Kernel

What it is for

Kernel is cloud Chromium infrastructure for agents: the official docs still (see the cover: quickstart cards — hand it to a coding agent, write it with an SDK, call the REST API, use the CLI) is the getting-started surface. Use it when the job is spin an isolated browser with profiles and live view, not when you need a scrape-to-markdown credit pack.

It is not open source as a product. Images and SDKs are public. Developer is $0 + usage. Hobbyist is the first public paid card.

What makes it unique: the cover is Kernel’s own Quickstart with four concrete start paths — not a homepage loop.

Key features

• Four start paths — coding-agent prompt, SDK, REST, CLI (cover).
• Headless / headful / GPU — billed per second on the pricing table.
• Profiles + vaults — reuse cookies; fill credentials without sending them through the model.
• Browser pools + standby — idle pooled browsers incur no usage on the docs we copied.
• MCP — execute Playwright against a Kernel browser from Cursor or Claude.

Who it's for

Best fit: agent platforms that need fast session create and will pay per second.

Poor fit: people who want a no-code general agent (Manus) or a query-language scraper (AgentQL).

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from kernel.sh/docs/info/pricing. Re-check before you buy.

• Developer — $0 + usage. $5 included credits/month. 5 concurrent browsers.
• Hobbyist — $30/month + usage. $10 credits/month. 10 concurrent.
• Start-Up — $200/month + usage. $50 credits/month. 150 concurrent; GPU; BYO proxies.
• Enterprise — custom.

Per-second rates on the same page: headless $0.0000166667/sec ($0.06/hour); headful $0.0001333336/sec ($0.48/hour); headful + GPU $0.0008000016/sec.

The docs say you are never charged for proxies. Included credits apply to usage only.

Limitations / costs

• Developer is 5 concurrent and $5 credits. A headful fleet burns that fast.
• GPU is Start-Up+ and is not on standby/pools.
• A reserved pool counts against concurrency even when browsers are idle.
• Not a markdown crawler. For page-as-MD credits, see Firecrawl.

Alternatives

• Steel — Launch $0 + $30 credits; OSS runtime.
• Browserbase — Developer $20 with 100 included hours.
• Hyperbrowser — Startup $30 credit wallet.

Official tutorial

Official Kernel channel video: Stay logged in across browser sessions with Kernel Profiles (oEmbed author: Kernel).

Written path: Quickstart plus Pricing.

Website

https://www.kernel.sh

Repository

https://github.com/onkernel/kernel-images

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Quickstart (four start-path cards). Dollars checked on kernel.sh/docs/info/pricing (Developer $0 + $5; Hobbyist $30; Start-Up $200). Tutorial: Kernel Profiles on @trykernel (oEmbed).

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.