Agentic Index
Airtop vs Kernel (2026)
Two cloud browser platforms for agents that solve adjacent problems. That verdict is the Agentic Index coverage score, graded from each vendor's own published materials.
Airtop compiles plain English workflows into deterministic agents that run on schedules or triggers, self heal broken runs, persist authenticated profiles and support live human takeover, documenting 10 of 14. Kernel is browsers as a service with millisecond spin ups, persistent session state, live take control views and replays, any framework support plus an MCP server and an agent runtime that turns agents into HTTPS endpoints, with a free tier, at 8. Airtop gives you the agent; Kernel gives you the substrate to run yours on.
This comparison is published by Agentic Index, an independent agentic AI vendor research platform. Airtop and Kernel are each graded against the same 14 capability Agentic Index taxonomy, from the vendor's own public materials under the Agentic Index verification standard, alongside 969 researched vendors. No vendor pays for placement and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Choose Airtop if
- You want workflows described in plain English rather than written in code.
- Self healing on broken runs is the operational property that makes this survivable.
- Documented coverage is broader and scheduled and triggered runs are how you work.
Choose Kernel if
- You already have agents and need infrastructure, not another agent builder.
- Millisecond spin ups matter because your workload is bursty.
- Turning agents into HTTPS endpoints fits the architecture you are building.
| At a glance | Airtop | Kernel |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Browser / computer-use agent | Browser / computer-use agent |
| Entry price | Not captured | Free tier + usage based |
| Free / trial | Not captured in retrieved materials | Free tier (includes stealth mode) |
| Pricing confidence | contact only | public partial |
| Feature | A Airtop |
K Kernel |
|---|---|---|
| Action & orchestration | ||
|
Integrations & Tool Calling Ability to connect agents to real systems through native integrations, OAuth-authenticated actions, custom tools, APIs, webhooks, or MCP-compatible tools. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Workflow Orchestration Ability to sequence, branch, retry, route, and combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Triggers & Channel Coverage How agents wake up and where they work: schedules, webhooks, message events, CRM events, inbox events, chat, email, voice, and collaboration tools. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
| Knowledge & context | ||
|
Knowledge Grounding & RAG Ability to ground agent behavior in company data through document ingestion, retrieval, external knowledge APIs, semantic search, or RAG layers. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
|
Memory & State Persistence Ability to persist context across a run, conversation, workflow, user, team, or longer-term memory layer. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
| Control & trust | ||
|
Human Oversight & Guardrails Approval steps, consent checkpoints, escalation rules, structured guardrails, policy constraints, and pause/resume controls. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Security, Identity & Governance RBAC, SSO, auditability, encryption, least-privilege tool access, compliance posture, and data handling policy. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Observability & Auditability Traces, logs, execution histories, metrics, audit events, and debugging detail for production agent behavior. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Deployment & Data Residency Deployment modes and options, including SaaS, dedicated cloud, VPC, on-prem, hybrid, local runtime, and self-hosting. |
Partial | Partial |
| Solution readiness | ||
|
Prebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Ready-made workflows, packaged employees, templates, blueprints, industry solutions, and role-specific agents that reduce time-to-value. |
Full / Explicit | No / Not documented |
| Platform extensibility | ||
|
Model Flexibility & Routing Ability to work across multiple foundation models, route tasks to different models, or let buyers bring their own providers and keys. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
|
APIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Composability layer: stable APIs, SDKs, MCP tool consumption/serving, custom tools, and integration into internal systems. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Testing, Debugging & Optimization Testing, debugging, scoring, retries, fallbacks, quality gates, and optimization loops for improving agent workflows before and after deployment. |
Partial | Partial |
| Specialist automation | ||
|
Browser & Computer Use Browser, desktop, or remote/local computer control for workflows that cannot be handled through stable APIs alone. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
Pricing snapshot
Sourced from the Index pricing dataset · open each vendor's profile for full detail.
| Pricing | A Airtop |
K Kernel |
|---|---|---|
|
Entry price Lowest public entry point |
Not captured | Free tier + usage based |
|
Pricing confidence How public the numbers are |
Contact only | Public, partial |
|
Billing Primary billing axis |
not captured | usage based (browser resources) |
|
Variable cost Workload / overage exposure |
Medium variable cost | Medium variable cost |
|
Free tier / trial Try before you buy |
No free tier
|
Free tierTrial
|
|
Buying motion Self-serve vs sales call |
Mixed | Self-serve |
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