Kernel - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

Kernel is a cloud-based browser infrastructure platform delivered as an API, designed for developers and engineering teams building AI agents, web automations, and browser-based workflows. It provides on-demand, cloud-hosted browser instances connectable via Playwright, Puppeteer, Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), and WebDriver BiDi, with no local browser installation or Docker configuration required. Browser pools offer pre-warmed, pre-configured instances to eliminate cold-start latency, while autoscaling supports thousands of concurrent sessions for high-volume workloads. Session persistence retains authentication cookies and state across hours or days, reducing repeated login overhead across automation runs.

The platform includes a serverless app platform for deploying and invoking agent loops on demand or on a schedule, co-locating agent compute with its browser to reduce network latency. Anti-bot and stealth mode capabilities include fingerprint customization, integrated CAPTCHA solving, and dynamic IP rotation. Flexible proxy options span Datacenter, ISP, Residential, and Custom (bring-your-own) configurations, assignable per session. Live view streams browser sessions in real time via WebRTC for human-in-the-loop review, and session recording produces MP4 video replays for debugging and audit. An open-source MCP server enables AI coding agents such as Cursor, Claude, Goose, and Windsurf to deploy automations and spin up hosted browsers directly from MCP clients.

Kernel targets individual developers, startups, and enterprises across AI and machine learning, software development, QA and testing, e-commerce, financial services, and marketing. Common use cases include web scraping and data extraction, automated UI testing, AI-powered market research, financial data extraction, and content generation. SDKs are available for Python and JavaScript/TypeScript, alongside a CLI, a Vercel AI SDK integration via the @onkernel/ai-sdk package, and a Vercel Marketplace integration for automatic API key provisioning and team sync.