Buyer's guide
Best AI agent sandboxes: five options compared
Choose Novita for the lowest estimated 2 vCPU / 4 GiB compute cost among Novita, E2B, Daytona and Modal ($0.11664/hour), Daytona for its 5 runtime options, or Vercel for its 10,000-sandbox Pro quota.
| Need | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest allocated/requested compute estimate | Novita AI | $0.11664 compute-only for 2 vCPU / 4 GiB for 1 hour, versus E2B and Daytona $0.16560 and Modal $0.23796; 29.6% below E2B and Daytona.123610 |
| Recurring free compute credit | Modal | $30/month on Starter; E2B's $100 credit is one-time.62 |
| Runtime variety | Daytona | 5 runtime options: containers, Linux VM, Windows, macOS and GPU.4 |
| High paid concurrency | Vercel Sandbox | 10,000 concurrent sandboxes on Pro; Novita and E2B list 100 on their standard paid tiers.1312 |
Capabilities
Isolation, persistence and networking differ as much as startup
Daytona covers five runtime types; E2B preserves memory on pause, while Modal and Vercel offer explicit network policies.
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| Metric | Novita AI | E2B | Daytona | Modal | Vercel Sandbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Startup / restore | <200 ms · average; vendor-reported; checked 20261 | ~150 ms · startup; vendor-reported, 2025 case5 | <90 ms · container start; vendor-reported; checked 20264 | <1 s · cold start; vendor-reported; checked 202617 | Millisecond startup; snapshot restore p75 <1 s (vendor-reported, 2026)1416 |
| Isolation | Isolated filesystem and runtime per sandbox7 | Firecracker microVM per sandbox5 | Isolated containers; Linux and Windows VMs4 | gVisor or hardware-isolated Linux VM1112 | Firecracker microVM per sandbox14 |
| Runtime options | Code, browser and desktop sandboxes1 | Linux environments from custom templates23 | Container, Linux VM, Windows, macOS and GPU4 | Custom Linux images; GPU on gVisor11 | Managed or custom Linux images14 |
| Persistence | Pause preserves filesystem and memory; snapshots7 | Pause preserves filesystem and memory indefinitely8 | Archive, VM pause, snapshots and volumes18 | Filesystem snapshots; mounted Volumes1120 | Filesystem persists on stop; snapshots and drives14 |
| Network controls | External API access1 | Outbound block, IP/CIDR and domain allowlists19 | Tier 2 restricted; Tier 3+ custom CIDR/domain rules21 | Outbound block, CIDR and TLS-domain allowlists12 | Allow-all, deny-all, domain and CIDR policies15 |
Sources: Vendor product pages and documentation1457811121415161718192021 · Checked 2026-10-14
Pricing and limits
Pricing
Novita, E2B and Daytona bill allocated resources; Modal bills the higher of request or usage. Vercel uses active CPU, so its workload-dependent example is separate.
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| Metric | Novita AI | E2B | Daytona | Modal | Vercel Sandbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU rate ($ / vCPU-hour) | $0.035281 | $0.05042 | $0.05043 | $0.070956610 | $0.128 active-vCPU-hour · iad113 |
| CPU billing basis | Allocated vCPU | Running sandbox allocation | Allocated vCPU | Higher of requested or actual usage | Active CPU only; I/O waits excluded |
| RAM rate ($ / GiB-hour) | $0.01152 | $0.0162 | $0.0162 | $0.024012 | ~$0.02276 Native rate: $0.0212 / GB-hour |
| Storage pricing | 60 GB included; then $0.00009 / GB-hour | Hobby 10 GiB; Pro 20 GiB included | 5 GiB included; then $0.000108 / GiB-hour | Volumes: $0.09 / GiB-month; 1 TiB-month included | Snapshots: $0.08 / GB-month; drives: $0.05 / GB-month |
| Monthly plan fee | $0 | Hobby $0; Pro $150 | Pay-as-you-go | Starter $0; Team $250 | Hobby $0; Pro from $2022 |
Separate Vercel compute-only estimate in iad1: the default 2 vCPU / 4 GB sandbox costs $0.11040 for 1 hour at 10% CPU utilization, or $0.34080 at 100%; lower is better. Creation adds $0.0000006. Its 4 GB is about 3.73 GiB.
Sources: Novita AI / E2B / Daytona / Modal / Vercel · Pricing1236101322 · Checked 2026-10-14
Concurrency and session limits
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| Metric | Novita AI | E2B | Daytona | Modal | Vercel Sandbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level concurrency | 5 | 20 | Tier 2: shared 100 vCPU / 200 GiB pool | Starter: shared 100-container limit | 10 |
| Paid concurrency | 100 | 100 | Tier 2–4 resource pools below | Team: shared 5,000-container limit | 10,000 |
| Session duration | 1 h / 24 h (free / paid) | 1 h / 24 h (Hobby / Pro) | No fixed limit; lifecycle controls apply | 24 h | 45 min / 24 h (Hobby / Pro) |
Daytona production resource pools start at Tier 2
These CPU, RAM and disk pools are shared across running sandboxes in the default region; they are not sandbox counts.
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| Tier | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Access requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 100 | 200 GiB | 300 GiB | Linked card + $25 top-up |
| 3 | 250 | 500 GiB | 2,000 GiB | $500 |
| 4 | 500 | 1,000 GiB | 5,000 GiB | $2,000 top-up every 30 days |
Sources: Vendor plans and Daytona organization limits126913 · Checked 2026-10-14
Shortlist
Five sandboxes, five different trade-offs
The first four cards follow the 2 vCPU / 4 GiB one-hour compute estimate; Daytona and E2B tie. Vercel follows separately as an active-CPU option. This price order is not a total-cost or quality ranking.
