# E2B alternatives in 2026: 15 agent sandboxes ranked by cost Runtime Cloud (withruntime.com) runs the job for 77% less than E2B; Daytona matches E2B and adds GPUs. ## What is the best alternative to E2B? It depends on how your agent spends its time and what else it needs. For agents that mostly wait on a model, Runtime has the lowest bill: $0.64 for the job below against $2.76 on E2B, because it bills measured CPU, not held vCPUs. Each sandbox is still a Firecracker microVM, and a pause keeps memory and processes. Pick Northflank to run sandboxes inside your own cloud account, Cloudflare Sandbox if your app lives on Workers, and Daytona for GPUs or Windows. ## Why do teams leave E2B? E2B and Runtime isolate code the same way, so the reasons to move are about the bill and the plan rather than the security model: - **Held vCPUs are billed while the agent thinks.** E2B's $0.0504 per vCPU-hour applies to every allocated vCPU for the whole life of the sandbox. In the example, 40 of each run's 60 seconds pass waiting on a model, and E2B bills both vCPUs through all of them. - **Memory costs more than twice as much.** E2B lists $0.0162 per GiB-hour; Runtime lists $0.0075. - **Long sessions need Pro.** A Hobby sandbox lives at most an hour, and 24 hours needs Pro at $150 a month. A Runtime sandbox has no time limit: it runs while it works, on prepaid credit from $10 with no plan. - **Concurrency comes in tiers.** E2B's pricing page, read on 26 October 2026, allows 20 concurrent sandboxes on Hobby and 100 on Pro, with paid add-ons for 600 or 1,100. A paid Runtime account runs 100 concurrent sandboxes with no plan fee, and support raises the limit when you send your numbers. - **Enterprise features wait for Enterprise.** E2B's enterprise page, read on 25 October 2026, sends OpenTelemetry metrics and logs only on that plan and lists SSO, SCIM and role-based access as planned. Runtime's [OpenTelemetry export](/docs/observability#opentelemetry-export) and [single sign-on](/docs/single-sign-on) are free on every account. - **Agents carry an API key.** Runtime signs an agent in with a browser approval instead, so no key ends up in a prompt or a config file. ## Which alternatives are cheapest? Every row prices one job at list rates: 1,000 runs, each 60 seconds long on a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox, with 20 CPU-seconds of real work per run. For an E2B user, the column to read is the last one against E2B's row. The arithmetic behind each figure is on [pricing](/docs/pricing#published-rate-comparison); plan fees, storage, network, credits and negotiated deals stay out of it. | # | Provider | Isolation | CPU billed on | 1,000 runs | | --- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- | -----------------------: | | 1 | **Runtime Cloud** | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Measured CPU, with a small floor | **$0.64** | | 2 | Northflank | microVMs for CPU work, gVisor for GPU work | Allocated vCPUs | $1.11 | | 3 | Cloudflare Sandbox (2 vCPU, 6 GiB, 12 GB disk) | A container in its own VM | Active CPU | $1.35 | | 4 | Prime Sandboxes (5 GiB disk) | microVM, own guest kernel | Allocated vCPUs while running | $1.52 | | 5 | Fly Machines, `performance-2x` with 4 GB | Firecracker microVM | The machine's size while started | $1.53 | | 6 | Morph, 2 MCUs | Full virtual machines | The machine's size in MCUs | $1.67 | | 7 | Vercel Sandbox, `iad1` (4 GB) | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Active CPU | $2.12 | | 8 | Freestyle (32 GiB disk) | Full Linux virtual machines | Allocated vCPUs | $2.25 | | 9 | Fly Sprites (4 GB in use) | Firecracker microVM | Measured CPU | $2.40 | | 10 | CodeSandbox SDK, a Nano VM | Firecracker microVM | The VM's size, by the minute rounded up | $2.48 | | 11 | E2B (the one you are replacing) | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Allocated vCPUs | $2.76 | | 12 | Daytona | Containers by default; VM class separate | Allocated vCPUs | $2.76 | | 13 | Blaxel (4 