Apify AI Code Sandbox vs Freestyle VMs

Apify AI Code Sandbox bills memory only, at $0.20 per GiB-hour. Freestyle VMs costs $0.04032 per vCPU-hour. Apify AI Code Sandbox runs containers and has no session limit. Freestyle VMs runs full VMs and offers GPUs.

Updated

Apify AI Code Sandbox

Isolation
Container
Free tier
$5 of usage every month
Max session
No limit

Freestyle VMs

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
Free plan, $0 forever
Max session
Not listed

What is different

10 fields differ. The rest are the same or not listed.

Apify AI Code Sandbox
Freestyle VMs
vCPU, per hour
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Included
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
RAM, per GiB-hour
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $0.20
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Storage
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Disk in the run is part of the compute price. The workspace backup goes to a key-value store at $1 per 1,000 GB-hours, plus reads and writes. Data transfer out $0.20 per GB
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Free tier
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $5 of usage every month
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Paid plan from
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $19 / month
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Billing
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Memory only
Freestyle VMs: Per second
Concurrent sandboxes
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Up to 256
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400
Isolation
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Container
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
SDKs
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Integrations
Apify AI Code Sandbox: MCP, Claude Code
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, Claude Code

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Included
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
RAM, per GiB-hour
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $0.20
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Storage
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Disk in the run is part of the compute price. The workspace backup goes to a key-value store at $1 per 1,000 GB-hours, plus reads and writes. Data transfer out $0.20 per GB
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Free tier
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $5 of usage every month
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Paid plan from
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $19 / month
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Billing
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Memory only
Freestyle VMs: Per second

Limits

Max session
Apify AI Code Sandbox: No limit
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Idle stop
Apify AI Code Sandbox: After 15 minutes
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Largest sandbox
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Up to 256
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400

Platform

Isolation
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Container
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
GPU
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs:
Snapshots
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs:
Pause and resume
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs:

Developer

SDKs
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Integrations
Apify AI Code Sandbox: MCP, Claude Code
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, Claude Code

Trust

License
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
BYOC
Apify AI Code Sandbox: Not listed
Freestyle VMs: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Apify AI Code Sandbox
Freestyle VMs
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $0.400
Freestyle VMs: $0.066
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $0.800
Freestyle VMs: $0.132
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Apify AI Code Sandbox: $1.600
Freestyle VMs: $0.264

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Apify AI Code Sandbox fits when

  • You use MCP.
  • You want one rate for memory, with CPU included.
  • You need SOC 2 Type II and GDPR.

Freestyle VMs fits when

  • You need GPUs.
  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You use the OpenAI Agents SDK or the Claude Agent SDK.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.132 against $0.800 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.

More comparisons

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