---
title: Kernel
slug: kernel
url: "https://toolweight.com/options/kernel"
homepage: "https://www.onkernel.com"
categories: browser-automation-apis
last_verified: 2026-07-01
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Kernel

> Fast-starting browsers plus a runtime for deploying browser agents

Kernel is two products in one: hosted browsers with persistent profiles, replays and live view, and a deployment runtime where your agent code runs next to the browser rather than calling it across the internet. The browser container images are published openly, so the thing you run in production is inspectable. Cold-start speed is the headline claim and the one nobody has independently timed.

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Kernel |
| Company | Kernel (onkernel.com) |
| One-liner | Fast-starting browsers plus a runtime for deploying browser agents |
| Site | https://www.onkernel.com |
| Docs | https://docs.onkernel.com |
| Repo | https://github.com/onkernel/kernel-images |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Funding | Seed |
| Open source | Yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Browser APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis)
Ranked **#4 of 13** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Anti-bot pass rate | - | Unknown | - | - | Panel not yet run. |
| Stealth mode | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/browsers/bot-detection/stealth | - |
| CAPTCHA solving | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Residential proxy | metered-extra | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Cold start | - | Unknown | - | - | Vendor claims very fast starts but publishes no figure we would repeat. |
| CDP endpoint | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.onkernel.com | - |
| Playwright | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/introduction/control | - |
| Puppeteer | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/introduction/control | - |
| Session persistence | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/auth/profiles | - |
| Live view | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/browsers/live-view | - |
| Session replay | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://kernel.sh/docs/browsers/replays | Replays are a headline feature rather than an afterthought. |
| Max concurrency | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| File downloads | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Chrome extensions | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Browser regions | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Agent API | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | You deploy your agent onto Kernel rather than calling a hosted agent endpoint. |
| MCP server | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Human handoff | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Pricing model | per-hour | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Per browser-hour | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Free tier | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| GitHub stars | - | Unknown | - | - | kernel-images is public but small; no reliable count. |
| Funding stage | seed | Community-reported | - | - | - |
| Open-source core | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Browser container images are open; the orchestration platform is not. |
| Positioning | Browsers and a runtime for deploying browser agents | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Launched | 2024 | Inferred | - | - | - |

**Verdict.** Interesting because it collapses the network hop: your agent runs next to the browser instead of driving it over the internet, which removes a whole class of latency and timeout bugs. The trade is that you adopt their deployment model, so it is a bigger commitment than a connection string.

## Alternatives

- [Airtop](https://toolweight.com/options/airtop), Natural-language browser API, describe the page, skip the selectors
- [Anchor Browser](https://toolweight.com/options/anchor-browser), Cloud browsers built around authenticated sessions and human takeover
- [Apify](https://toolweight.com/options/apify), Actor platform for scraping and agents, with Crawlee as the open-source core
- [Bright Data Browser API](https://toolweight.com/options/bright-data-browser-api), CDP browsers on a 70M+ residential IP network with challenge handling built in
- [Browserbase](https://toolweight.com/options/browserbase), Managed headless browsers for AI agents, with Stagehand as the SDK
- [Browserless](https://toolweight.com/options/browserless), Self-hostable headless Chrome service; BrowserQL for bot-heavy sites
- [Cloudflare Browser Rendering](https://toolweight.com/options/cloudflare-browser-rendering), Puppeteer and Playwright bindings for Workers, plus REST render endpoints
- [Hyperbrowser](https://toolweight.com/options/hyperbrowser), Agent-first browsers with hosted scrape, crawl and CUA endpoints
- [Self-hosted Playwright](https://toolweight.com/options/playwright-self-hosted), The baseline: run Chromium in your own container and own everything
- [ScrapingBee](https://toolweight.com/options/scrapingbee), One-call HTML API with JavaScript rendering and premium proxy tiers
- [Steel.dev](https://toolweight.com/options/steel-dev), Open-source browser API for AI agents, hosted or self-run
- [ZenRows](https://toolweight.com/options/zenrows), Scraper API plus a CDP scraping browser on a shared residential pool

## Licence and attribution

Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/kernel
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/kernel.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. Corrections: https://toolweight.com/suggest