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Sandboxer vs Blaxel

Blaxel is a sandbox platform for AI agents built around fast standby and resume, with memory state and processes kept across scale-down. It differs from Sandboxer mainly in latency focus and a RAM-based billing model, while Sandboxer is a full Ubuntu VM with Docker, nested KVM and preinstalled coding agents. Pick Blaxel for very fast resume and multi-region placement; pick Sandboxer for a general-purpose VM.

Checked against Blaxel's public docs on October 24, 2026. Sources are linked in the table and listed below.

At a glance

Sandboxer and Blaxel compared
CapabilitySandboxerBlaxel
IsolationmicroVM
Cloud Hypervisor, its own kernel
microVM (hypervisor not named)
Docs describe lightweight sandboxed virtual machines; pricing page says hardware-isolated microVM.
Full Linux with root
Ubuntu 24.04, sudo, systemd
Docker inside
Preinstalled
Nested virtualization (/dev/kvm)
Pause and resume with memory
Running processes come back
Standby resumes in under 25 ms with memory state and running processes kept; external connections not preserved.
Fork a sandbox
Copy-on-write disk copy that boots fresh
partial
Snapshots can be forked into other sandboxes; archives cannot be forked.
HTTPS URL per port
Private with a token, or public
Preview URLs open ports dynamically; ports 80, 443 and 8080 are reserved.
Longest sessionNo limit on paid plans
Auto-stop is up to 30 days or off
no fixed limit stated
Starter quotas enforce TTLs; higher tiers allow unlimited persistence.
BillingPer second, flat rate per size
Stopped sandboxes are free
per second, active RAM-based
$0.0000115 per GB of RAM per second; CPU scales with memory; standby not billed as active; snapshot storage $0.20/GB-month.
GPUs
Self-host or open sourcepartial
Pricing page lists private networking and bring-your-own-metal options.
RegionsUS East (Virginia) and EU Central (Finland)4 listed: Oregon, N. Virginia, London, Frankfurt
Some regions need contacting Blaxel.

= not documented publicly.

Price for one 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine

Sandboxer
$0.036/hour
Flat per-second rate for the default size
Blaxel
$0.33/hour
8 GB × $0.0000115/GB-s × 3600 (CPU scales with memory, no separate vCPU rate; 4 vCPU not separately priced)

List prices from each provider's pricing page, before free credits, plans and storage. This compares price only.

Where Blaxel is strong

  • Memory state and running processes are kept across standby, with resume under 25 ms.
  • Preview URLs for ports are built in.
  • Four regions and private networking or bring-your-own-metal options.
  • Standby time is not billed as active compute.

Where Sandboxer differs

  • Blaxel bills by RAM and scales CPU automatically, while Sandboxer prices fixed sizes by the hour.
  • Blaxel docs do not state root access, Docker or nested virtualization, which Sandboxer provides.
  • Starter quotas set TTLs, while Sandboxer paid plans allow no time limit.

Pick Blaxel if

  • You need sub-100 ms resume from standby.
  • You want a choice of regions in the US and Europe.
  • You want to run on your own metal.

Pick Sandboxer if

  • Your workload needs a full Ubuntu VM with systemd, Docker preinstalled and nested KVM.
  • You want coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, Kimi Code, Mistral Vibe) preinstalled and driven through a prompt API.
  • You want stop/resume that keeps memory and running processes, with sessions that can run with no time limit on a paid plan.

Sources

Products change. If something here is out of date, email hello@sandboxer.com and we'll fix it. Blaxel is a trademark of its owner. Sandboxer is an independent product and is not affiliated with Blaxel.

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