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Sandboxer vs Lightning AI Studios

Lightning Studios are persistent workspaces that switch between CPU and GPU machines, sleep after 10 idle minutes, and can be duplicated. Free Studios restart every 4 hours. Pick Lightning for GPU-backed ML work; pick Sandboxer for full VMs with root, Docker and nested KVM.

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

At a glance

Sandboxer and Lightning AI Studios compared
CapabilitySandboxerLightning AI Studios
IsolationmicroVM
Cloud Hypervisor, its own kernel
Full Linux with root
Ubuntu 24.04, sudo, systemd
Docker inside
Preinstalled
partial
Images can be built but are not persisted.
Nested virtualization (/dev/kvm)
Pause and resume with memory
Running processes come back
partial
Studios sleep and keep files and packages; they restart on CPU, running processes not described as kept.
Fork a sandbox
Copy-on-write disk copy that boots fresh
partial
Duplicate copies environment, files and packages; credentials excluded.
HTTPS URL per port
Private with a token, or public
Longest sessionNo limit on paid plans
Auto-stop is up to 30 days or off
free: restart every 4 h; paid: none listed
BillingPer second, flat rate per size
Stopped sandboxes are free
credits, billed per second
Large CPU (8 cores / 32 GB) $0.51/h on demand; GPUs from $0.55/h.
GPUs
T4 to H200.
Self-host or open sourcepartial
Enterprise: BYOC and VPC deployment.
RegionsUS East (Virginia) and EU Central (Finland)

= not documented publicly.

Where Lightning AI Studios is strong

  • GPUs from T4 to H200 on demand.
  • Free CPU Studio and free credits.
  • Duplicating a Studio copies environment and data.
  • Autosleep and persistent storage up to 200 GB.

Where Sandboxer differs

  • Studios target ML work with GPUs; Sandboxer has no GPUs.
  • Studio sleep keeps files and packages; Sandboxer stop keeps memory and processes.
  • Lightning bills credits; Sandboxer bills per second against plan dollars.

Pick Lightning AI Studios if

  • You need GPUs, from T4 to H200.
  • You want a free CPU workspace.
  • You need BYOC on enterprise.

Pick Sandboxer if

  • You need a full Ubuntu 24.04 VM with root, systemd, Docker and nested KVM, with agents like Claude Code and Codex preinstalled.
  • You want stop to save memory and disk and resume to bring processes back, with stopped sandboxes costing nothing.
  • You want a REST API, CLI, TypeScript and Python SDKs, and an MCP server on per-second billing.

Sources

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

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