Azure Container Apps Sandboxes vs Runtime

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes costs $0.0864 per vCPU-hour and Runtime costs $0.025 per vCPU-hour. Azure Container Apps Sandboxes runs microVMs. Runtime runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes

Isolation
MicroVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
Not listed

Runtime

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Max session
No limit

What is different

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

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
Runtime
vCPU, per hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0864
Runtime: $0.025
RAM, per GiB-hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0108
Runtime: $0.0075
Storage
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Storage charge coming soon
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Billing
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Per second
Runtime: Active CPU time only
Largest sandbox
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Isolation
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: MicroVM
Runtime: Firecracker microVM
SDKs
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Python, TypeScript
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Integrations
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Claude Code
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0864
Runtime: $0.025
RAM, per GiB-hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0108
Runtime: $0.0075
Storage
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Storage charge coming soon
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Free tier
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: 100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Paid plan from
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: Pay as you go
Billing
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Per second
Runtime: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: No limit
Idle stop
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: After 5 minutes
Largest sandbox
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: Up to 200

Platform

Isolation
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: MicroVM
Runtime: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: No
Snapshots
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes:
Runtime:
Pause and resume
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes:
Runtime:

Developer

SDKs
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Python, TypeScript
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Integrations
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Claude Code
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code

Trust

License
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: Not listed
BYOC
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Runtime: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
Runtime
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.108
Runtime: $0.040
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.216
Runtime: $0.080
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.432
Runtime: $0.160

Compute only, at list rates.

Open the calculator

Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Runtime fits when

  • You use the OpenAI Agents SDK, the Vercel AI SDK, the Claude Agent SDK, LangChain or MCP.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.080 against $0.216 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need a desktop in the sandbox.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

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