Compare / Sandboxes
Blaxel vs Northflank
Northflank is cheaper: about $0.067 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB, against $0.17 on Blaxel. Blaxel finished the latest build benchmark; Northflank didn't.
At a glance
| Blaxel | Northflank | |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | MicroVM, no shared kernel | MicroVM for CPU sandboxes, gVisor for GPU sandboxes |
| Price | $0.0000115 per GB of memory per second, with CPU included and scaled to memory (calc). Standby is free; snapshots cost $0.20 per GB-month. | $0.01667 per vCPU-hour and $0.00833 per GB-hour. In your own cloud (BYOC), $0.02083 per node vCPU-hour and memory isn't billed. |
| 2 vCPU, 4 GiB for an hour | $0.17 | $0.067 |
| Free tier | Up to $200 of credits on pay-as-you-go. | A free Sandbox tier with up to $20 a month of resources, no card needed. |
| Longest session | No default expiry. 7 days on Tier 0, 30 days on Tier 1, no limit on higher tiers. | No time limits; sandboxes run until deleted. |
| Largest sandbox | Not published on standard plans (examples: 8 GB gets 4 cores, 16 GB gets 6 cores) | Plans listed up to 8 vCPU and 16 GB, with custom plans available |
| Pause and persistence | Standby keeps memory and files and resumes in about 25 ms; archive keeps files only. | Ephemeral by default, with volumes up to 64 TB and pause and resume. |
| Start time (published) | Fresh microVM in under a second; resume in about 25 ms. | Under 1 s; 0.8 s with a cached image. |
| GPUs | Not stated | Yes |
| Self-hosting | No full self-hosting. Bring-your-own-metal is available, but Blaxel always runs the control plane. | Bring your own cloud on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle or bare metal; enterprise customers can self-host the control plane. |
| SDKs | TypeScript, Python, Go | JavaScript, Python, plus REST and CLI |
| Real build benchmark | 7 of 7 phases, 53.0 s | 0 of 7 phases |
On a real coding-agent build
The open-source ComputeSDK sandbox-dax benchmark runs OpenCode's provider benchmark in each sandbox: install packages and Bun, clone OpenCode, bun install, then bun typecheck. Results from the run of 30 October 2026:
- Blaxel completed all seven phases in 53.0 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 6.1 s, install 12.4 s, typecheck 25.3 s.
- Northflank completed 0 of 7 phases; the benchmark's account was disabled, so this says nothing about speed.
Each provider is one run, and sandboxes report different CPU counts, so treat small gaps as noise. For what this build needs from a sandbox, and what isolation costs, see our benchmark write-up.
Which should you choose?
Choose Blaxel if
- you want a sandbox that completed the latest real build benchmark
- you need pause and resume that keeps memory, not just files
Choose Northflank if
- price per hour matters most
- you need GPUs inside the sandbox
- you may need to run it in your own cloud or data center
If neither fits because your code and API keys must stay on your own hardware, Hotcell runs sandboxes on machines you control, and Directionally Local sets it up with the Autopilot coding agent harness in one command. More options: E2B alternatives.
More comparisons
- E2B vs Blaxel
- E2B vs Northflank
- Modal vs Blaxel
- Modal vs Northflank
- Daytona vs Blaxel
- Daytona vs Northflank
Sources
- Blaxel: Blaxel pricing
- Blaxel: Blaxel sandbox docs
- Northflank: Northflank pricing
- Northflank: Northflank sandboxes
- Benchmark: ComputeSDK sandbox-dax results
Prices change often. We check them by hand and the benchmark refreshes on every build; if something here is out of date, tell us.
FAQs
Is Blaxel cheaper than Northflank?
Northflank is cheaper. A sandbox with 2 vCPU and 4 GiB running for an hour costs about $0.067 there, against $0.17 on Blaxel.
Which is faster, Blaxel or Northflank?
Blaxel completed all seven phases in 53.0 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 6.1 s, install 12.4 s, typecheck 25.3 s. Northflank completed 0 of 7 phases; the benchmark's account was disabled, so this says nothing about speed. The workload is OpenCode's provider benchmark: clone, bun install and typecheck. Results are from ComputeSDK's run of 30 October 2026, one run each.
Which has stronger isolation, Blaxel or Northflank?
Both use a microVM with its own kernel by default. Blaxel: MicroVM, no shared kernel. Northflank: MicroVM for CPU sandboxes, gVisor for GPU sandboxes.
Can I self-host Blaxel or Northflank?
Blaxel: No full self-hosting. Bring-your-own-metal is available, but Blaxel always runs the control plane. Northflank: Bring your own cloud on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle or bare metal; enterprise customers can self-host the control plane.
Is there an alternative to Blaxel and Northflank that runs on my own hardware?
Yes. Hotcell is an open-source sandbox runtime (Apache-2.0) that runs Docker containers, Firecracker microVMs or Apple Virtualization microVMs on your own machines. Real API keys stay on the host, and each sandbox gets a short-lived, spend-capped token. Directionally Local sets it up together with the Autopilot coding agent harness with one command.