GB) | Lightweight virtual machines | Included with memory, active time | $3.45 | | 14 | Modal Sandboxes (1 physical core) | gVisor, or a VM on request | Requested or used, whichever is higher | $3.97 | | 15 | AWS Lambda MicroVMs, Arm | Firecracker microVM | Baseline vCPUs while running | $4.20 | | 16 | Runloop, a `MEDIUM` devbox | Hardware-isolated microVM | Allocated CPUs while running | $5.33 | ## Cost for the same job The lines for Runtime, E2B, Daytona (which publishes E2B's exact rates) and Vercel (the other Firecracker host that bills active CPU): ``` Runtime CPU 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025 = $0.14 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075 = $0.50 Total $0.64 E2B CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504 = $1.68 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162 = $1.08 Total $2.76 Daytona CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504 = $1.68 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162 = $1.08 Total $2.76 Vercel CPU 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.128 = $0.71 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0212 = $1.41 Total $2.12 ``` Had the agent kept both CPUs busy for the whole minute, the job would come to $1.33 on Runtime, $2.76 on E2B, $2.76 on Daytona and $5.68 on Vercel. E2B's figure stays put because it already bills each vCPU as if it were working; Runtime's rises and still ends up 52% below it. At 100,000 runs a month, the waiting job is $63.89 on Runtime and $276.00 on E2B. ## What each alternative offers an E2B user ### 1. Northflank: E2B's billing model with smaller numbers Northflank charges $0.01667 per allocated vCPU-hour, about a third of E2B's, and $0.00833 per GB-hour, and it is the one provider here that costs less than Runtime when both CPUs stay busy, $1.11 to $1.33. Each sandbox is a service with a deployment plan, and it can run inside your own AWS, GCP or Azure account. ### 2. Cloudflare Sandbox: when the app already lives on Workers Active CPU at $0.072 per vCPU-hour, but at least 3 GiB per vCPU, so this job is priced at 6 GiB, and the Workers Paid plan from $5 a month. Where an E2B pause holds state, Cloudflare's public-beta snapshots restore saved files while memory and processes restart. ### 3. Fly Machines: a whole machine for less than E2B's parts The same Firecracker underneath, billed by size for each second a Machine is started. A `performance-2x` with 4 GB costs $0.0916704 an hour in `iad`, against $0.1656 an hour for 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB at E2B's rates, so it wins busy or idle. There are 17 regions to pick from; the root disk does not survive the Machine. ### 4. Morph: branch a sandbox while it runs This job fits in 2 MCUs at $0.05 each, $0.10 an hour. Infinibranch copies a running machine, memory included, into hundreds of replicas, for agents that try several paths from one starting state. ### 5. Vercel Sandbox: active CPU at a high rate Firecracker again, billing only active CPU, but at $0.128 per CPU-hour, so it beats E2B only while the agent waits: $2.12 to $2.76, then $5.68 once both CPUs work. It runs in 19 regions, 10,000 concurrent sandboxes on Pro. ### 6. CodeSandbox SDK: a fixed VM, rounded to the minute A Nano VM, 2 cores and 4 GB, costs $0.1486 an hour in credits, a little under E2B's price for the same shape. Each run is billed by the minute, rounded up, and more than 10 concurrent VMs needs the Scale plan at $170 a month. ### 7. Daytona: the same meter, plus GPUs and Windows Daytona publishes E2B's rates to the fourth decimal, so moving saves nothing. It adds GPU sandboxes, Windows machines, US and EU regions and $200 of free compute, with a container as the default sandbox. ### 8. Blaxel: one memory meter, standby built in Active memory at $0.0000115 per GB-second, with CPU included, lands this job at $3.45, against E2B's $2.76. A sandbox drops to standby when its connections close and resumes in about 25 ms. ### 9. Fly Sprites: