The workflow decision
For browsers inside a multi-user app, the useful comparison is whether Notte or Kernel can meet the following outcome: Each browser returns its own expected tenant identity, including after saved state is restored in a later session.
Tenant identity and stored browser state must follow the application user. Browser concurrency is shared capacity; it is not authorization to share one user's profile with another.
A proposed acceptance case
Two application users connect accounts on the same website. Their tasks run in parallel and must return results from the correct account every time.
This is an evaluation design, not a claim that this workflow has been executed successfully on every provider.
| Part of the test | Required observation |
|---|---|
| Controlled input | Two authorized test accounts with visibly different tenant identifiers and separate application users. |
| Pass condition | Each browser returns its own expected tenant identity, including after saved state is restored in a later session. |
| Negative case | Deliberately supply the other user's connection reference in a controlled test. The application must reject the mismatch before taking an account-changing action. |
| Evidence to retain | Application user ID, expected tenant, provider resource references and verified tenant, without credential values. |
Documented mechanisms, side by side
These labels describe product mechanisms. The linked source and the acceptance case determine whether a mechanism meets this workflow's requirement.
| Requirement | Notte | Kernel |
|---|---|---|
| Saved browser state | Documented | Documented |
| Credential handling | Documented | Vaults (preview) |
| Website sign-in | Documented | Documented |
Sources: docs.notte.cc [1] ↗docs.notte.cc [2] ↗kernel.sh [3] ↗kernel.sh [4] ↗
Website login
Notte: Vaults substitute credential placeholders in supported browser actions outside the model context. Managed Auth checks requested saved connections before automation. Personas supply an inbox and optional phone number for verification workflows.
Kernel: Managed Auth handles website login and eligible connection recovery. Vault fill is a separate flow for applications that control navigation and form submission; the reviewed vault documentation labels that surface as preview.
Sources: docs.notte.cc [1] ↗kernel.sh [2] ↗
What survives a session
Notte: Profiles save cookies, local storage and session storage. Sessions start with fresh state by default. Persisting a profile writes state back when the session ends; a running session can also save its state explicitly.
Kernel: Profiles preserve browser user-data-directory state, including cookies, site data, tabs and preferences. Profile sharing and save behavior need explicit treatment when parallel workers use seeded state.
Sources: docs.notte.cc [1] ↗kernel.sh [2] ↗
Pricing model
Notte: The public usage rates are $0.01 per browser-hour, $0.05 per Function-hour and $10 per GB of managed proxy traffic. Paid plans return their price as usage credits. Price the relevant meters and plan eligibility for the workload.
Kernel: Use the plan and browser configuration in Kernel's pricing documentation. Managed networking, account allowances and app execution make a browser-hour comparison only one part of the decision.
Sources: notte.cc [1] ↗kernel.sh [2] ↗
What should change the choice?
Notte's profiles, vaults and managed connections are relevant when account resources need to follow an application user. Your own application still has to enforce the user-to-resource mapping.
Kernel: Kernel's browser-local Apps make execution placement part of the decision. Compare the repeated action path with the proposed Notte controller or Function deployment before concluding that a lifecycle or hourly-rate difference decides the workflow.
Retain the current integration if its account isolation is already verified and the proposed replacement does not simplify a concrete ownership problem. A different profile object name is not an isolation improvement.
Sources: docs.notte.cc [1] ↗docs.notte.cc [2] ↗notte.cc [3] ↗kernel.sh [4] ↗kernel.sh [5] ↗kernel.sh [6] ↗
The cost boundary
Use the same attempted work and eligible account capacity in both estimates. The browser-hour rate does not include every proxy, execution or identity meter, and the cost of an incomplete job is still part of the workflow budget.
The workload evidence should include: Application user ID, expected tenant, provider resource references and verified tenant, without credential values.
Sources: notte.cc [1] ↗kernel.sh [2] ↗
Make a bounded pilot
Start two users' workflows in parallel and verify the account identity, connection ownership and resulting artifacts independently.
Use the same authorized account, input and final-state check in each configuration. Treat a missing product contract as an open question; do not turn an undocumented capability into an unsupported claim or a successful test result.
- Inventory user-to-profile and user-to-connection mappings without copying secret values into the inventory.
- Establish target resources separately for each test user.
- Compare tenant identity after parallel runs and a later restored session before expanding the canary.