# Top AI sandbox platforms for code execution in 2026, ranked

> For running AI-written code we rank Sandboxer, Freestyle and E2B first: each gives code its own VM with an API or SDK and can pause with memory. Pick Daytona for Windows or GPUs, Modal or Northflank for GPUs at scale, E2B or Northflank to run in your own cloud, and Vercel Sandbox if your app lives on Vercel.

Source: https://sandboxer.com/guides/top-ai-sandbox-platforms-for-code-execution. Updated 2026-10-24.

**Short answer:** For running AI-written code we rank Sandboxer, Freestyle and E2B first: each gives code its own VM with an API or SDK and can pause with memory. Pick Daytona for Windows or GPUs, Modal or Northflank for GPUs at scale, E2B or Northflank to run in your own cloud, and Vercel Sandbox if your app lives on Vercel.

> **Published by Sandboxer, and we're on this list.** We ranked by the criteria below and say where others are the better choice. Every fact about another platform comes from that platform's own docs or pricing page, checked on the date shown, with sources on each linked comparison. Our own timings are labelled as ours, with the method.

## What is an AI sandbox for code execution?

An AI sandbox is an isolated machine where code written or run by an AI model executes without touching your systems: a data-analysis script, a test suite an agent wrote, or a whole coding agent working in a repository. Platforms differ in how strong the isolation is, how much of a real computer you get, how long a sandbox can live, and how it's billed. For background, see [What is an AI agent sandbox?](/guides/what-is-an-ai-agent-sandbox).

## How to compare them

We weighed six criteria, in this order:

1. **Isolation.** A microVM or VM with its own kernel is a stronger boundary than a container on a shared kernel. See [Container vs microVM](/guides/container-vs-microvm-for-untrusted-code).
2. **A full machine.** Root, systemd and Docker inside, so agents can install anything and run services.
3. **State across pauses.** Whether a paused sandbox comes back with its memory and running processes, or reboots from disk.
4. **Session length.** How long a sandbox may run before a platform limit stops it.
5. **Price you can predict.** A published per-hour or per-second price for a typical 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine.
6. **Self-serve.** Sign up and start from an API or SDK without a sales call.

GPUs, regions and running in your own cloud matter a lot for some teams. We don't rank on them because not every team needs them, but each entry says when they're the reason to pick it.

## Comparison table

| # | Platform | Isolation | Resume keeps running processes | Docker / full Linux | Nested KVM | 4 vCPU / 8 GB, per hour | Checked |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | **Sandboxer** | microVM (Cloud Hypervisor, its own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes | $0.036 | 2026-10-24 |
| 2 | [Freestyle](/compare/freestyle) | full Linux VM (hypervisor not named) | Yes | Yes | Not documented | $0.26 | 2026-10-24 |
| 3 | [E2B](/compare/e2b) | microVM | Yes | Partly | No | $0.33 | 2026-10-15 |
| 4 | [Blaxel](/compare/blaxel) | microVM (hypervisor not named) | Yes | Not documented | Not documented | $0.33 | 2026-10-24 |
| 5 | [Northflank Sandboxes](/compare/northflank-sandboxes) | microVM on Cloud Hypervisor (gVisor for GPU sandboxes) | Not documented | Yes | Not documented | $0.13 | 2026-10-24 |
| 6 | [Daytona](/compare/daytona) | container or VM | Partly | Partly | Partly | $0.33 | 2026-10-15 |
| 7 | [Fly.io Sprites](/compare/fly-sprites) | microVM (hardware-isolated) | Partly | Yes | Not documented | $0.33 | 2026-10-24 |
| 8 | [Vercel Sandbox](/compare/vercel-sandbox) | microVM | No | Partly | Not documented | $0.68 | 2026-10-15 |
| 9 | [Cloudflare Sandbox](/compare/cloudflare-sandbox) | microVM per container instance (docs: each instance has its own kernel) | No | Partly | Not documented | $0.36 | 2026-10-24 |
| 10 | [Runloop](/compare/runloop) | VM (technology not named) | Partly | Not documented | Not documented | $0.63 | 2026-10-24 |
| 11 | [Modal](/compare/modal) | gVisor or VM | Partly | Partly | Partly | $0.48 | 2026-10-15 |
| 12 | [microsandbox](/compare/microsandbox) | microVM (libkrun) | Yes | Partly | Not documented | — | 2026-10-24 |
| 13 | [Together Code Sandbox](/compare/together-code-sandbox) | isolated runtime (type not stated) | Partly | Partly | Not documented | $0.30 | 2026-10-24 |


