Scraping API Prices
Browse pages
Compare every productScraping APIsCloud browsersSERP and searchAI scraping APIsCost to scrape a targetGuidesQuestions & toolsHead to headShort answersCheapest for a jobFree tiersHow we check prices

Home / Kernel / Alternatives

Kernel alternatives

The first 12 comparable products for 200 metered browser-session hours a month, excluding separate proxy and model charges. Sorted by the published bill and amount, never by who pays us; the full category route includes every relevant product.

Not comparable12 substitutions priced0 cheaper than KernelLatest recorded source date 2026-07-26

The datum line

Not comparable hereWhat the rechecked Kernel price gives for this job. Older prices do not produce comparative deltas.

The substitution

Browser hours200
Included in this billpublished session-time meter only
Alternatives without a total1

Kernel has no exact bill for this workload, so the deltas below are absent rather than estimated. Each alternative still carries its own published figure and state.

Priced alternatives

BrowserCloud$99.00800,000 of the included allowance goes unused, 80% of what you buyAnchor Browser$200.00cheapest way to buy that: Starter plus 150 over the allowance at $1.00 each = $200.00 per monthAgentQL$3.00Older price; excluded from rankings. cheapest way to buy that: Starter plus 150 over the allowance at $0.02 each = $3.00 per monthBrowser Use Cloud$12.00Older price; excluded from rankings. cheapest way to buy that: Pay As You Go, $12.00 of metered usage = $12.00 per monthScrapeless$18.00Older price; excluded from rankings. cheapest way to buy that: Scraping Browser pay as you go, pay as you go at $0.09 per unit = $18.00 per monthLightpanda Cloud$19.00Older price; excluded from rankings. 100 of the included allowance goes unused, 33% of what you buyHyperbrowser$30.00Older price; excluded from rankings. 10,000 of the included allowance goes unused, 33% of what you buyBrowserbase$32.00Older price; excluded from rankings. cheapest way to buy that: Developer plus 100 over the allowance at $0.12 each = $32.00 per monthBrowserless$33.00Older price; excluded from rankings. cheapest way to buy that: Prototyping at $25.00 effective monthly with annual billing plus 4,000 over the allowance at $0.002 each = $33.00 per monthZenRows$69.99Older price; excluded from rankings. 249,800 of the included allowance goes unused, 100% of what you buyFirecrawl$99.00Older price; excluded from rankings. 76,000 of the included allowance goes unused, 76% of what you buyApifyNot priced for this workloadOlder price; excluded from rankings. no published rate for browser.session_time

See all 21 products in this category →

Kernel is compute-priced, so the page does not invent a browser-hour conversion where the public record cannot support one. Comparable cloud-browser products are still quoted for the same managed-browser job.

Non-comparable costs remain unknown rather than entering price order. Sourced operating and billing differences provide the switching reason for each row.

When switching is justified

Lightpanda is the cleaner alternative when browser hours are the unit the buyer must budget and the workload fits its Builder allowance of 300 browser hours and 30 concurrent sessions. Kernel instead charges active browser compute, and its pricing page and documentation do not agree on whether the published headless billing unit is a GB-second or a browser-second. If finance needs a directly auditable browser-hour total, that unresolved memory component is the deciding reason to compare rather than force a conversion. (Lightpanda pricing, retrieved 2026-07-25; Kernel pricing, retrieved 2026-07-26; Kernel pricing documentation, retrieved 2026-07-25.)

Who should stay with Kernel

Stay when active-compute billing matches the workload, idle time and proxy use should not add usage charges, or sessions need Kernel’s configurable 72-hour maximum. Kernel also publishes 10 concurrent browsers on Hobbyist and a Start-Up total of 150, split in its documentation between on-demand and reserved browsers. That makes staying defensible when the application needs more than Lightpanda Builder’s 30-session ceiling or already depends on Kernel’s retained browser replays. (Kernel pricing, retrieved 2026-07-26; Kernel documentation, retrieved 2026-07-25; Kernel pricing documentation, retrieved 2026-07-25; Lightpanda pricing, retrieved 2026-07-25.)

What a switch gives up

Lightpanda’s current record does not establish Kernel’s replay-retention windows, reserved-browser split, or 72-hour configured session limit. It also requires the customer to bring a proxy, while Kernel says active browser compute carries no separate proxy charge. Switching can make the time meter easier to normalize, but it moves proxy procurement and those operating behaviors outside the comparison. (Lightpanda pricing, retrieved 2026-07-25; Kernel pricing, retrieved 2026-07-26; Kernel pricing documentation, retrieved 2026-07-25.)