Comparison
On your machine, or on somebody else's
Antidetect browsers come in two shapes. The features move around every quarter; this difference does not.
| Compare | Local-first · PowerOps | Cloud-hosted |
|---|---|---|
| Where profile data lives | On your own disk, in a browser directory per profile | On the provider's infrastructure, which is what makes it a hosted product |
| What it takes to start | Download it and sign in with an ArticleOps account. No card | An account with the service before the first profile exists |
| With no network | The browser and its data are on your machine, but while Cloud Sync is on, which is the default, a profile will not open until the sync service can be reached | The service has to be reachable |
| What the price scales with | Workspaces. Profiles are unlimited on every plan, including the free one | Usually the number of profiles and the number of seats |
| If you stop paying | Every profile stays on your disk and the application still opens them | Access to hosted profiles ends with the subscription |
| Scripted control | A loopback HTTP API on your own machine, behind a bearer key | A call across the internet to the provider |
The right-hand column describes hosted software in general, not any particular product. No company is named here, and none of these rows should be read as one.
The honest trade
Pick a cloud product when
- You want to reach the same profiles from a machine you have not set up
- You would rather the provider ran the storage, the backups and the updates
- You need a platform your team already knows and buys through a procurement process
- You want features PowerOps does not have: mobile device identities, an RPA recorder, a proxy marketplace
Pick PowerOps when
- You want the profiles on your own disk, in an application that runs on your own machine
- You would rather pay for workspaces than for profiles, because your profiles are not metered
- You want sync you can switch off, with sessions encrypted before they leave the machine
- You want claims you can check on your own computer
Choosing between the two
Can I run PowerOps alongside something else?
Yes. Every profile lives in its own browser directory on your disk, so PowerOps sits next to whatever else is installed on the same machine without either one noticing.
Can I import profiles from another product?
Yes, for some formats. Import profiles, which an owner or admin opens from the sidebar, reads PowerOps' own export files, and it also accepts account workbooks and profile exports in two other tools' formats. One of those is still experimental, because it was built from that tool's documented columns and not from a file the tool itself produced. Anything else you recreate: make the profile in PowerOps, let it generate a device identity, and sign in to the account inside it.
What does PowerOps cost?
The free plan has no end date and no card: one workspace, unlimited local profiles, the fingerprint identity, the proxy library, Orbit Browser and 100 a day of profile opens. Paid plans start at $3.99 per workspace a month and run 30 days before they ask for a card. Nothing is priced per profile: a profile is a directory on your own disk, and there is no counter to enforce.
Why is no competitor named on this page?
Because a table of somebody else's features goes out of date on their schedule, not ours, and a stale cell is a claim about a product we do not control. The models are what actually differ, and the model is the part of the decision that lasts.
The fastest comparison is running both
The free plan is a Windows download with no card and no end date. Run it beside whatever you use now and keep whichever earns its place.