Bardeen sits in the browser rather than on a server. It is a Chrome extension that runs automations against the page currently open: pulling structured data out of a list of search results, enriching a prospect record, pushing what it finds into a CRM or spreadsheet without leaving the tab.
That placement is the whole idea. A conventional automation platform connects services through their APIs; Bardeen works with what is rendered on screen, which means it can automate against sites that offer no API at all. For sales and recruiting workflows built around browsing — LinkedIn lists, directories, search results — that is a meaningful difference.
The trade-offs follow from the same decision. Automations depend on the browser being open, and on page structures that site owners can change at any time. Billing runs on credits tied to the rows processed, so large scraping runs are the expensive case rather than the cheap one.