xdotool / X11 capture for control. Pitched as the 'self-hosted Operator' alternative; agent sees a real desktop screen, not just a browser.
Sources (53 cited facts, 4 third-party)
Each fact links to the page it came from; the badge says who published it (how to read sources).
- What it is OSS browser-automation agent (Python; LLM-driven) vendor
- What it does & what's distinct Open-source autonomous browser agent that uses computer vision + LLMs to navigate websit… vendor
- Claims / benefits Open-sourced 2024; YC W24; supports Anthropic/OpenAI/Azure/Gemini models. repo
- Modalities text + DOM + screen images vendor
- Created 2024-02 (GitHub first commit) repo
- Latest release v1.0.56 (2026-10-14) repo
- License AGPL-3.0 repo
- GitHub Skyvern-AI/skyvern — ~23.1k stars, last commit 2026-10 repo
- Mindshare YC W24 batch; HN front-page launch; 13k+ stars; active community repo
- Funding $4.5M seed Sep-2024 (Felicis lead) third-party
- Customers / scale Customers in insurance / e-commerce / lending verticals (skyvern.com case studies) vendor
- Pricing Cloud usage tiers + self-host (free OSS) vendor
- Data handling Self-host = on-prem; cloud = managed by Skyvern Inc. vendor
- Deployment Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — Docker/pip self-host + Skyvern Cloud (cloud anti-bo… repo
- HQ US (San Francisco) vendor
- Founders / pedigree Suchintan Singh (CEO) + Shu Liu (CTO) — ex-Coverage AI third-party
- Performance WebVoyager evals published; outperforms baseline web-arena agents per vendor blog vendor
- Code/weights release OSS — github.com/Skyvern-AI/skyvern repo
- API surface REST API + Python SDK + cloud UI vendor
- Backend storage PostgreSQL for workflow state repo
- Multi-tenancy Cloud multi-tenant; self-host = single-tenant per deployment vendor
- Encryption TLS in transit; self-host inherits hosting encryption vendor
- Versioning Workflows are versioned objects in DB vendor
- Schema evolution Alembic-style migrations in OSS repo vendor
- Namespace primitives per-organization (cloud) / per-instance (self-host) vendor
- Contradiction handling Human-arbitrate via workflow edits / re-run vendor
- MCP support yes — MCP server so any MCP-capable LLM client can drive Skyvern repo
- Webhooks / events Webhooks for task completion in cloud product vendor
- Import / export Workflows export as JSON (OSS schema) vendor
- Validated verticals insurance, e-commerce, lending, govt forms vendor
- Time to running <1hr (Docker compose) for self-host repo
- Anti-fit Not for desktop apps (browser-only); SOC 2 / compliance docs limited at OSS tier vendor
- Optimised for Repeatable browser workflows with brittle layouts (insurance, govt forms) vendor
- Adjacent infrastructure Playwright; Postgres; Anthropic/OpenAI/Gemini APIs repo
- Pros OSS with permissive (AGPL) license; self-host option; YC + Felicis backing; mature workf… vendor
- Cons AGPL excludes some commercial use; browser-only; limited public SOC 2 / compliance docs. vendor
- Project & sources skyvern.com; github.com/Skyvern-AI/skyvern; YC W24 launch repo
- commit-trajectory [{"ym":"2026-02","cum":4029},{"ym":"2026-03","cum":4329},{"ym":"2026-04","cum":4631},{"y… repo
- cost-input-usd-per-mtok 0 vendor
- cost-output-usd-per-mtok 0 vendor
- cost-tier free vendor
- cost-pricing-model free-tier vendor
- cost-last-verified 2026-06-29 vendor
- capability-benchmark-sources webvoyager: 85.9% (Skyvern 2.0 + GPT-4o, vendor report 2025-01-16; WebVoyager is outside… vendor
- adoption-accelerator yc-s23 third-party
- architecture-deployment-locus computer-use vendor
- licensing-bucket open-source repo
- positioning-platform-vs-product both vendor
- taxonomy-three-layer-rollup agent-infra repo
- developer-activity-opendigger {"activity":176.32,"as_of":"2026-09","openrank_12mo":22.73,"openrank_current":14.65,"par… third-party
- compliance-certifications hipaa,soc2-type2 vendor
- sdk-languages python,rest,typescript vendor
- protocol-support mcp-server vendor
What changed
Changes to this record's lifecycle, licence, release, pricing and hosting facts, from the catalog's git history. Subscribe (Atom)
- 2026-10-26
- Latest release “v0.x ongoing; weekly releases on GitHub” → “v1.0.56 (2026-10-14)” source
- Deployment “Docker self-host + Skyvern Cloud” → “Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — Docker/pip self-host + Skyvern Cloud (cloud anti-bot features not in OSS)” source
- MCP support first recorded as “yes — MCP server so any MCP-capable LLM client can drive Skyvern” source
Related systems
References (3)
- Anthropic Claude (foundation models) depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: Playwright; Postgres; Anthropic/OpenAI/Gemini APIs
- Google Gemini 3 family depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: Playwright; Postgres; Anthropic/OpenAI/Gemini APIs
- OpenAI GPT family (GPT-5 / GPT-4o / o3 / o4) depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: Playwright; Postgres; Anthropic/OpenAI/Gemini APIs
Referenced by (1)
- Laminar integrates with — Laminar integrations docs have a Skyvern observability page. (verified 2026-10-29)