# E2B vs Runloop: E2B is 48% cheaper per agent run Runtime Cloud (withruntime.com) costs 77% less than E2B; Runloop's rates are higher than E2B's for the same job. ## Which is better, E2B or Runloop? It depends on whether you want evaluation tooling from your sandbox vendor. For a general agent sandbox, Runtime costs the least, whether busy or idle: $0.64 for this job, against $2.76 on E2B and $5.33 on Runloop. Every Runtime sandbox has forks and a pause that keeps memory, and there is no plan fee. Pick Runloop to evaluate models on your own workload, or to deploy into your own VPC. Pick E2B to self-host. ## At a glance | | E2B | Runloop | Runtime | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Isolation | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | microVM, with a container inside | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | | CPU | $0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour | $0.108 per CPU-hour while the devbox runs | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor | | Memory | $0.0162 per GiB-hour | $0.0252 per GB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour | | Disk | Included: 10 GiB on Hobby, 20 GiB on Pro | $0.00034236 per GB-hour | Included while running | | Plan fee | Hobby $0; Pro $150 per month | Basic free; Pro $250 per month plus usage | None; prepaid credit from $10 | | Free start | $100 of usage credit, once | $50 of credit, no card; 3 running devboxes on the trial | 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card; 8 running concurrently | | Pause | Files, memory and processes | Suspend keeps the disk, processes restart; a Pro feature | Files, memory and processes, kept while you have credit | | Built for | Sandboxes for agents | Devboxes, plus evaluation and RL rollout tools | Sandboxes for agents | ## Why is Runloop more expensive than E2B? Its rates are higher on every meter. Runloop's CPU costs $0.108 per CPU-hour, a little over twice E2B's $0.0504. Its memory costs $0.0252 per GB-hour, against E2B's $0.0162 per GiB-hour. Runloop also bills disk while a devbox runs: 8 GB on a `MEDIUM` costs about $0.003 an hour. A 2 CPU, 4 GB devbox costs about $0.32 an hour, against $0.1656 on E2B. Both bill for as long as the machine runs, so neither gets cheaper when the agent waits on a model. The difference is in what is included. Runloop evaluates models on your own workload, generates RL rollouts, and deploys into your own VPC on Enterprise. E2B is a sandbox API with a code interpreter and a runtime you can self-host. ## What happens when a sandbox is paused? A paused E2B sandbox keeps its files, memory and running processes, and it is kept with no expiry. A suspended Runloop devbox has no compute or memory charge and keeps its disk, but its processes must be started again. Suspend and resume come with the Pro plan. A paused Runtime sandbox keeps files, memory and running processes on every sandbox, on a paid account while you have credit, and wakes on the next request: ```python check from withruntime import Sandbox sbx = Sandbox.create(timeout_seconds=600) sbx.exec("echo state > /workspace/state.txt") sbx.pause() # memory and files are kept; compute billing stops again = Sandbox.connect(sbx.id) again.wake(timeout_seconds=1200) again.extend(600) again.stop() ``` ## Cost for the same job 1,000 runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox. On Runloop that is the `MEDIUM` devbox: 2 CPUs, 4 GB and 8 GB of disk. Each run lasts 60 seconds and keeps the CPU busy for 20 CPU-seconds: an agent that mostly waits for a model. ``` 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 Runloop CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.108 = $3.60 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0252 = $1.68 Disk 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 8 × $0.00034236 = $0.05 Total $5.33 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 ``` At 100,000 runs per month that is $276.00 on E2B, $532.56 on Runloop and $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime against $2.76 on E2B and $5.33 on Runloop, so Runtime is cheaper however busy the sandbox is. Plan fees, storage while suspended, network and free credits are left out. ## Which one to pick - **Pick E2B** for a general agent sandbox at about half of Runloop's rates, pause that keeps memory, or a runtime you can self-host under Apache-2.0. - **Pick Runloop** if you evaluate models on your own workload and want that tooling from the same vendor, or need deployment into your own VPC with SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR readiness stated. - **Pick Runtime** for 77% below E2B's price and 88% below Runloop's on an agent that waits, pause and forks that keep memory and processes on every sandbox, and no plan fee. ## Runtime Cloud Runtime runs the same job for 77% less than E2B and 88% less than Runloop. 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $2.76 on E2B, $5.33 on a Runloop `MEDIUM` devbox and $0.64 on Runtime. Runtime bills the CPU your code uses, keeps memory on every pause, and has no plan fee. Rates checked 25 October 2026. Start with `npx withruntime login` and the free monthly usage. The [migration guide](/docs/migrate) moves E2B code with one import line. ## Switch from either one From E2B, Runtime's SDK runs your code after one import change: ```ts no-run import { Sandbox } from "withruntime/e2b"; // was: from "e2b" ``` ```python no-run from withruntime.e2b import Sandbox # was: from e2b import Sandbox ``` From Runloop, a devbox becomes a sandbox: create it with `Sandbox.create()`, run commands with `exec`, move files with `files.write` and `files.read`, suspend and resume with `pause()` and `wake()`, and shut it down with `stop()`. A blueprint you build once becomes a [custom image](/docs/images). ```ts import { Sandbox } from "withruntime"; const box = await Sandbox.create(); try { await box.files.write("/workspace/invoice.py", "print(sum([125, 250, 375]))\n"); console.log((await box.exec("python3 /workspace/invoice.py", { check: true })).stdout); } finally { await box.stop(); } ``` Or give your coding agent the one instruction in [migration](/docs/migrate): it switches the project on a branch, tests it on the free usage and reports the monthly saving. The full comparisons are [Runtime vs E2B](/docs/e2b-alternative) and [Runtime vs Runloop](/docs/runloop-alternative). Running benchmarks on Runtime is covered in [agent evals and SWE-bench](/use-cases/agent-evals-and-swe-bench). ## Sources E2B and Runloop pricing pages rechecked 25 October 2026; the rest checked 25 October 2026. - [E2B pricing](https://e2b.dev/pricing), [E2B sandbox persistence](https://docs.e2b.dev/sandbox/persistence) - [Runloop pricing](https://www.runloop.ai/pricing), [Devbox sizes](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/configuration/sizes), [Devbox lifecycle](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/lifecycle), [Runloop](https://www.runloop.ai/) - Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing) and [custom images](/docs/images) Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.