AI agent sandbox pricing compared
A machine with 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB of memory costs between $0.017 and $0.166 per running hour across seven agent sandbox providers, a tenfold range. InstaBox and boat are the cheapest at list price, at $0.017 and $0.018, Quivvo costs $0.054, and E2B and Daytona are the most expensive at about $0.166. Prices were checked on 30 October 2026 from each vendor's own pricing page, E2B's and Daytona's again on 31 October, and InstaBox's and boat's on 7 November.
What does the same machine cost?
| Provider | Per vCPU-hour | Per GiB-hour of memory | 2 vCPU + 4 GiB, per hour | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| InstaBox | $0.004 | $0.00225 | $0.017 | 20 GiB on Free. Pro includes 200 GiB across machines, then $0.08 per GiB-month |
| boat | Priced per size | Priced per size | $0.018 | 51 GB included |
| Quivvo | $0.005 | $0.011 | $0.054 | $0.20 per GiB-month, none included |
| Northflank | $0.01667 | $0.00833 | $0.067 | $0.11657 per GiB-month for persistent disk |
| Fly Sprites | $0.0385 of actual use | $0.021875 of actual use | up to $0.165 | About $0.50 per GB-month awake, $0.02 asleep |
| E2B | $0.0504 | $0.0162 | $0.166 | Included: 10 GiB on Hobby, 20 GiB on Pro |
| Daytona | $0.0504 | $0.0162 | $0.166 | About $0.08 per GiB-month, first 5 GiB free |
The hourly column is our arithmetic from each vendor's published rates, except boat's, which is its published price for its 2 vCPU, 4 GB size. Fly Sprites bills for actual use rather than allocation, so its figure is the ceiling for a machine busy the whole hour.
What does it cost over a month?
| Provider | Running 2 hours a day (60 hours) | Running all month (730 hours) |
|---|---|---|
| InstaBox | $1.02 | $12.41 |
| boat | $1.08 | $13.14 |
| Quivvo | $3.24 | $39.42 |
| Northflank | $4.00 | $48.66 |
| E2B | $9.94 | $120.89 |
| Daytona | $9.94 | $120.89 |
These are running costs only, before disk and any plan fee. Fly Sprites is left out because its bill depends on how busy the machine is.
Why isn't this like for like?
- CPU differs. Quivvo's vCPUs are shared, with a baseline when a machine stays busy for long stretches. boat's pricing page says its vCPUs are shared too. Other vendors' CPU policies aren't stated on their pricing pages.
- Idle time differs. A paused or suspended machine usually stops paying for CPU, so how quickly a product pauses matters as much as its rate. Fly Sprites doesn't bill compute while asleep. Quivvo and InstaBox charge only for disk while paused. boat has no pause: a stop ends running processes and keeps the disk.
- Session limits differ. E2B's pricing page limits sessions to 1 hour on Hobby and 24 hours on Pro. InstaBox's Free plan runs a machine for up to 8 hours at a time. boat stops a sandbox an hour after it starts or resumes unless you set it otherwise.
- Plans differ. Several vendors include credit in a monthly fee, and credit may or may not roll over. InstaBox's resets monthly; Quivvo's doesn't expire. boat's plans start at $20 a month after a 7-day trial that asks for a card, and its plan price comes back as machine time.
- Regions differ. boat runs in Germany, Finland and France. InstaBox chooses where a machine runs and refuses a
regionfield. Quivvo lets you pick Amsterdam or Ashburn, Virginia.
Which should I choose?
If list price is what matters most, InstaBox and boat are the cheapest here, at about a third of Quivvo's price. If you want to pay only for the CPU you actually use, look at Fly Sprites. If you need enterprise features or your own cloud, E2B, Daytona and Northflank all advertise bring-your-own-cloud options. Quivvo costs more than InstaBox and boat, and offers a choice of region, no session limit, and prepaid credit that doesn't expire.
Sources, read on 30 October 2026, with E2B and Daytona read again on 31 October and InstaBox and boat on 7 November: InstaBox pricing, boat pricing, Quivvo pricing, Northflank pricing, Fly Sprites, E2B pricing, Daytona pricing.
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