Native fingerprints from AdsPower
Cloud Browser runs AdsPower fingerprint browsers with real native browser fingerprints, bringing AdsPower’s browser technology directly to your cloud workflows.
Remote browsers, session state & proxy routing
AdsCrawl vs Bright Data Browser API
Choosing a Bright Data Browser API alternative? Compare browser connections, navigation boundaries, saved state, outputs and bandwidth billing. This page focuses on Browser API, with other Bright Data products identified separately.
Published by AdsCrawl · Official documentation reviewed
A documentation-based feature comparison; not a performance benchmark.
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Why choose AdsCrawl Cloud Browser
Use AdsPower fingerprint browsers as saved cloud environments for recurring tasks, with an API to create, start and stop each profile.
An isolated environment for every profile
Give each task or account its own browser environment, with separate fingerprint settings and browser state. Save and reuse profiles for recurring work.
Browser updates that follow AdsPower
Cloud Browser follows AdsPower fingerprint browser version updates, bringing ongoing browser-engine and fingerprint improvements to your cloud environments.
Choose for the workflow
When to consider AdsCrawl
- You want AdsPower fingerprint browsers in Cloud Browser, with native fingerprints, isolated profiles and updates that follow AdsPower. API-key starts require your proxy; runtime requires a paid plan.
- Your Playwright or Puppeteer workflow needs explicit create, connect and delete operations for temporary Remote CDP sessions.
- You want dedicated HTTP endpoints for article Markdown, named DOM/network fields or synchronous PNG output.
When to consider Bright Data Browser API
- You want managed browsers with integrated proxy selection and unblocking for interactive page tasks.
- Your existing automation uses Puppeteer, Playwright or Selenium, and you want to retain control in your client code.
- You want geographic proxy targeting and session bandwidth records to evaluate a traffic-based workload.
These recommendations follow the documented capabilities below; they do not imply the other provider cannot perform the same task.
Side by side
Capabilities, lifecycle & billing
Each row links to official references. Proxy and session behavior is scoped to the named product; check the current contract before integrating.
Scroll the table sideways to compare both providers →
| Dimension | AdsCrawl | Bright Data Browser API |
|---|---|---|
| Connections & clients | Create a temporary Remote CDP session through the API, connect Playwright or Puppeteer using the returned connection information, and explicitly delete the session when finished. | Connect Puppeteer or Playwright to hosted Chromium over CDP WebSocket using zone credentials. Selenium connects through HTTPS WebDriver; automation runs under your client’s control. |
| Navigation & lifecycle | Use connected browser code for custom navigation and interactions. Temporary Remote CDP and saved Cloud Browser profiles have different cleanup operations; disconnecting a client is not a substitute for releasing its runtime. | Supports multiple navigations within one domain; another domain needs a new session. Current limits are 5 minutes idle and 60 minutes total. Official examples clean up with browser.close() or driver.quit(). |
| Saved state & access conditions | Stopping Cloud Browser retains its saved profile for a later start. Temporary Remote CDP is a separate lifecycle. Choose the profile and runtime that match the state your task must retain. | Proxy.useSession reuses a proxy peer, not a documented full-profile snapshot. Setting cookies requires KYC. Password entry is disabled by default; the FAQ describes requesting an exception after KYC. |
| Proxy & location | Temporary Remote CDP supports managed routing and optional custom proxies. Each API-key start of a saved Cloud Browser requires an explicit valid BYO proxy; do not apply the temporary-session routing contract to saved profiles. | Manages proxy selection. Country targeting uses the -country option; Proxy.setLocation selects peers by latitude, longitude and radius before navigation. Validate the location your target actually observes. |
| HTML, Markdown & fields | POST /html returns rendered HTML or Readability article Markdown/JSON. POST /spa-extract returns named DOM/network fields or template output; article JSON is not an arbitrary extraction schema. | Read HTML with page.content() and write extraction logic in browser code. Bright Data’s separate MCP tools include Unlocker-backed scrape_as_markdown and AI extraction; those are not the Browser API connection contract. |
| Screenshots | POST /screenshot returns PNG bytes synchronously. A selector targets the first matching element and takes precedence over full-page capture; a missing selector match returns an error. | Capture screenshots with the connected automation library. Official Puppeteer and Playwright examples include full-page capture. Keep viewport, fonts and loading conditions aligned when comparing images. |
| Inspection & session records | A running Cloud Browser may return an interactive viewer URL requiring its owner’s login. Connection fields depend on runtime type; a saved profile does not imply that every runtime exposes CDP. | Page.inspect returns a live DevTools URL. A separate REST session endpoint reports navigation count, duration, bandwidth and errors. Session metadata and live inspection serve different debugging needs. |
| Billing & limits | Compare plan credits, browser concurrency, saved-profile and API-key limits. Include your proxy costs where applicable, and explicitly stop Cloud Browser runtime when finished. | Bills transferred bandwidth, without a separate browser-instance or browser-time charge. Premium domains have higher per-GB rates. Check current rates and recorded traffic instead of equating GB with another provider’s credits. |
Evaluate a complete browser workflow
Map navigation and required state
List the domains, redirects, cookies and storage your workflow needs. Test the same journey on both services, including cleanup and a fresh start. Confirm access conditions before evaluating an authenticated target.
Keep output and readiness consistent
Use the same URLs, region, viewport and readiness checks. Validate fields, article content and screenshots separately. Record which transformations happen in the service and which remain in your application.
Measure traffic and usable results
Record transferred bytes, resource blocking, retries, browser duration and output quality. Test whether blocking images or other resources changes the result. Compare the cost of usable results using each provider’s actual meter and current plan.
Common questions
Does Proxy.useSession restore a saved browser profile?
It documents proxy-peer reuse across browser sessions. That alone does not establish restoration of cookies, localStorage or a running page. AdsCrawl’s saved Cloud Browser profile has a separate stop/start lifecycle; test the state your application needs.
Does this comparison cover all Bright Data extraction products?
No. Browser API is the remote browser service compared here. Bright Data’s MCP also offers scrape_as_markdown through Unlocker and AI extraction tools. Evaluate those separately when you need a ready-made content pipeline instead of writing browser extraction logic.
Which service costs less for my workflow?
There is no measured cost winner on this page. Compare the same usable outputs, region, retries and resource-loading choices. Include AdsCrawl plan limits and your own proxy costs where applicable, then compare against Browser API’s current bandwidth rates.