-
Novita Agent Sandbox
Lowest cost in the four-provider 2 vCPU / 4 GiB allocated/requested-compute example, with code, browser and desktop environments.
- CPU rate / vCPU-hour
- $0.03528
- RAM rate / GiB-hour
- $0.01152
- Published start / restore
- <200 ms
average; vendor-reported; checked 2026
Strengths
- Estimated compute-only cost is $0.11664 for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB over 1 hour.
- Pause saves memory and files without ongoing compute charges.
Limitations
- Free concurrency is 5, compared with E2B's 20.
- Paid sessions are capped at 24 hours; longer workflows need pause and resume.
-
Daytona
Containers plus Linux VM, Windows, macOS and GPU options for agents that need different execution environments.
- CPU rate / vCPU-hour
- $0.0504
- RAM rate / GiB-hour
- $0.0162
- Published start / restore
- <90 ms
container start; vendor-reported; checked 2026
Strengths
- VM pause and snapshots preserve memory; volumes keep persistent data.
- No fixed session cap when automated lifecycle controls are disabled.
Limitations
- Tier 2 requires a linked card and $25 top-up; its network remains restricted.
- Stopped containers consume disk quota and incur disk charges until archived.
-
E2B
Firecracker sandboxes with 20-way Hobby concurrency and memory-preserving pause for coding agents.
- CPU rate / vCPU-hour
- $0.0504
- RAM rate / GiB-hour
- $0.0162
- Published start / restore
- ~150 ms
startup; vendor-reported, 2025 case
Strengths
- The Hobby plan includes a one-time $100 credit and 20 concurrent sandboxes.
- Paused filesystem and memory have no automatic expiry.
Limitations
- Pro costs $150/month before usage and includes 100 concurrent sandboxes.
- Hobby sessions last up to 1 hour; Pro sessions up to 24 hours.
-
Modal Sandboxes
Custom Linux environments with gVisor or VM isolation, GPU access and explicit network policies.
- CPU rate / vCPU-hour
- $0.070956
- RAM rate / GiB-hour
- $0.024012
- Published start / restore
- <1 s
cold start; vendor-reported; checked 2026
Strengths
- Starter includes $30 in recurring monthly compute credits.
- Filesystem snapshots and Volumes preserve environments and data.
Limitations
- Sandbox rates ($0.070956 per equivalent vCPU-hour) are higher than Modal Functions rates.
- Billing follows the higher of requested or actual resources; GPU sandboxes can be preempted.
-
Vercel Sandbox
An active-CPU billing option for Vercel-based agents, with Firecracker isolation and a published 10,000-sandbox Pro quota.
- CPU rate / active-vCPU-hour
- $0.128
iad1 - RAM rate / GiB-hour
- ~$0.02276
iad1 - Published start / restore
- <1 s
snapshot restore p75; vendor-reported, 2026
Strengths
- CPU time waiting for I/O is not billed; filesystem persists on stop.
- Network policies can restrict domains and CIDRs and be changed during execution.
Limitations
- Memory is billed while provisioned; CPU rates vary by region.
- Hobby sessions stop at 45 minutes, with 10 concurrent sandboxes.
Methodology
Methodology and sources
The startup row preserves each vendor’s definition: Novita’s average launch, Daytona’s container start, E2B’s 2025 Manus case, Modal’s cold start and Vercel’s p75 snapshot restore. These are separate vendor-reported observations, without an overall startup winner. Novita AI publishes this sandbox guide from public sources; no private agent-workload benchmark was run.
Per-second prices become hourly rates by multiplying by 3,600. Modal uses Sandbox prices, dividing its physical-core CPU rate by 2 for 2 vCPUs per core; actual usage is assumed not to exceed the request. Vercel uses iad1 active CPU and allocated memory; $0.0212/GB-hour becomes about $0.02276/GiB-hour at 1 GiB = 1.073741824 GB. Compute examples omit credits, tax, storage, transfer and plan fees.
- Novita AI · Agent Sandbox novita.ai · Checked 2026-10-14
- E2B · Pricing e2b.dev · Checked 2026-10-14
- Daytona · Pricing daytona.io · Checked 2026-10-14
- Daytona · Sandboxes daytona.io · Checked 2026-10-14
- E2B · Manus case study (2025) changelog.e2b.dev · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Sandbox and Notebooks pricing modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Novita AI · Sandbox Overview docs.novita.ai · Checked 2026-10-14
- E2B · Sandbox persistence docs.e2b.dev · Checked 2026-10-14
- Daytona · Limits daytona.io · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Sandbox resources and pricing modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Sandboxes modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Networking and security modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Vercel · Sandbox pricing and quotas vercel.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Vercel · Sandbox overview vercel.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Vercel · Sandbox firewall vercel.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Vercel · Optimizing snapshot restores (2026) vercel.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Sandboxes product page modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Daytona · Persistence daytona.io · Checked 2026-10-14
- E2B · Internet access docs.e2b.dev · Checked 2026-10-14
- Modal · Sandbox snapshots modal.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- Daytona · Network limits daytona.io · Checked 2026-10-14
- Vercel · Pro plan vercel.com · Checked 2026-10-14
- E2B · Documentation and templates docs.e2b.dev · Checked 2026-10-14
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