Stealth Browsers for Scraping - Camoufox vs undetected-chromedriver vs Playwright Stealth

When managed APIs are not an option, stealth browsers are the next best tool for bypassing anti-bot detection. Here is how the three main options compare.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Camoufox	undetected-chromedriver	Playwright Stealth
Browser	Firefox (patched)	Chrome	Chromium/Firefox/WebKit
Patch Level	C++ source	Binary patching	JavaScript injection
Detection Resistance	Excellent	Good	Moderate
Speed	Moderate	Moderate	Fast
Async Support	Yes	No (Selenium-based)	Yes
Maintenance	Active	Active	Community maintained

Camoufox

The strongest stealth option. Patches Firefox at the source code level, so detection scripts cannot see JavaScript-level modifications.

from camoufox.sync_api import Camoufox

with Camoufox(humanize=True) as browser:
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto("https://nowsecure.nl")
    print(page.title())

Pros: Best detection evasion, realistic fingerprints, human-like input simulation Cons: Firefox-only, requires binary download, smaller community

undetected-chromedriver

A patched Selenium ChromeDriver that removes common automation indicators.

import undetected_chromedriver as uc

driver = uc.Chrome(version_main=136)
driver.get("https://nowsecure.nl")
print(driver.title)
driver.quit()

Pros: Uses real Chrome, large community, easy Selenium integration Cons: Selenium-based (no async), slower, still detectable by advanced systems

Playwright Stealth

JavaScript-level patches applied to Playwright browsers via playwright-stealth.

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
from playwright_stealth import stealth_sync

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
    page = browser.new_page()
    stealth_sync(page)
    page.goto("https://nowsecure.nl")
    print(page.title())
    browser.close()

Pros: Multi-browser support, fast, excellent async API, Playwright ecosystem Cons: JavaScript patches are easier to detect, requires ongoing updates

Detection Test Results

Testing against common anti-bot platforms:

Anti-Bot System	Camoufox	undetected-chromedriver	Playwright Stealth
Cloudflare	Pass	Pass	Sometimes
DataDome	Pass	Fail	Fail
PerimeterX	Pass	Sometimes	Fail
Akamai	Pass	Sometimes	Sometimes
Kasada	Sometimes	Fail	Fail

Results vary by site configuration and may change as detection systems update.

Recommendation

For the most reliable approach, use a managed service like ScraperAPI or ScrapingAnt. They handle all detection evasion and scale horizontally.

For self-hosted scraping:

• Start with Camoufox for the best detection evasion
• Use Playwright Stealth if you need speed and async
• Use undetected-chromedriver if you are already invested in Selenium