Plasmo
Plasmo builds an open-source framework and a commercial deployment platform (Itero) that help individual developers and engineering teams build, test, and ship browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge using React, Svelte, or Vue.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Plasmo does
Plasmo is a developer-tooling company, founded in 2022 and incorporated in Delaware as Plasmo Corp., that builds an open-source framework for developing browser extensions with React, Svelte, or Vue, plus a commercial deployment platform. Its core product, the Plasmo Framework, automates manifest generation, bundling, live-reloading, React HMR, cross-browser targeting (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera), and Manifest V3 compliance, and offers framework abstractions such as Content Scripts UI (Shadow-DOM-based component injection), useStorage hooks, and a built-in Messaging API. On top of the framework, Plasmo operates Itero, a subscription cloud platform ($30/mo Starter, $65/mo Pro) that delivers instant browser-extension deployment to beta testers bypassing app store review and integrates with GitHub for automated CI/CD publishing to Chrome Web Store, Edge Add-ons, and Firefox Add-ons. The company serves browser-extension developers and engineering teams, with named adoption at startups such as ArConnect, Liveblocks, and Cradle.
The company monetizes via a freemium open-source framework paired with paid Itero subscriptions, supplemented by an AI-powered community support bot (Pallas) built on OpenAI's GPT-3 and Pinecone for retrieval-augmented generation. Its go-to-market is product-led and community-led: developers adopt via self-serve npm install, contribute through an active Discord server and GitHub repository, and are educated via technical blog content, case studies, and the 'Building Browser Extensions' book co-promoted with author Matt Frisbie. Technologically, Plasmo relies on third-party AI infrastructure rather than proprietary models, and integrates with partners such as PropelAuth, Firebase (Google Cloud), and GitHub Actions to extend its ecosystem. The company reported 1–10 employees as of the input data, with no disclosed funding rounds or revenue figures.
Plasmo firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Plasmo
- Legal name
- Plasmo Corp.
- Website
- https://plasmo.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Plasmo builds an open-source framework and a commercial deployment platform (Itero) that help individual developers and engineering teams build, test, and ship browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge using React, Svelte, or Vue.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Plasmo industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Developer Tools for Browser Extensions
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Software Publishers (5132), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Developer Tools & DevOps Platform Services (CI/CD, Artifacts, IaC) (HDABAAAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Developer Experience Platforms for Enterprise (IDEs, CI/CD, Dev Portals) (HDAEAKAI), Cloud Application Modernization & Refactoring (BPAEACAC)
Keywords
Where Plasmo is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Plasmo business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Plasmo Framework (Open Source): Free and open-source (MIT licensed) browser extension development framework. Serves as the primary acquisition channel for the commercial platform.
- Itero Platform - Starter Tier: $30/month subscription providing extension installer, support for up to 2 extensions, 30 extension updates per month, MV2 to MV3 converter, and CRX ID generator.
- Itero Platform - Pro Tier: $65/month subscription with 1 team, 3 seats per team (expandable), up to 5 extensions (expandable), MV2 to MV3 code scanning, and all Starter tier features.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Hobby - Free tier with open-source framework |
| Subscription | Monthly | Starter - $30/month for extension deployment platform |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro - $65/month for teams with advanced features |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Plasmo product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Plasmo provides an open-source framework for building browser extensions with React, Svelte, or Vue, automating manifest generation, bundling, live-reloading, and cross-browser targeting for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. Its commercial extension, Itero, is a cloud platform for deploying, testing, and distributing extensions with GitHub-integrated CI/CD and instant over-the-air updates bypassing app store review cycles.
Product overview
Plasmo operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture consisting of the open-source Plasmo Framework as the core product, the Plasmo Itero cloud platform for deployment and distribution, and the Pallas AI chatbot for community support. The Plasmo Framework handles the development side—abstracting manifest files, bundling, and cross-browser compatibility—while Itero extends this into a complete production pipeline for deployment, testing, and web store publishing. Pallas adds an AI-powered layer for community assistance using GPT-3 and vector search. Additional built-in modules include a Messaging API for content script communication and storage hooks for data persistence. The platform supports React, Svelte, and Vue frontend frameworks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Plasmo Framework: An open-source framework for building browser extensions with support for React, Svelte, and Vue, offering features like live-reloading, automatic manifest generation, and multi-browser support.
- Plasmo Itero
Products and services
- Plasmo Framework An open-source framework (MIT licensed) for building browser extensions with React, Svelte, or Vue. Provides automatic manifest.json generation, live-reloading, React Hot Module Replacement, a content scripts UI abstraction with Shadow DOM style isolation, built-in storage hooks, and cross-browser targeting (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera) from a single codebase. Sold free and functions as the acquisition channel for the commercial Itero platform. For browser extension developers and engineering teams.
