Is Browserbase Down? How to Check Browserbase Status in 2026

Browserbase runs headless Chrome browser sessions in the cloud so AI agents, scrapers, and QA automation don't have to manage their own browser infrastructure. It's widely used behind AI browsing agents that need to click, scroll, fill forms, and read live pages, plus tools that connect over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) via Playwright or Puppeteer.

Whether your agent can't open a new session, an active session suddenly disconnects, or Live View won't load, this guide answers the key question: is Browserbase down for everyone, and is your automation actually blocked?

How to Check if Browserbase is Down (Fastest Methods)

1. Check the Official Browserbase Status Page

Browserbase publishes a status page covering session creation, the API, proxies, and Live View. Check it first for any active incidents before digging into your own integration.

2. Test Session Creation Directly

A quick API test isolates whether the issue is on Browserbase's end or your integration:

curl https://www.browserbase.com/v1/sessions \
  -X POST \
  -H "x-bb-api-key: $BROWSERBASE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"projectId": "'"$BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID"'"}'

A successful response with a session ID means Browserbase is reachable. A 401 means your API key is invalid. A timeout or repeated 5xx means Browserbase is experiencing an outage.

3. Confirm Whether Existing Sessions Are Also Dropping

Capacity-related incidents often only block new session creation while sessions that are already connected keep running. Checking this narrows down whether you're hitting a provisioning bottleneck or a broader platform incident.

4. Check Your Automation Framework Logs

Review your Playwright or Puppeteer connection logs for CDP WebSocket errors or connection timeouts when connecting to the Browserbase session URL. This confirms the failure is coming from the browser infrastructure layer rather than your own scraping or agent logic.

Why Does Browserbase Go Down?

Running real Chrome instances at scale on demand creates its own set of failure modes:

• Session Provisioning Capacity Limits: Spikes in concurrent session requests can outpace available browser instance capacity, causing session creation timeouts.
• CDP Connection Issues: Sessions are controlled over the Chrome DevTools Protocol; WebSocket connection problems between your automation client and the remote browser can drop mid-session.
• Proxy Layer Problems: Sessions using Browserbase's built-in residential or datacenter proxies can be affected independently if the proxy pool degrades, even when core browser sessions are healthy.
• Live View / Recording Pipeline Degradation: The session recording and Live View debugging feature is a separate pipeline from raw browser execution and can lag or fail on its own.
• Underlying Cloud Provider Issues: As a hosted platform, Browserbase runs on cloud infrastructure that can experience regional incidents affecting latency or availability.

Browserbase Troubleshooting Checklist

Best Browserbase Alternatives When It's Down

Conclusion: Isolate the Failure Before You Escalate

Browserbase outages can look like flaky scraping code or a broken selector — a session that just won't connect. Checking the status page and testing session creation directly saves you from debugging the wrong layer, and independent monitoring catches provisioning failures before your agent silently stalls.