Kernel vs Stagehand (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand grades higher than Kernel: 3.0 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Stagehand grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Kernel
Cloud browser infrastructure for web agents and automations
Which one is for you
Pick Kernel if
- Fits if you run web agents and need hosted browsers with logins that persist
- Works for developers who want session replays to see what an agent did
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a point-and-click tool, as this is an API and SDK
- Tight if you stay free: $5 in credits, 5 browsers and 1-day replays
- Pricey if you need custom proxies, GPU or regional browsers, which start at $200 a month
- Watch out: usage is billed on top of every plan, and the monthly credits do not cover the plan fee
- Watch out: the homepage links a notice about a security incident dated around November 2026
Pick Stagehand if
- Fits if you write TypeScript, Python or Go and automate sites with no API
- Works for developers already using Playwright who want plain-language steps
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not code, because it is a library with no interface
- Not for you if you need hosted browsers at scale, as that is a separate Browserbase account
- Tight if model costs worry you: natural-language actions call a model you pay for
- Watch out: the speed and token figures on the site are the vendor's own benchmarks
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAKernelFair | 3.0GPAStagehandVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CHobbyist is $30 a month plus usage, between the category's $25 middle and $50 dearer-quarter start. The $200 Start-Up plan is where proxies and GPU begin. | AThe SDK is free under the MIT licence and runs against a local browser. You only pay for the model you plug in. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free plan has $5 of usage credits a month, 5 concurrent browsers and 1-day replays. A real project will use that up. | AThere is no paid plan for the SDK and no cap on it. Model API costs and any Browserbase account are yours to pay. |
| Features | CStealth, CAPTCHA solving, managed auth, live view and replays are covered. Custom proxies, GPU and regional browsers need the $200 plan. | BAct, Observe and Extract commands, self-healing actions and a Playwright-style API in three languages. The listing shows no gap in the core job, though scaling needs another product. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. You drive it through an API and SDK, so it is a developer setup with code to write. | DNo rating on record. You install a package and write code, and supply your own model keys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb service with an API and links to Stripe, Anthropic, 1Password and Vercel. No desktop or phone app, and it is cloud only. | BRuns wherever your code does, with Playwright, Browserbase and MCP links. No app of its own on desktop or phones. |
| Best for | cloud browsers for web agents | open-source browser agent SDK |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Kernel and Stagehand. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kernel starts at $30 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Stagehand has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
Stagehand scores higher and starts $30 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 53 score higher than Kernel for less, and none scores higher than Stagehand for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Kernel also covers screen recording.
At a glance
| Kernel | Stagehand | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $30 per month, plus usage | Free |
| Free plan | $0 a month with $5 of free usage credits each month, 5 concurrent browsers, stealth mode, 3 managed auth connections and 1-day session replays. | The SDK is free and MIT-licensed. You supply your own model API keys. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Kernel | Browserbase |
| Price read from | kernel.sh | stagehand.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Kernel
- Every plan adds usage costs: headless browsers are $0.0000166667 per second, headful $0.0001333336 and headful with GPU $0.0008000016; idle time is not charged.
- Included monthly credits apply to usage only, not to the plan fee.
- Custom proxies, GPU acceleration, regional browsers and unlimited extensions need Start-Up ($200 a month).
- The homepage links a public notice of a security incident dated around November 2026; read it before choosing.
Stagehand
- It is a code library with no dashboard of its own; running it at scale in the cloud means a separate Browserbase account.
- Natural-language actions call an AI model you provide, so model costs are yours.
- Speed and token figures on the site are the vendor's own benchmarks.
Key features
Kernel
- Sandboxed Chromium
- Cloud browsers that start in under 30ms, according to the homepage, with browser pools and a computer controls API.
- Stealth mode
- A CAPTCHA solver and a Kernel-managed residential proxy are attached to browsers; the pricing FAQ says proxies are not charged separately.
- Managed auth and vaults
- Handles logins for agents and stores credentials in vaults, with wallet integrations such as Link by Stripe for agent checkout.
- Live view and replays
- Watch a session live and record it as an MP4 for debugging; replay retention runs from 1 to 30 days by plan.
- GPU and regional browsers
- GPU acceleration for memory-heavy or canvas-based sites and browsers run in the nearest region, on the Start-Up plan and above.
Stagehand
- Act, Observe and Extract
- Natural-language primitives for clicking and typing, finding elements on a page, and pulling structured data that matches a schema.
- Self-healing actions
- The site says Stagehand detects when a page changes and refreshes how a cached action is carried out.
- Playwright-style API
- Familiar goto, click, locator and screenshot methods, with support for out-of-process iframes and closed Shadow DOMs.
- Token-trimmed page context
- A trimmed accessibility tree is passed to the model; the site shows 7.4k tokens against 35.7k for Playwright on one extract task.
- Controls for production
- WebMCP support, domain allowlists and blocklists, batched commands and built-in OpenTelemetry tracing.
Plans
Kernel
Free$0
per month, plus usage
$5 in monthly credits, 5 concurrent browsers, stealth mode, 3 managed auth connections, 3 vaults and 1-day replays.
Hobbyist$30
per month, plus usage
$10 in monthly credits, 10 concurrent browsers, unlimited proxy usage, unlimited auth connections and vaults, 7-day replays.
Start-Up$200
per month, plus usage
$50 in monthly credits, 150 concurrent browsers, custom proxies, GPU acceleration, regional browsers, 30-day replays.
EnterpriseCustom
High browser concurrency, 99.9% SLA, SSO, 24/7 Slack support, HIPAA BAA, white-labeling and zero-data retention.
Stagehand
Open source SDK$0
Install from npm (or the Python and Go packages) and run it against a local browser; no paid plan for the SDK itself.
Ways to pay less
Kernel
- Startups
Start-Up plan free for 3 months
New-to-Kernel companies under 2 years old that have raised $1M or more get the $200 plan free for 3 months with $50 a month in credits. A larger tier gives $5,000 in credits to companies backed by listed funds.
Stagehand
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Kernel or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Stagehand is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $30 a month for Kernel. Kernel starts at $30 per month, plus usage, and Stagehand is free.
Which has a free plan, Kernel or Stagehand?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Kernel and Stagehand have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.