Web Agent Face-Off: RAG Outperforms HTML, MCP & NLWeb in E-commerce

Web Agent Interfaces Showdown: MCP vs RAG vs NLWeb vs HTML – A Comprehensive Technical Analysis Core Question: Which Web Agent Interface Delivers the Best Performance and Efficiency? This article addresses the fundamental question: How do different web agent interfaces compare in real-world e-commerce scenarios? Based on extensive experimental research comparing HTML browsing, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), MCP (Model Context Protocol), and NLWeb interfaces, we provide definitive insights into their effectiveness, efficiency, and practical applications. Our analysis reveals that RAG, MCP, and NLWeb significantly outperform traditional HTML browsing, with RAG emerging as the top performer when paired with GPT-5, achieving an …