Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions vs Smol Machines

Smol Machines costs $0.05 per vCPU-hour. Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions runs full VMs. Smol Machines runs microVMs.

Updated Oct 15, 2026

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions

Isolated sandbox sessions for running code on Azure.

Isolation: Full VM
Free tier: Not listed
Max session: Not listed

Visit site Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions profile

Smol Machines

Hosted Linux microVMs with their own kernel, for agents and untrusted code.

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

Visit site Smol Machines profile

What is different

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

Field

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions

Smol Machines

Concurrent sandboxes: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Up to 600; Smol Machines: Up to 1,000
Isolation: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Full VM; Smol Machines: MicroVM

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessionsazure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/container-appsazure.microsoft.com

Smol Machinessmolmachines.com/pricingsmolmachines.com

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.05
RAM, per GiB-hour: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.0162
Storage: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour
Free tier: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $100 credit, one time
Paid plan from: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Pay as you go
Billing: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Not listed
Idle stop: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Not listed
Largest sandbox: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: 32 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Up to 600; Smol Machines: Up to 1,000

Platform

Isolation: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Full VM; Smol Machines: MicroVM
GPU: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: No
Snapshots: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: No
Pause and resume: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines:

Developer

SDKs: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: TypeScript, Python, Rust
Integrations: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: LangChain; Smol Machines: Not listed

Trust

License: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Apache-2.0
BYOC: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions

Smol Machines

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.082
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.165
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions: Not listed; Smol Machines: $0.330

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions fits when

You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
You use LangChain.

Smol Machines fits when

You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
You want an open-source platform (Apache-2.0) that you can self-host.
You need pause and resume.
Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions

Smol Machines

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions fits when

Smol Machines fits when

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