"Not documented" means the platform's public docs don't say. Prices are list prices for one 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine-hour before credits, plans and storage; each linked comparison shows the arithmetic. A dash means the platform doesn't sell that size by the hour or doesn't publish a price for it.

## The platforms, ranked

### 1. Sandboxer

*At a glance (source: our docs and pricing): isolation: microVM (Cloud Hypervisor, its own kernel) · resume keeps processes: Yes · longest session: No limit on paid plans · price: $0.036/hour.*

**Best for:** coding agents and long jobs that need a whole Linux machine. Each sandbox is a Cloud Hypervisor microVM running Ubuntu 24.04 with root, systemd, Docker and `/dev/kvm`, and Claude Code, Codex and other agents preinstalled. Stopping saves memory, so the dev server and the agent's session are still running after resume, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing. Any port becomes an HTTPS URL.

**Where others win:** no GPUs, no self-hosting, and no SLA during early access.

### 2. Freestyle

*At a glance (source: Freestyle docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: full Linux VM (hypervisor not named) · resume keeps processes: Yes · longest session: no maximum stated · price: $0.26/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/freestyle).*

**Best for:** live forking and enterprise requirements. Freestyle provides full Linux VMs with live forking, pause and resume, and SSH and domain routing, plus an Enterprise SLA and SAML/SCIM.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** the hypervisor isn't named in its docs.

### 3. E2B

*At a glance (source: E2B docs, checked 2026-10-15): isolation: microVM · resume keeps processes: Yes · longest session: see comparison · price: $0.33/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/e2b).*

**Best for:** teams that want an open-source stack. E2B runs Firecracker microVMs, its pause keeps memory and running processes, and fork makes running copies in one call. The runtime, SDKs and control plane are Apache-2.0, with Terraform to run it in your own AWS or GCP account. It also has a desktop SDK for computer-use agents.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** sessions are capped per plan, and Docker comes from a template rather than being preinstalled.

### 4. Blaxel

*At a glance (source: Blaxel docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: microVM (hypervisor not named) · resume keeps processes: Yes · longest session: no fixed limit stated · price: $0.33/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/blaxel).*

**Best for:** sandboxes that wake almost instantly from standby. Blaxel documents microVM sandboxes that resume from standby very quickly and a choice of regions in the US and Europe.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** the hypervisor isn't named in its docs.

### 5. Northflank Sandboxes

*At a glance (source: Northflank Sandboxes docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: microVM on Cloud Hypervisor (gVisor for GPU sandboxes) · resume keeps processes: Not documented · longest session: no limit · price: $0.13/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/northflank-sandboxes).*

**Best for:** GPUs, bring-your-own-cloud or very large fleets. Northflank documents Cloud Hypervisor microVMs (gVisor for GPU workloads), sandboxes that run until you delete them, and deployment into your own cloud.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** whether a pause keeps memory isn't documented.

### 6. Daytona

*At a glance (source: Daytona docs, checked 2026-10-15): isolation: container or VM · resume keeps processes: Partly · longest session: see comparison · price: $0.33/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/daytona).*

**Best for:** the widest choice of sandbox classes. Daytona offers containers, Linux and Windows VMs and GPU sandboxes, SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go and Java, and a computer-use API on Linux and Windows. VM sandboxes can pause with memory preserved.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** isolation and memory-saving stop depend on the class you pick rather than applying to every sandbox. **Where it wins:** Windows sandboxes, GPUs, and SDKs in Ruby and Java.