measured CPU, costly memory Sprites meter CPU the way Runtime does, at $0.0385 per CPU-hour, but charge $0.021875 per GB-hour for memory in use, which puts this job above E2B at $2.40. A Sprite pauses on its own and keeps a 100 GB disk. ### 10. Modal Sandboxes: GPUs next to functions gVisor, a user-space kernel, or a VM on request, and CPU billed on the larger of request and use at $0.1419 per physical core-hour: $3.97 for the job. The draw is GPUs beside Modal's functions. ### 11. Runloop: evaluation tooling at a premium $0.108 per CPU-hour and $0.0252 per GB-hour plus disk, almost double E2B at $5.33, in return for tools to evaluate models on your own workload. ## Runtime Cloud Leaving E2B for Runtime keeps the Firecracker microVM and cuts the bill by 77%. The job above, 1,000 one-minute runs on a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox, is $0.64 on Runtime and $2.76 on E2B, a difference of $212 a month at 100,000 runs, so Runtime is first in the table above. E2B charges for every vCPU a sandbox holds; Runtime charges for the CPU time the code actually burns. Rates checked 25 October 2026. Each sandbox is a Firecracker microVM with its own kernel, as on E2B, but the CPU meter counts what the code consumed: $0.025 per vCPU-hour, never below a twentieth of a vCPU, plus $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour. A pause keeps memory and running processes, as E2B's does, while you have credit at $0.08 per GB a month. The `withruntime/e2b` package takes E2B code with only the import changed. Start free with `npx withruntime login`. The switch below is one import, and the [migration guide](/docs/migrate) can hand the rest of the port to your coding agent. ## How to switch from E2B Install Runtime's SDK, version 0.11.2 or later (Python 0.11.1), and point the import at its E2B layer. Authenticate with `RUNTIME_API_KEY` or a one-time `npx withruntime login`: ```ts no-run import { Sandbox } from "withruntime/e2b"; // was: from "e2b" ``` ```python no-run from withruntime.e2b import Sandbox # was: from e2b import Sandbox ``` The code interpreter has its own drop-ins, `withruntime/e2b/code-interpreter` and `withruntime.e2b.code_interpreter`. Where a call has no direct match, such as E2B's MCP gateway, workload identity or a files-only pause, it throws `NotSupportedError` before doing anything and says which Runtime feature to use. To hand the move off, paste the single instruction from [migration](/docs/migrate) into your coding agent. It ports the project on a branch, runs it without credit and reports the monthly difference. Credit you add within 30 days of signing up is matched, up to $1,000 in total. For closer looks, read [E2B vs Daytona](/compare/e2b-vs-daytona), [E2B vs Modal](/compare/e2b-vs-modal), [E2B vs Vercel Sandbox](/compare/e2b-vs-vercel-sandbox) or price your own workload in the [E2B pricing calculator](/calculators/e2b-pricing-calculator). ## Sources - [Cloudflare sandbox lifetime](https://developers.cloudflare.com/sandbox/concepts/lifetime/), snapshot behavior checked 25 October 2026. Rival rates checked 25 October 2026. E2B's pricing page was read again on 26 October 2026 for its plan limits. - [E2B pricing](https://e2b.dev/pricing) - [Runloop pricing](https://www.runloop.ai/pricing) - [Fly.io pricing](https://fly.io/pricing/) - [Daytona pricing](https://www.daytona.io/pricing) - [Morph Cloud pricing](https://cloud.morph.so/web/pricing) - [Cloudflare Containers pricing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/containers/pricing/) - [Modal pricing](https://modal.com/pricing) - [Together: CodeSandbox SDK](https://docs.together.ai/docs/together-code-sandbox-legacy) - [Northflank pricing](https://northflank.com/pricing) - [Vercel Sandbox pricing](https://vercel.com/docs/sandbox/pricing) - [Blaxel pricing](https://blaxel.ai/pricing) - Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing) and the [E2B comparison](/docs/e2b-alternative) Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.