Azure Container Apps Sandboxes vs Smol Machines

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes costs $0.0864 per vCPU-hour and Smol Machines costs $0.05 per vCPU-hour. Azure Container Apps Sandboxes runs microVMs. Smol Machines runs microVMs.

Updated

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes

Isolation
MicroVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
Not listed

Smol Machines

Isolation
MicroVM
Free tier
$100 credit, one time
Max session
Not listed

What is different

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

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
Smol Machines
vCPU, per hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0864
Smol Machines: $0.05
RAM, per GiB-hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0108
Smol Machines: $0.0162
Storage
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Storage charge coming soon
Smol Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour
Billing
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Per second
Smol Machines: Active CPU time only
Largest sandbox
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Smol Machines: 32 vCPU · 32 GiB
Snapshots
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes:
Smol Machines: No
SDKs
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Python, TypeScript
Smol Machines: TypeScript, Python, Rust

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0864
Smol Machines: $0.05
RAM, per GiB-hour
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.0108
Smol Machines: $0.0162
Storage
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Storage charge coming soon
Smol Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour
Free tier
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: $100 credit, one time
Paid plan from
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Pay as you go
Billing
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Per second
Smol Machines: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Not listed
Idle stop
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Not listed
Largest sandbox
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Smol Machines: 32 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Up to 1,000

Platform

Isolation
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: MicroVM
Smol Machines: MicroVM
GPU
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: No
Snapshots
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes:
Smol Machines: No
Pause and resume
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes:
Smol Machines:

Developer

SDKs
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Python, TypeScript
Smol Machines: TypeScript, Python, Rust
Integrations
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Claude Code
Smol Machines: Not listed

Trust

License
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Apache-2.0
BYOC
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Not listed
Smol Machines: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
Smol Machines
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.108
Smol Machines: $0.082
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.216
Smol Machines: $0.165
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: $0.432
Smol Machines: $0.330

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes fits when

  • You use Claude Code.
  • You need snapshots.

Smol Machines fits when

  • You want an open-source platform (Apache-2.0) that you can self-host.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.165 against $0.216 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 4 vCPU · 8 GiB.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

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