### 7. Fly.io Sprites

*At a glance (source: Fly.io Sprites docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: microVM (hardware-isolated) · resume keeps processes: Partly · longest session: no maximum stated · price: $0.33/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/fly-sprites).*

**Best for:** persistent Linux boxes that cost almost nothing while idle. Sprites are microVMs billed on measured CPU and memory use, with checkpoints and an HTTPS URL.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** a short idle pause keeps memory, but after longer idle the in-memory state is dropped; one HTTP service per Sprite gets the public URL.

### 8. Vercel Sandbox

*At a glance (source: Vercel Sandbox docs, checked 2026-10-15): isolation: microVM · resume keeps processes: No · longest session: see comparison · price: $0.68/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/vercel-sandbox).*

**Best for:** apps already on Vercel. Firecracker microVMs, active-CPU billing (time spent waiting on I/O isn't charged for CPU), many regions, and forking from a saved filesystem, all on one Vercel bill.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** resume doesn't keep running processes, and it's tied to the Vercel platform.

### 9. Cloudflare Sandbox

*At a glance (source: Cloudflare Sandbox docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: microVM per container instance (docs: each instance has its own kernel) · resume keeps processes: No · longest session: no fixed limit stated · price: $0.36/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/cloudflare-sandbox).*

**Best for:** apps on Cloudflare Workers. The Sandbox SDK runs code in containers controlled from Workers and Durable Objects, billed in small active-time steps, and each container instance runs in its own microVM.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** sandboxes don't resume with memory, and it suits short, event-driven work more than long sessions.

### 10. Runloop

*At a glance (source: Runloop docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: VM (technology not named) · resume keeps processes: Partly · longest session: Not documented · price: $0.63/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/runloop).*

**Best for:** agent evaluation and deploying into your own VPC. Runloop offers blueprint-based environments, suspend and resume on its Pro plan, and VPC deployment on Enterprise.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** suspend and resume need the Pro plan, the docs don't say whether memory is kept, and the VM technology isn't named.

### 11. Modal

*At a glance (source: Modal docs, checked 2026-10-15): isolation: gVisor or VM · resume keeps processes: Partly · longest session: see comparison · price: $0.48/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/modal).*

**Best for:** huge numbers of short sandboxes and GPU work. Modal says it can start a million sandboxes in under a minute, and sandboxes can have GPUs. It also offers raw TCP tunnels as well as HTTPS ports.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** the default isolation is gVisor rather than a VM with its own kernel.

### 12. microsandbox

*At a glance (source: microsandbox docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: microVM (libkrun) · resume keeps processes: Yes · longest session: Not documented · price: No 4 vCPU / 8 GB list price · [full comparison and sources](/compare/microsandbox).*

**Best for:** running sandboxes on your own laptop or servers. microsandbox is open source, uses libkrun microVMs, and documents memory-preserving snapshots under your control.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** you run and operate it yourself.
### 13. Together Code Sandbox

*At a glance (source: Together Code Sandbox docs, checked 2026-10-24): isolation: isolated runtime (type not stated) · resume keeps processes: Partly · longest session: no maximum stated · price: $0.30/hour · [full comparison and sources](/compare/together-code-sandbox).*

**Best for:** teams building on Together AI models who want sandboxes under the same account, with fine-grained sizing.

**Where it's weaker for this use:** the isolation type isn't stated in its docs, memory-preserving pause is only partly documented, and access is enabled per organization.

## What it costs

At list prices, a 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine running for one hour costs what the table shows. Three things change the real bill:

- **Billing unit.** Per-second, per-minute and active-CPU billing give very different totals for bursty work. Active-CPU billing (Vercel) or usage-based billing (Fly.io Sprites) is cheaper when sandboxes mostly wait.
- **Idle and stopped time.** Some platforms charge for disk or snapshots while a sandbox is paused; on Sandboxer a stopped sandbox, its disk and its automatic snapshots are free.
- **Plans and credits.** Several platforms include free credits or monthly hours, and some (including Sandboxer) give plan fees back as machine time.

