An agent that writes code needs somewhere to run it. Here is how seven sandbox platforms compare on cost, concurrent workloads, and keeping work between sessions.
Pricing and entry plans
Public USD rates, checked September 8, 2026. Compute rates below exclude storage, network, and plan fees unless listed.
| Platform | Entry plan and credits | CPU and memory billing | Storage and paid plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| E2B | Hobby: $0 subscription; $100 one-time credits | $0.000014/vCPU-second + $0.0000045/GiB-second while running | Pro: $150/month + usage; included sandbox disk: 10 GiB Hobby, 20 GiB Pro |
| Daytona | Pay as you go; $200 free compute | $0.0504/vCPU-hour + $0.0162/GiB-hour for Linux | $0.000108/GiB-hour storage after 5 free GiB |
| Modal | Starter: $0 + compute; $30 monthly credits | Sandbox CPU: $0.00003942/physical-core-second; RAM: $0.00000667/GiB-second | One physical core = 2 vCPUs; billed for the higher of requested resources or actual usage |
| Vercel Sandbox | Hobby includes 5 active CPU-hours, 420 GB-hours RAM, and 5,000 creations/month | Washington D.C.: $0.128/active CPU-hour + $0.0212/provisioned GB-hour | Paid snapshot storage: $0.08/GB-month; Pro includes $20/month usage credit |
| Cloudflare Sandbox SDK | Workers Paid: $5/month with included Containers usage | Overage: $0.000020/active vCPU-second + $0.0000025/provisioned GiB-second | Disk: $0.00000007/provisioned GB-second; Workers, Durable Objects, and network billed separately |
| Blaxel | $0 subscription + usage; up to $200 free credits | $0.0000115/allocated GB RAM-second while active; CPU scales with memory | Standby snapshots: $0.20/GB-month; images: $0.045/GB-month |
| Runloop | Basic: no base fee + usage; 100 GB free storage | $0.108/CPU-hour + $0.0252/GB-hour RAM | Pro: $250/month + usage; adds suspend/resume and custom benchmarks |
Concurrency and workspace persistence
| Platform | Published capacity or entry limit | Snapshots and persistence |
|---|---|---|
| E2B | 20 running sandboxes on Hobby; 100 on Pro. Session limits: 1 hour / 24 hours | Pause/resume saves filesystem and memory; optional filesystem-only snapshots; paused state retained until explicitly deleted |
| Daytona | Tier 1: 10 vCPU, 10 GiB RAM, 30 GiB storage total. Tier 2: 100 vCPU / 200 GiB RAM after linking a card and topping up $25 | Stateful snapshots; stop and archive operations for workspace lifecycle |
| Modal | Starter: 100 containers and 10 GPU concurrency | Filesystem snapshots for subsequent sandboxes; session lifetime configurable up to 24 hours |
| Vercel Sandbox | 10 concurrent on Hobby; 10,000 on Pro. Session limits: 45 minutes / 24 hours | Persistent by default: saved filesystem snapshots carry work into the next session |
| Cloudflare Sandbox SDK | Account resource caps: 1,500 concurrent vCPUs and 6 TiB memory; instance size determines the number of containers | Directory backup and restore for files |
| Blaxel | Account tiers set active and standby quotas; tiers depend on rolling 30-day top-ups | Automatic standby preserves filesystem and processes; separate snapshot/forking feature is in private preview |
| Runloop | Trial: 3 running Devboxes, 5 blueprints, 10 snapshots | Snapshots on Basic; suspend/resume on Pro; blueprints create reusable development environments |
Daytona and Cloudflare publish resource budgets rather than a single sandbox count. For example, a 10 GiB memory budget fits five 2 GiB sandboxes if CPU and storage also fit within the account limits.
Published startup and resume times
| Platform | Operation | Provider-published time | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| E2B | Start a sandbox in the same region as the client | Under 200 ms | E2B |
| E2B | Resume a paused sandbox | Approximately 1 second | Persistence docs |
| Daytona | Sandbox creation, code to execution | Under 90 ms | Daytona docs |
| Blaxel | Resume from standby | About 25 ms | Blaxel pricing |
These are provider-published figures for the named operations. Startup and resume are separate measurements.
Which platform fits your workload?
E2B: code execution with resumable state. Its filesystem-and-memory persistence is useful for interactive sessions where variables and running processes need to survive a pause. Hobby supports a small concurrent fleet; Pro raises both concurrency and session duration.
Daytona: reusable development environments. Its resource-based quotas make capacity planning concrete: choose the size of each workspace, then calculate how many fit within the tier. The $25 Tier 2 top-up opens a larger CPU and memory budget.
Modal: custom compute and GPU work. It supports GPU sandboxes alongside CPU workloads. Use its sandbox-specific rate card when estimating costs: the sandbox rates above differ from Modal’s general compute pricing.
Vercel Sandbox: execution alongside a web application. Active CPU billing suits work that spends time waiting on network calls. Persistent filesystem snapshots and a 24-hour Pro session limit support tasks that continue across multiple sessions.
Cloudflare Sandbox SDK: Workers-controlled execution. It exposes commands, files, processes, and preview URLs through the Sandbox SDK. Directory backups provide a way to restore workspace files.
Blaxel: workspaces that frequently go idle. Automatic standby retains process and filesystem state. Its active-time billing and separate snapshot storage charge make the balance between active work and retained state especially relevant.
Runloop: repeatable coding environments. Blueprints, snapshots, and public benchmarks are included in Basic. Pro adds suspend/resume and custom benchmarks for teams building an evaluation workflow around their agents.
A ten-minute cost example
At E2B’s published rates, 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB of memory running for ten minutes cost $0.0276 in CPU and memory: 600 seconds × [(2 × $0.000014) + (4 × $0.0000045)]. Plan fees and any other applicable charges are separate.
For Vercel in Washington D.C., the same ten-minute duration with 2 vCPUs fully active and 4 GB of provisioned memory gives about $0.0568 in CPU and memory. If the CPU is active for only two of those minutes, that subtotal falls to about $0.0227, while the memory charge stays the same. These calculations use the linked rate cards; GB and GiB retain each provider’s quoted units.
What sandboxes enable in Dexto
Sandboxes give your agent a computer to work on. In Dexto, that means it can run code, work with files, install dependencies, and use a browser to complete a task.
Ask it to analyze a spreadsheet and create a chart, build and test a small app, or research a topic and turn the findings into a document. The agent can carry out the steps and produce files and outputs you can inspect and use.
Pair that workspace with connections to your apps and skills that describe your process, and the agent has both the tools and the instructions to get the work done. Get started with Dexto.