Sandboxer vs InsForge
InsForge is an Apache-2.0 backend platform (database, auth, storage, edge functions, model gateway) with a hosted cloud and a Custom Compute feature for long-running containers. It is an app backend, not a general-purpose sandbox VM. Pick it to give an agent-built app a backend; pick Sandboxer when you need a whole machine to work in.
Checked against InsForge's public docs on October 24, 2026. Sources are linked in the table and listed below.
At a glance
= not documented publicly.
Where InsForge is strong
- The core backend (Postgres, auth, storage, edge functions, model gateway) is open source under Apache-2.0 and can be self-hosted.
- A Free plan with 120 hours of custom compute and a $25/month Pro plan with $10 compute credits.
- One platform bundles database, auth, storage and compute for apps built by coding agents.
Where Sandboxer differs
- InsForge is a backend-as-a-service with container compute; Sandboxer gives each sandbox a complete Ubuntu VM with its own kernel, root and systemd.
- InsForge's documentation does not describe pause/resume or forking of compute; Sandboxer saves memory and disk on stop and resumes running processes.
- InsForge bundles app services (auth, database, storage); Sandboxer is a machine to run code and agents in, not an app backend.
Pick InsForge if
- You are building an app and want database, auth and storage managed together with some compute.
- You want to self-host an open-source backend.
- You want a free tier to prototype an agent-built app.
Pick Sandboxer if
- You need a full Ubuntu 24.04 VM with root, systemd, Docker and nested KVM rather than a container or job runner.
- You want stop to save memory and disk and resume to bring running processes back, with stopped sandboxes costing nothing.
- You want coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and others) preinstalled and driven through a prompt API, with per-second billing.
Sources
Products change. If something here is out of date, email hello@sandboxer.com and we'll fix it. InsForge is a trademark of its owner. Sandboxer is an independent product and is not affiliated with InsForge.
Other comparisons
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Firecracker microVMs billed on active CPU, inside the Vercel platform.
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