Claude in Chrome alternative
Claude in Chrome runs Anthropic’s agent in a Chrome side panel, on a paid Claude plan. Browsentic runs the agent CLI you already use (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others) in the browser you already use, from your own machine.
At a glance
Anthropic’s agent in a Chrome side panel
The agent CLI you already run, in the browser you already use
Side by side
Checked against Anthropic’s own announcement and help center, August 2026. If something here is out of date, open an issue.
| Browsentic | Claude in Chrome | |
|---|---|---|
| The shape of it | ||
| The agent | Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Mistral Vibe, Grok Build, Cursor CLI, Qwen Code or OpenCode, your pick, down to the model | Claude |
| Where the agent runs | On your machine, started by Browsentic Bridge on loopback; the model is your agent’s own provider | In Anthropic’s cloud |
| What it costs | Nothing beyond the agent subscription you already have | A paid Claude plan |
| Browsers | Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc or Firefox | Google Chrome only |
| Source | Apache 2.0 licensed, source available | Proprietary |
| Who else can drive | Optional: any MCP client, such as Claude Code, Cursor or Zed | Claude apps only |
| On the page | ||
| Read, click, type, submit | Yes, and anything consequential asks first | Yes, with vendor safeguards |
| Console and network | Yes: errors, failed requests and timings, over Chrome’s debugger | Yes |
| Files | Both directions, each gated: downloads land sealed, uploads ask first | Both directions |
| Show it a job once | Recordings: do it yourself, later say “do it like last time” | Workflow recording, in the classic panel |
| Site knowledge | Site maps: it explores any site and keeps notes, intranets included | Built in for Gmail, Slack, Calendar, Docs and GitHub |
| While you are elsewhere | ||
| Scheduled jobs | Kept by Browsentic Bridge on your machine, each run in a background tab | Kept in Claude’s cloud |
| Long jobs | Background monitors track progress without an agent or a token | An agent has to keep looking |
| Simple commands | “Go back” and “open github.com” run locally, in milliseconds | Every instruction is a model round trip |
| Voice | Dictation in the panel, and hands-free voice in Chromium browsers | Type |
| Trust | ||
| Credentials | Sealed into placeholders; the agent never sees plaintext | 1Password integration; declines sensitive entry |
| Approvals | A declarative policy, every rule tunable, per-site grants | Ask before acting, or autonomous with fixed safeguards |
| Prompt injection | Containment: scoped runs, a sealed agent, page text marked untrusted | Detection: trained classifiers watch for suspicious patterns |
Browsentic only
It runs on the CLI you already have, and switching between eight agents is one click. No second subscription, and no dependence on one vendor.
Browsentic Bridge also serves MCP over stdio, so Claude Code, Cursor and Zed can drive the same signed-in tab the side panel uses.
“Go back” and “open github.com” are matched against a local grammar and run in the browser in milliseconds, with no model call.
A monitor watching an upload or a deploy runs in the browser. It keeps going when the agent finishes or Browsentic Bridge goes away, and spends no tokens while it waits.
It reads the colours a page paints, scores contrast against WCAG, and rethemes the page on its own terms instead of inverting everything.
Passwords, keys, tokens and card numbers become sealed placeholders before the agent sees them, and turn back into plaintext only inside the field they are typed into.
Claude in Chrome only
Some of these are good reasons to choose Claude in Chrome.
Claude in Chrome is a browser extension and nothing else. Browsentic also needs Browsentic Bridge on your computer (one line or an app), because that is where your agent runs.
Through Claude Desktop it can touch local files and computer control. Browsentic stops at the tab on purpose: the agent it starts gets browser tools and nothing else.
Anthropic runs trained classifiers that watch for suspicious instruction patterns. Browsentic has none. It relies on containment instead, limiting what a run can reach.
Team and Enterprise admins get org-wide allowlists and blocklists. Browsentic has per-site grants on one machine, and nothing fleet-wide.
The short version
Pick Claude in Chrome if you work in claude.ai, want a one-click install, and only need Anthropic’s agent in Chrome.
Pick Browsentic if you already run an agent CLI, browse in Edge, Brave, Arc or Firefox, or want the whole thing local, inspectable and Apache 2.0 licensed.
You can run both. Each has its own side panel and works in the tabs you give it.
Free and open source under Apache 2.0, with no API key, subscription or account. One line installs Browsentic Bridge and opens the extension’s store page. Nothing connects until you pair the two.
Available in the Chrome Web Store
Available on Edge Add-ons
Firefox add-on, signed by Mozilla