Web RPA, without the enterprise contract
Robotic process automation for the part of the process that lives in a browser — built on your desktop, priced once, and exportable as code you own rather than a licence you rent.
What web RPA actually means
RPA is software that performs the interface work a person would otherwise do: opening the system, finding the record, copying the value, filling the form, submitting it. "Web" RPA is the subset where that interface is a website — which, for most organisations now, is nearly all of it.
The classic RPA platforms grew up automating Windows desktops and treat the browser as one more surface. If your processes are browser-shaped, most of what you are licensing is weight you never use.
Where traditional RPA gets expensive
The licence is rarely the whole cost. Bots are priced per unit per year, orchestration runs on servers somebody maintains, and the flows are stored in a proprietary format that only the vendor’s runtime executes. Three years in, the automations are real assets and none of them are portable.
- Per-bot pricing
- Recurring, per unit, and it scales with the number of processes you automate — precisely the wrong direction.
- Server-side orchestration
- Infrastructure to run, secure and upgrade, before a single process is automated.
- Proprietary flow formats
- The logic exists only inside the vendor’s tool, so migrating means rebuilding.
- Long implementations
- Specialist consultants to automate a task somebody in the team could describe in five minutes.
The desktop alternative
Orchestra puts the same capability on the machine of the person who understands the process. They record the task, correct it where the recording guessed wrong, add the conditions and retries that make it survive a slow morning, and run it.
When a process outgrows the desktop, export it: the flow becomes plain Playwright TypeScript that a developer can schedule, containerise or wire into an existing pipeline. The upgrade path out of the tool is a feature, not an escape hatch nobody tells you about.
Where it fits, and where it does not
It fits browser-based processes: portals, dashboards, admin panels, forms, supplier and government sites, anything with a login and a screen. It is a good fit for teams who want to automate a dozen real processes without a platform decision.
It is not a fit if you need to automate native Windows desktop applications, mainframe terminal emulators, or a centrally-orchestrated fleet of unattended bots with enterprise governance and audit workflows. Those are what the big platforms are for, and they earn their price there.
Common questions
What is web RPA?
Web RPA is robotic process automation applied to browser-based systems: software that logs in, navigates, reads and fills in websites to complete a business process without a person doing it manually. It is used where systems offer a web interface but no usable API.
How is Orchestra different from traditional RPA platforms?
It runs on your desktop rather than on orchestration servers, it is a one-time $149 purchase rather than per-bot annual licensing, and every process exports as plain Playwright code you own instead of a proprietary flow format only the vendor can execute.
Can it handle attended and unattended processes?
Attended runs work directly in the app. For unattended and scheduled runs, export the flow as Playwright and run it with your own scheduler, server or CI system — which also means those runs cost you nothing extra.
Does it work with systems that have no API?
Yes. That is the point of RPA generally and of this tool specifically: it drives the browser interface, so vendor cooperation is not required.
What about native desktop or mainframe automation?
Orchestra automates the browser only. If your processes involve native Windows applications or terminal emulators, a full RPA platform is the right tool and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong thing.