Bardeen
An AI extension that clicks, copies and searches for you — without leaving the browser.
By Thiago Lourenço Martins
An autopilot living inside your browser
Bardeen is an extension — it works on Chrome, Arc, Brave and Edge — that learns to repeat what you already do on screen: open a LinkedIn profile and copy the name into a spreadsheet, look up a price, fill in a form. You build (or ask the AI to build, just by describing it in plain text) a sequence called a Playbook, hit a button, and it runs on its own. No code required.
The copy-and-paste job that never ends
If you've ever had twenty tabs open just to jot down the name, title and phone number of people who could become clients, you know the feeling. It's not hard work — it's just tedious, repetitive, and it eats up the whole morning.
That's basically what separates opening a ready-made Playbook from doing that same collection by hand, tab after tab. Bardeen swaps the copy-paste routine for a button — and anyone starting on the free plan can already run real automations the same day.
Where free ends and credits start counting
Yes, it's free to start — 100 credits a month, forever, no card required. Each action (extracting a piece of data, running a search) costs 1 credit; enriching a contact costs 3. Official prices in dollars, checked in July 2026 (Bardeen's site does not publish a price in reais):
$0 — 100 credits every month, forever. No card, ready-made playbooks, exporting to CSV is free.
$10/month — plus 100 more credits per month, your own scrapers and premium ones.
$50/month (or $480/year, about 20% cheaper) — plus 1,000 more credits a month, contact enrichment unlocked, teams.
By quote — billed annually, custom bulk credits, scrapers built and maintained by Bardeen's team.
The detail most people miss: only the action itself uses credits — building the playbook with the Magic Box and the import/export tools are free.
Who's already letting Bardeen click behind the scenes
Instead of noting down supplier contacts one by one from WhatsApp Web or their site, they run a Playbook that already delivers everything into a Google Sheet.
Prospects listings on portals and partner sites without opening tab after tab — the scraper navigates, extracts and organizes the data on its own.
Builds a candidate list straight from a LinkedIn search and sends it to a screening spreadsheet, without copying profile after profile.
From "Add to Chrome" to your first extracted data
- Install the extension
On the Chrome Web Store, search for "Bardeen" and click "Add to Chrome." Then pin the icon to your browser bar.
works on Chrome, Arc, Brave and Edge - Create your account
Click the extension icon and sign in with Google or your work email. No card required.
- Open the "Explore" tab
Inside the extension (or the app), the Explore tab shows ready-made Playbooks. Start with the one Bardeen itself recommends: "Save LinkedIn profile to Google Sheets."
- Connect the accounts it asks for
If the Playbook uses Google Sheets, LinkedIn or Notion, Bardeen asks for authorization right there — no password typed into it.
- Fine-tune it with the Magic Box, if you want
In the Builder/Studio, describe in text what you want to change in the AI bar (the "Magic Box") and it adapts the playbook's steps.
- Run it and check the cost
Use "Test Mode" to see how many credits the automation will use before you turn it on for real.
A ready-made request for the AI to build the playbook
Create an automation that opens the LinkedIn profile I'm currently viewing, extracts the person's name, title and company, and adds that information as a new row in my "Leads" Google Sheet.
The AI builds the playbook with the extract and export actions already wired up — you just review and turn it on.
Tips & common mistakes
Do this
- Start from a ready-made Playbook in the gallery instead of building from scratch — it saves credits and learning time.
- Run Test Mode before turning it on for real — it shows how many credits the automation will cost.
- Only turn a Playbook into an Autobook (running on its own) after testing it manually a few times.
Avoid
- Relying on the 100 free credits for heavy use — contact enrichment costs 3 credits per row, and the balance disappears fast.
- Automating LinkedIn and other sites without checking their terms of service — Bardeen itself warns, on its scraper page, to respect each site's TOS.
- Expecting to use it outside a Chromium-based browser — there's no separate app; without Chrome, Arc, Brave or Edge, Bardeen simply doesn't run.
