Asteroid Democratizes Browser Automation
David Mlcoch, co-founder & CEO of Asteroid, on browser automation and the last mile problem of AI
The real wedge here is not cheaper automation, it is taking browser automation out of the hands of developers and consultants and putting it in the hands of the operations people who already know the workflow. Traditional RPA tools like UiPath can handle complex enterprise processes, but they are built for large deployments with partner implementation, governance, and upkeep. Asteroid is aiming at the layer below that, where a broker, scheduler, or claims worker wants software that can watch, learn, run, and escalate without a custom services project.
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UiPath grew into a very large automation vendor by selling broad enterprise platforms, with fiscal 2026 ARR at $1.817 billion as of January 31, 2026. That scale comes with the usual enterprise motion, software licenses, partner led rollout, and ongoing maintenance, which is why automation often starts as a meaningful budget line rather than a self serve tool.
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The technical burden is the other hidden cost. Older browser automation and RPA setups depend on hard coded selectors and scripted branches, so when a portal changes, someone has to repair the flow. Asteroid is built around the idea that an insurance or healthcare operator can supervise the task directly, instead of translating edge cases back and forth with an engineer using Playwright or Stagehand.
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This creates a clear market split. Browserbase and Stagehand serve developers who want hosted browsers and code level control. UiPath serves enterprises that want governance, compliance, and a full automation suite. Asteroid is trying to sit in between, with hosted browser agents for repetitive real work such as quoting, scheduling, and form entry, but packaged so a non technical team can actually deploy them.
If this layer works, browser automation starts to look less like an IT transformation project and more like ordinary operations software. The winners will be the products that turn messy domain know how into reusable agents, then add supervision, audit trails, and vertical templates until they can move upmarket from one workflow to an entire back office.