- Plasmo Itero A cloud deployment and distribution platform for browser extensions built with Plasmo Framework. Provides instant over-the-air updates bypassing app store review cycles, GitHub-integrated automated deployment pipelines, a TestBed testing environment, a KeyPair Generator, and direct publishing to Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons. Offered under three tiers: Hobby (free), Starter ($30/month), and Pro ($65/month). For engineering teams shipping browser extensions to testers and end users.
Quantifiable outcome
- ArConnect's lead engineer reports being able to build new features much faster after migrating to Plasmo
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Plasmo
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Plasmo technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability4 records
Feature8 records
Plasmo partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- PropelAuthcorePropelAuth is a B2B authentication provider integrated with Plasmo. Created authentication boilerplate making it easy to add user authentication to browser extensions using PropelAuth's hosted signup/login pages.
- Matt FrisbiecoreMatt Frisbie authored 'Building Browser Extensions' book featuring Plasmo as a recommended framework. Plasmo promotes the book on their website as a complete reference for modern extension development.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Plasmo competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Vercel: Vercel operates Next.js and a deployment platform with a similar framework-plus-deployment model that Plasmo aspires to for browser extensions. While not directly competing today, Vercel could enter browser extension tooling or acquire Plasmo to extend its developer platform.
- Render: Render is a cloud platform for deploying web services with Git-based workflows and tiered pricing similar to Itero's model. Comparable as a developer platform offering simple deployment experiences, though targeting different application types than browser extensions.
- Deno: Deno provides a modern JavaScript runtime with built-in tooling (formatter, linter, test runner, deploy). Like Plasmo, it bundles multiple developer tools into a coherent opinionated platform targeting modern JS developers.
- Netlify: Netlify is a developer platform providing hosting, CI/CD, and deployment for web applications. Its model of free tier with paid team features mirrors Plasmo's Itero strategy, and its platform capabilities overlap with Itero's deployment and publishing workflow.
- Cloudflare Pages: Cloudflare Pages provides a developer platform with global deployment, Git integration, and free tier similar to Itero. While focused on web apps rather than extensions, Cloudflare's broader developer tooling ambitions and browser-adjacent products make it a strategic comparable.
Emerging players
- Raycast: Raycast is a productivity tool that started as a Spotlight replacement and has expanded into an extension ecosystem with its own store and developer platform. While targeting a different niche (macOS productivity vs. browser extensions), it represents a similar 'developer ecosystem for end-user extensions' business model.
- Browserless: Browserless provides browser automation and headless browser infrastructure as a service. It serves developers building browser-related tooling, overlapping with Plasmo's developer audience, though focused on automation rather than extension development.
Others
- Arc Browser: The Browser Company builds Arc, a browser that emphasizes extensibility and developer-friendly customization. While a different business model (consumer browser vs. tooling), Arc's focus on extension developer experience creates indirect competition for developer mindshare and tooling investment.
- Vite: Vite is the underlying build tool that powers Plasmo's development experience. As an adjacent enabling technology, Vite's continued evolution directly impacts Plasmo's capabilities, and Vite-plus-extension-tooling could enable competing solutions.
Direct peers
- WXT: WXT is a modern open-source framework for building browser extensions with similar goals to Plasmo (multi-browser support, Vite-based, modern dev experience). It represents the most direct competitive threat in the browser extension framework category.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Plasmo social profiles
Digital presencePlasmo financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Plasmo leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Plasmo funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Plasmo M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Plasmo
What does Plasmo do?
Plasmo provides an open-source framework for building browser extensions with React, Svelte, or Vue, automating manifest generation, bundling, live-reloading, and cross-browser targeting for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. Its commercial extension, Itero, is a cloud platform for deploying, testing, and distributing extensions with GitHub-integrated CI/CD and instant over-the-air updates bypassing app store review cycles.
Is Plasmo a public or private company?
Plasmo is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Plasmo founded?
Plasmo was founded in 2022. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Plasmo based?
Plasmo is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Plasmo make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Plasmo Framework (Open Source) is the primary driver. The others are itero Platform - Starter Tier and itero Platform - Pro Tier.
Who are Plasmo's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Vercel, Render, Deno, Netlify and Cloudflare Pages. Emerging players are Raycast and Browserless. Others are Arc Browser and Vite. WXT is listed as a direct peer.
Does Plasmo have an API?
Yes. Plasmo provides a Messaging API that enables communication between content scripts and background workers using the sendToBackground method. The framework also provides built-in hooks including useStorage for persistent data management, useTabs for tab interactions, and useTabsCreate for programmatic tab creation. Export type declarations are available for TypeScript support. No standalone public API documentation portal identified; API features are embedded within the Plasmo Framework documentation. Developer documentation is at docs.plasmo.com.
What industry is Plasmo in?
Plasmo's product category is Developer Tools for Browser Extensions. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAAAI, Developer Tools & DevOps Platform Services (CI/CD, Artifacts, IaC), with a secondary code of HDAEAKAI, Developer Experience Platforms for Enterprise (IDEs, CI/CD, Dev Portals). Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.