Sandboxer's `default` size (4 vCPU, 8 GB, 50 GB disk) is $0.036/hour, billed per second. The full price list is on the [pricing page](/pricing).

## How we tested

- **Other platforms:** we read each platform's own documentation and pricing pages and recorded what they state, with a date. A second reviewer checked each claim against its source and corrected or removed anything unsupported. We did not benchmark other platforms, and we don't publish speed comparisons with them.
- **Sandboxer, measured by us** on 2026-10-24: 10 runs of creating a `default` sandbox, running a first command, stopping it and resuming it. Times are wall-clock from a client with a 27 ms round trip to sandboxer.com ([conditions and results](/guides/bench/README.txt)), CLI round trips included.

| Sandboxer (our measurement) | All 10 runs |
| - | - |
| `sbx new` until ready | 3.19–3.20 s |
| First command after ready | about 205 ms |
| `sbx resume` until ready (memory restored) | 1.34–1.37 s |
| A running process survived stop and resume | 10 of 10, same PID |

The script is [here](/guides/bench/create-resume.sh); run it against your own account to check.

## Which should you choose?

- **An agent needs a whole Linux machine for hours, with Docker, and must keep its state across pauses:** Sandboxer.
- **You want open source or to run in your own cloud:** E2B, or Northflank for bring-your-own-cloud with GPUs.
- **You need GPUs:** Daytona, Modal or Northflank. **Windows:** Daytona.
- **Massive numbers of short jobs:** Modal.
- **Your app lives on Vercel or Cloudflare:** Vercel Sandbox or Cloudflare Sandbox.
- **Idle agents should cost close to nothing:** Fly.io Sprites.
- **Everything on your own hardware:** microsandbox.

## FAQ

### What is the best AI sandbox for code execution?

It depends on the job. For agents that need a full Linux machine with Docker and state across pauses, we rank Sandboxer first. For an open-source stack, E2B. For GPUs, Daytona, Modal or Northflank; for Windows, Daytona. The table above compares them on isolation, resume, Docker and price.

### Which AI sandboxes use microVMs?

Sandboxer (Cloud Hypervisor), E2B and Vercel Sandbox (Firecracker), Northflank (Cloud Hypervisor, with gVisor for GPUs), Fly.io Sprites, microsandbox (libkrun) and others list microVM isolation in their docs. Daytona offers VM sandboxes as one of several classes, and Modal uses gVisor by default.

### Which sandboxes keep memory when paused?

Sandboxer, E2B, Blaxel, Freestyle and microsandbox document pause or resume with memory and running processes. Daytona does for its VM class. Others restore the filesystem only, or don't say.

### What does an AI sandbox cost per hour?

For a 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine, list prices in the table range widely; Sandboxer's is $0.036/hour. Billing units differ (per second, per minute, active CPU), so compare with your own usage pattern.

### Can I self-host an AI sandbox?

Yes: E2B is open source with Terraform for your own cloud, microsandbox runs on your own machines, and Northflank and Runloop deploy into your own cloud or VPC. Sandboxer is hosted only.

### Is a Docker container a safe sandbox for AI code?

A container shares the host's kernel, so it's a weaker boundary than a microVM. For untrusted or agent-written code, prefer a platform that gives each sandbox its own kernel. See [Container vs microVM](/guides/container-vs-microvm-for-untrusted-code).

## Related

- [All comparisons](/compare) and the [agent sandbox comparison table](/compare/agent-sandboxes)
- [Run Claude Code in a cloud VM](/guides/run-claude-code-in-a-cloud-vm)
- [Firecracker vs Cloud Hypervisor](/guides/firecracker-vs-cloud-hypervisor)
- [Pause and resume with memory](/guides/pause-and-resume-a-sandbox-with-memory)