Kernel alternative: Browserberg compared
Both run Chromium for agents. They differ on where your session data is processed, whether the product helps you evade bot detection, and what happens to your credentials.
Browserberg and Kernel, side by side
Competitor figures come from Kernel's published pricing and documentation on the date below. Where a figure is a vendor's own claim rather than an independent measurement, it says so.
| Browserberg | Kernel | |
|---|---|---|
| Where sessions run | EU bare metal (OVHcloud) | US-operated |
| Bot posture | Authenticated-first, no stealth | Infrastructure only |
| Price per browser hour | EUR 0.08–0.09/hr | ~USD 0.06/hr, per-second |
| Free tier | 5 hours | Free tier |
| Credential vault | Yes — encrypted, site-scoped, never in model context | No |
| Human takeover | Yes — live view with single-writer lease | No |
As of 2026-08-30 · Competitor details come from each vendor's published pricing page on that date.
Where Browserberg is the better fit
Infrastructure only
Kernel gives you browsers. Perception, credential handling, human takeover and the reliability layer are yours to build, and that is where most of the work actually is.
Anti-bot behaviour is unproven
There is little published evidence about how Kernel sessions behave against real-world detection, which matters even for authenticated automation.
US operation
Per-second billing does not answer a data-residency question.
What Kernel is
Kernel
Kernel is the cheapest serious option and the most infrastructure-shaped: unikernel and microVM isolation, sessions that can run for 72 hours, browser pools, per-second billing and ISO 27001.
Migrating from Kernel
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Compare on total cost, not hourly rate
Kernel is cheaper per hour. Add the engineering you would otherwise write, and the comparison changes shape.
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Move the browser calls
Both are CDP endpoints, so this part is mechanical.
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Decide about isolation deliberately
If your threat model needs a microVM boundary today, Kernel has one and we do not. That should be a decision, not a discovery.
Questions people actually ask
Kernel has microVM isolation. Do you?
Not today. Sessions run in hardened containers with user-namespace remapping, dropped capabilities, seccomp, AppArmor and a default-drop network policy. That is strong, but it is not the same boundary a microVM gives you, and Kernel is ahead of us here until Firecracker lands.
Is per-second billing meaningfully cheaper?
For short sessions, yes, and it is the honest way to bill. Our pricing is per hour with a free tier sized to make evaluation free rather than to win a price comparison.
What do I have to build on top of Kernel that I would not here?
Perception, credential handling, human takeover, and the retry-and-heal layer that turns a flaky portal run into a reliable one. Those are the parts that took us months, not the browser pool.
Other comparisons
- Browserbase Browserbase is the category leader and the most complete managed offering: Stagehand as an MIT-licensed SDK, contexts, replays, an MCP server, SOC 2 and HIPAA, and a founding seat on Cloudflare's Signed Agents programme.
- Browserless Browserless is the mature headless-browser service in the category: Puppeteer, Playwright and Selenium support, a REST API, BrowserQL, an MCP server, a self-hostable Docker image, and SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
- Steel Steel is the open-source answer to Browserbase: Apache-2.
- Hyperbrowser Hyperbrowser leads with stealth.
- Anchor Browser Anchor is our closest strategic neighbour and the comparison we take most seriously.
- Browser Use Cloud Browser Use is the benchmark leader and the cheapest per hour in the category: 84.
Settle it with your own script
Five browser hours free, no card. Point an existing Playwright or Puppeteer script at our endpoint and compare the result yourself.