Compare / Sandboxes
E2B vs Blaxel
E2B and Blaxel charge the same per vCPU and per GiB. Blaxel was faster on a real coding-agent build: 53.0 s against 75.9 s.
At a glance
| E2B | Blaxel | |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM | MicroVM, no shared kernel |
| Price | $0.000014 per vCPU-second and $0.0000045 per GiB-second. | $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. |
| 2 vCPU, 4 GiB for an hour | $0.17 | $0.17 |
| Free tier | One-time $100 credit on the free Hobby plan. Pro is $150 a month plus usage. | Up to $200 of credits on pay-as-you-go. |
| Longest session | 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro. Pausing resets the clock. | No default expiry. 7 days on Tier 0, 30 days on Tier 1, no limit on higher tiers. |
| Largest sandbox | 8 vCPU and 8 GiB (default 2 vCPU, 4 GiB) | Not published on standard plans (examples: 8 GB gets 4 cores, 16 GB gets 6 cores) |
| Pause and persistence | Pause keeps memory and files, about 4 s per GiB to pause and 1 s to resume. Paused sandboxes are kept indefinitely. | Standby keeps memory and files and resumes in about 25 ms; archive keeps files only. |
| Start time (published) | Not published in milliseconds; boots from a snapshot. | Fresh microVM in under a second; resume in about 25 ms. |
| GPUs | No | Not stated |
| Self-hosting | Yes. The infrastructure is open source under Apache-2.0, with Terraform for Google Cloud, AWS and Azure, and a single-host option. | No full self-hosting. Bring-your-own-metal is available, but Blaxel always runs the control plane. |
| SDKs | Python, JavaScript/TypeScript | TypeScript, Python, Go |
| Real build benchmark | 7 of 7 phases, 75.9 s | 7 of 7 phases, 53.0 s |
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:
- E2B completed all seven phases in 75.9 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 3.0 s, install 17.2 s, typecheck 40.8 s.
- 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.
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 E2B if
- you may need to run it in your own cloud or data center
Choose Blaxel if
- your agents run heavy builds and speed matters
- your agents run for longer than 24 hours
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
Sources
- E2B: E2B pricing
- E2B: E2B persistence docs
- E2B: e2b-dev/infra
- Blaxel: Blaxel pricing
- Blaxel: Blaxel sandbox docs
- 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 E2B cheaper than Blaxel?
They charge the same rates per vCPU and per GiB. A sandbox with 2 vCPU and 4 GiB costs about $0.17 an hour on either.
Which is faster, E2B or Blaxel?
E2B completed all seven phases in 75.9 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 3.0 s, install 17.2 s, typecheck 40.8 s. 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. 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, E2B or Blaxel?
Both use a microVM with its own kernel by default. E2B: Firecracker microVM. Blaxel: MicroVM, no shared kernel.
Can I self-host E2B or Blaxel?
E2B: Yes. The infrastructure is open source under Apache-2.0, with Terraform for Google Cloud, AWS and Azure, and a single-host option. Blaxel: No full self-hosting. Bring-your-own-metal is available, but Blaxel always runs the control plane.
Is there an alternative to E2B and Blaxel 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.