Agentic Index
Anchor Browser vs Kernel (2026)
Both score 8 of 14 running browsers for agents as infrastructure.
Kernel offers millisecond spin ups, persistent session state, live take control views and replays, any framework support plus an MCP server, and an agent runtime turning agents into HTTPS endpoints, free tier then usage based, with backing from Accel and Y Combinator. Anchor Browser provides hosted browser sessions for agents with authentication handling. Kernel's checkpointing and replay give you a way to debug what an agent did, which is the thing most teams discover they need only after something goes wrong.
Choose Anchor Browser if
- Authenticated session handling is the specific problem you keep hitting.
- You want a focused browser session service rather than a runtime to adopt.
- Simplicity matters more than replay and checkpointing features.
Choose Kernel if
- Replays and live take control views are how you will debug agent failures.
- Millisecond spin ups matter because your workload is bursty.
- Turning agents into HTTPS endpoints fits the architecture you are building.
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