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Airtop review: Features, use Cases and alternatives

Review of Airtop - a browser automation platform, core features, use cases, pricing and how it compares to alternatives

Airtop is a browser infrastructure platform designed for organizations seeking to automate AI workflows and web interactions. 

Airtop’s infrastructure supports cloud, on-premise and single-tenant deployments as a way to manage browser sessions, proxy routing and API access through credit-based billing and tiered subscription plans.

Airtop is advertised as a platform designed for technical teams and AI product builders who need to automate complex workflows. So, if your team is developing AI agents or automated data pipelines that need to interact with modern web apps, it might be worth your consideration.

In this review, we will help you decide whether it fits your organization’s needs, covering the platform’s architecture, key features, strengths, limitations and use cases. We will also examine how Airtop compares to some notable alternatives.

The role of LangChain in Airtop’s platform

Airtop’s architecture is built on the LangChain ecosystem:

  • LangChain powers large language model (LLM) orchestration, so Airtop can switch between models such as GPT-4, Claude, Fireworks and Gemini.
  • LangGraph is used to construct modular, multi-step agent workflows for dynamic and scalable automation.
  • LangSmith provides detailed debugging, traceability and prompt engineering, helping teams troubleshoot automation issues efficiently.

With this architecture in place, Airtop offers production-ready, modular browser automation for demanding AI and data workflows. Below is an overview of Airtop’s key features. 

Airtop overview: Key features

In order to better understand Airtop’s approach to modular browser automation, let’s explore the elements that define the platform. 

Natural language automation

Airtop lets users and AI agents control browsers and automate web tasks using plain English commands, which makes the platform accessible and easy to use. Once deployed, AI agents can access websites, extract information and dynamically interact with web interfaces through natural language commands. 

Airtop’s Act API lets you click, type and navigate websites using natural language prompts while the Extract API pulls data from web pages based on the prompts. For example, if you want to extract all search results from a product search page, you can call Airtop’s API with a simple prompt.

In NodeJS, that prompt would look like this:

const prompt = `Get me up to 1000 results in this search page 

                and extract the title, price, and link for each result. 

                Format the results as a JSON array.`;

const results = await client.windows.paginatedExtraction(session.data.id, window.id, {

  prompt,

});

The Python version would be: 

prompt = """

Get me up to 1000 results in this search page and extract the title, price, and link for each result. 

Format the results as a JSON array.

“””

prompt_result = client.windows.paginated_extraction(session.data.id, window_response.data.window_id, prompt=prompt)

Cloud browsers

Airtop’s infrastructure is designed for scalability, letting you launch and manage up to a million concurrent sessions.

Airtop launches browsers inside isolated containers and assigns session IDs to reference active sessions for any subsequent API calls. Users have the option to specify browser parameters like viewport size, user agent or proxy location when launching a session. Sessions can be launched, interacted with and terminated via the API or SDKs, available for Python and TypeScript.

Built-in residential proxies

Airtop offers a residential proxy network, which means you can view websites in different geographic locations and simulate human browsing patterns.

When you create a browser session in Airtop, you can choose from available proxy locations to route traffic through specific countries or regions. This allows you to view localized content, with Airtop handling the proxy management internally, which enables automation on sites where traditional scrapers are typically detected.

Airtop’s integrated proxy network spans more than 100 countries with over 100 million IP addresses, so there is a large pool of residential IPs.

Session continuity

Airtop supports session continuity and lets you pause, resume or terminate sessions using the Airtop API. 

Session cookies and local storage are preserved between actions, supporting, for example, multi-step form submissions and other workflows that call for persistent sessions.

Batch operations

In Airtop, you can run tasks across many browser sessions at the same time by defining a set of URLs and describing the actions that should be taken in each session. 

You can control how many sessions run in parallel, add new URLs on the fly and define how errors or halts are handled through custom logic. Airtop takes care of managing the sessions and browser windows for you. 

Developer dashboard

Caption: A screenshot showing Airtop’s developer dashboard.

Airtop’s dashboard provides tools for analytics, session management and credit usage monitoring, which can be helpful for workflow optimization. 

The dashboard includes a Live View mode where you can watch browser sessions in real time and send manual commands. Plus, you can audit and troubleshoot all sessions. It also provides exportable reports and historical usage graphs, so you can optimize your automations easily.

Credit-based billing

Airtop lets you purchase credits and apply them according to your needs, whether for browser time, API calls or proxy bandwidth. This setup makes resource allocation more flexible and cost-effective.

The credit system is fair and transparent, with usage tracked by the number of input and output tokens, browser time and proxy bandwidth. There is no markup on LLM costs and spending can be monitored via the developer portal’s billing dashboard. 

This type of system is well-suited for organizations with variable workloads, though it requires vigilance around usage monitoring.

These features are designed to work in synergy so that teams have more control over browser automation, especially when running AI agents at a scale.

Use cases

The biggest strength of Airtop’s platform is its flexibility, so it suits a broad range of teams and organizations. That flexibility can translate into real-world value across different use cases. 

Web scraping with structured output

Airtop’s browser-based scraping is designed for teams that need structured data ready for downstream use. 

Since Airtop supports multi-step agent workflows, it’s possible to incorporate autonomous decision-making into scraping pipelines. Using the pageQuery API, an LLM agent can be prompted to extract specific fields from a page, follow internal links or interact with forms and buttons.  

Data processing for AI pipelines

Airtop’s automations can collect and organize large amounts of web data for AI applications, launching real browser sessions to load web pages and extract structured JSON. In this way, teams can quickly build training datasets or knowledge bases.

