Compare / Sandboxes
E2B vs Vercel Sandbox
E2B is cheaper: about $0.17 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB, against $0.34 on Vercel Sandbox with the CPU busy all hour (Vercel Sandbox bills CPU only while it is busy, so idle time costs less there). E2B was faster on a real coding-agent build: 75.9 s against 83.4 s.
At a glance
| E2B | Vercel Sandbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM | Firecracker microVM |
| Price | $0.000014 per vCPU-second and $0.0000045 per GiB-second. | CPU is billed only while busy ($0.128 per active CPU-hour); memory is billed for the whole time ($0.0212 per GB-hour). iad1 region rates; $0.60 per million creations. |
| 2 vCPU, 4 GiB for an hour | $0.17 | $0.34 if the CPU is busy all hour |
| Free tier | One-time $100 credit on the free Hobby plan. Pro is $150 a month plus usage. | Hobby includes 5 active CPU-hours, 420 GB-hours and 5,000 creations a month. Pro uses its $20 monthly credit first. |
| Longest session | 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro. Pausing resets the clock. | 45 minutes on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro and Enterprise. Persistent sandboxes can resume. |
| Largest sandbox | 8 vCPU and 8 GiB (default 2 vCPU, 4 GiB) | 4 vCPU, 8 GB on Hobby; 8 vCPU, 16 GB on Pro; 32 vCPU, 64 GB on Enterprise |
| 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. | Persistent by default, saved on stop; snapshots expire after 30 days by default. |
| Start time (published) | Not published in milliseconds; boots from a snapshot. | "Starts in milliseconds"; no number published. |
| GPUs | No | No |
| 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. The SDK and CLI are open source; the runtime is Vercel-hosted. |
| SDKs | Python, JavaScript/TypeScript | JavaScript/TypeScript, Python |
| Real build benchmark | 7 of 7 phases, 75.9 s | 7 of 7 phases, 83.4 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.
- Vercel Sandbox completed all seven phases in 83.4 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 1.8 s, install 23.2 s, typecheck 40.1 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
- price per hour matters most
- your agents run heavy builds and speed matters
- you need pause and resume that keeps memory, not just files
- 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 Modal
- E2B vs Daytona
- E2B vs Blaxel
- E2B vs Northflank
- Modal vs Vercel Sandbox
- Daytona vs Vercel Sandbox
Sources
- E2B: E2B pricing
- E2B: E2B persistence docs
- E2B: e2b-dev/infra
- Vercel Sandbox: Vercel Sandbox pricing
- Vercel Sandbox: Vercel 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 Vercel Sandbox?
E2B is cheaper. A sandbox with 2 vCPU and 4 GiB running for an hour costs about $0.17 there, against $0.34 on Vercel Sandbox. Vercel Sandbox bills CPU only while it is busy, so idle sandboxes cost less there than this suggests.
Which is faster, E2B or Vercel Sandbox?
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. Vercel Sandbox completed all seven phases in 83.4 s on a sandbox reporting 8 CPUs and about 16 GiB: clone 1.8 s, install 23.2 s, typecheck 40.1 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 Vercel Sandbox?
Both use a microVM with its own kernel by default. E2B: Firecracker microVM. Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM.
Can I self-host E2B or Vercel Sandbox?
E2B: Yes. The infrastructure is open source under Apache-2.0, with Terraform for Google Cloud, AWS and Azure, and a single-host option. Vercel Sandbox: No. The SDK and CLI are open source; the runtime is Vercel-hosted.
Is there an alternative to E2B and Vercel Sandbox 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.