A Portuguese-language tutorial to go further
* Independent suggestion, chosen for content quality. We have no relationship or sponsorship with this channel. Video is in Portuguese.
Extract one real data point without copy-pasting
Install the extension, open a LinkedIn profile (your own, if you prefer) and run the Playbook "Save LinkedIn profile to Google Sheets" from the Explore tab.
It worked if, in under a minute, a new row shows up in your spreadsheet with the profile data — without you copying anything by hand.
Our take on Bardeen
I installed it expecting the same general automation tool as before and found a whole site now talking about "leads" — Bardeen has clearly pivoted toward sales and prospecting. That's not necessarily bad, it's just good to know going in: if your problem is copying data from a website into a spreadsheet, LinkedIn especially, it solves it fast and with no code, and the Magic Box genuinely understands a plain-text request. Where it pinches is the credits — 100 a month disappears fast if you work with bigger lists — and the fact that it only exists as a browser extension, with no standalone app.
Tested and verified against official sources on July 28, 2026.
In favor
- Installs in minutes and already plugs into what you use daily: Google Sheets, LinkedIn, Notion, Airtable, Slack and Gmail
- The Magic Box builds the automation from a plain-text request — you don't need to understand "triggers" and "actions" to get started
- A genuinely free plan: 100 credits a month, no expiration date and no card required
- Real customers published by the company itself (Deel, Kearney, JotForm) report dozens of hours saved weekly — worth taking as a hint, not a guarantee for your case
Against
- The whole site's messaging shifted to "lead generation" — anyone looking for a general task automator feels the product changed direction
- Almost every action uses credits (enrichment costs 3 per row) — the 100 free ones disappear fast on bigger lists
- Only exists as a browser extension (Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge) — no mobile app and no separate desktop program
- Automating sites like LinkedIn runs into their own terms of service — Bardeen itself recommends checking first; the risk of getting blocked is yours
Who Bardeen makes sense for
Worth it if you…
- Run a small business and currently copy client or supplier data by hand between the browser and a spreadsheet
- Do manual prospecting — LinkedIn, a real estate portal, a marketplace — and are tired of repeating the same click
- Already use Google Sheets, Notion or Airtable and want to feed them without typing
Think twice if you…
- Don't use Chrome, Arc, Brave or Edge day to day — without the extension installed, the tool simply doesn't run
- Need high, constant volume (thousands of rows a month) — credits run out fast and Premium ($50/month) starts to hurt
- Just want to generate text or ideas with AI — ChatGPT does that better; Bardeen is built for ACTION inside the browser
When another tool fits better
When you want to build longer, more complex automation flows with chained AI agents, not just in-browser actions
When what you need is to generate text, ideas or answers — not click, extract or fill in forms on any website
When you want a general assistant already integrated with Gmail, Drive and Docs, without installing a separate extension
What people ask about Bardeen
Is Bardeen really free?
Yes. The free account gives you 100 credits every month, forever, with no card required — enough to run dozens of light automations. Paid plans (from $10/month) simply add more credits.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Bardeen is no-code: you build automations by clicking ready-made actions, start from one of thousands of Playbooks, or describe what you want in plain text in the Magic Box and the AI builds the steps for you.
Does it work on mobile?
Not the way it was designed. Bardeen is a browser extension that runs on desktop — Chrome, Arc, Brave or Edge. There is no Android or iPhone app.
Is the interface available in Portuguese?
No: Bardeen's menus, buttons and official documentation are in English. It can still automate any website, including Portuguese-language ones — only the tool's own controls stay in English.
Do I need a credit card to try it?
No. Just install the extension and sign up with Google or a work email. The free plan with 100 credits a month is unlocked right away, no charge.
Is it safe to connect my Google or LinkedIn account?
Bardeen states it follows SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CASA certifications, and says it acts through the browser session you're already logged into, without asking for your password. Even so, it's always worth checking the terms of service of any site you plan to automate — Bardeen itself recommends this.
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