For example, Airtop’s Extract Amazon Product Info automation runs a real cloud browser that navigates Amazon’s pages and extracts information like product name, current price, star rating, review count, image URLs and direct product page URLs. This structured data can be integrated into AI models for price prediction, recommendation or sentiment analysis.

Market analysis and competitive intelligence gathering

With Airtop, organizations can also automate collection of competitor prices, customer feedback and industry news, then apply AI to forecast trends or assess sentiment. 

For instance, Airtop provides an automation that extracts data from TripAdvisor. This includes hotel names, star ratings, guest reviews, room prices, addresses, amenities and so on. Similarly, Monitor Flight Prices automates the process of gathering flight price data.

This continuous inflow of information can be fed into NLP pipelines to gain insights about competitors, quantify brand sentiment, spot issues and make data-driven decisions.

Caption: A screenshot showing Airtop’s studio.

Airtop strengths

The following are some of the core strengths of Airtop: 

  • Support for CAPTCHAs
  • Airtop’s ability to handle CAPTCHAs allows it to operate on websites that implement these types of access challenges.
  • Structured JSON output
  • Airtop returns web data in structured JSON. This AI-ready format simplifies integration into AI pipelines for data teams and reduces post-processing. 
  • Deployment flexibility
  • With support for cloud, on-premise and single-tenant deployments, Airtop can be versatile enough to accommodate different types of organizations, including those with strict security or compliance requirements that require more control over their data.
  • Real-time session monitoring
  • Through the Live View feature, your team can track automation as it takes place, intervene in the process and adjust actions in real time. This allows for human oversight and quick troubleshooting. 
  • Use case versatility
  • Airtop is useful for a wide range of teams, from product managers and data engineers to marketers, recruiters, sales teams and operations leads seeking browser automation on modern web apps.

However, before considering adoption, you should also consider where Airtop has limitations. 

Limitations of Airtop’s platform

Airtop falls short in these main areas:

  • Limited SDK and language support
  • At present, Airtop offers SDKs for TypeScript and Python. If your team needs broader SDK and language support, Airtop may not be the best fit.
  • Limited customization
  • Unlike open-source frameworks where developers can script every browser action, Airtop’s workflows are confined to its own APIs and templates. 
  • Potential issues with dynamic web pages
  • Airtop’s API is perfectly capable of handling complex automation tasks. For highly dynamic web pages, fallback logic or human intervention may still be required.
  • Lack of session replay tooling
  • Airtop’s session continuity makes it viable for long-running flows like flight tracking or e-commerce scraping, but lacks full session replay tooling, which limits debugging.
  • No flat-rate plans

     The credit-based billing model is a core aspect of Airtop’s offering. However, it might also limit smaller teams or startups running automation on a limited budget. 

Though these limitations don’t outweigh Airtop’s strengths, they’re worth keeping in mind.

Pricing and plans

Airtop offers a free plan that includes 5,000 credits and one concurrent browser session. Beyond that, there are three paid subscription plans:

  • Starter ($29 per month): Includes 30,000 credits, support for up to three simultaneous sessions and an integrated proxy.
  • Professional ($89 per month): Includes 100,000+ credits, support for up to 30 simultaneous sessions and custom proxy support.
  • Enterprise ($380 per month): 500,000 credits, support for up to 100 simultaneous sessions, SOC 2 compliance report and two hours per month of dedicated engineer support.

Custom plans are also available for organizations with higher usage or specific requirements. 

Alternatives to Airtop: Top platforms for browser automation

Notable alternatives to Airtop include Browserbase, Hyperbrowser, Anchor, Steel.dev, ZenRows, Browse.ai and Bright Data. Here’s how they all compare to one another.

PlatformPricing ModelModularityStealth and CAPTCHA SupportAI/API Integration
AirtopCredit-based HighYes – built-in CAPTCHA Strong AI-agent modular API
BrowserbaseTiered, usage-basedHighYes – stealth mode and auto CAPTCHAAPI-driven, strong agent SDK support
HyperbrowserCredit-basedHighYes – stealth and CAPTCHA supportBasic API, LLM-agent support
Bright DataPay-as-you-go to Subscription (tiered)HighYes – stealth proxies, CAPTCHA solvingStrong APIs, agent-oriented browser control
AnchorPay-as-you-goHighYes – stealth, CAPTCHA handling, fingerprintingAgent-friendly APIs, supports LLM agents
Steel.devCredit-based tiersHighYes – stealth configs, CAPTCHA solverAI-focused, open API for agents
ZenRowsSubscription and usage-basedModerateYes – CAPTCHA/WAF handling, proxiesAPI-focused, not AI-modular
Browse.aiSubscription and creditsModerateYes – anti-bot detection, stealth retriesZapier-compatible integrations

Hyperbrowser, Anchor and Airtop are good choices for startups and lean organizations, especially those that prefer flexible pricing. 

Steel.dev and Browserbase are well-suited for developer-focused teams and AI agent builders, while ZenRows and Browse.ai are excellent options for non-technical users. Bright Data could arguably be the most robust solution of the bunch, ideal for teams that prioritize high performance.

Unlike open-source competitors like Steel.dev, Airtop offers fast deployment. Compared to Browserbase, it lacks full session replay for advanced debugging and offers fewer SDKs. However, it excels in accessibility and session persistence. 

For teams that prioritize speed and simplicity over granular control, Airtop is a decent choice. Those needing predictable costs or extensive customization should look elsewhere.

Airtop is good for agile teams, but has its limits

Airtop is a solid browser infrastructure platform that offers a credit-based billing plan and a well-rounded list of features. 

Airtop has some serious limitations, but if your team is looking for a platform that combines flexible resource management with persistent browser sessions, built-in proxies and natural language automation, it might be a good fit..