BoxCompute vs Vercel Sandbox

BoxCompute costs $0.10 per vCPU-hour and Vercel Sandbox costs $0.128 per vCPU-hour. BoxCompute runs full VMs and limits a session to 42 hours. Vercel Sandbox runs Firecracker microVMs and limits a session to 24 hours.

Updated

BoxCompute

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
$10 credit, one time, valid 14 days
Max session
42 hours

Vercel Sandbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
5 CPU-hours every month
Max session
24 hours

What is different

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

BoxCompute
Vercel Sandbox
vCPU, per hour
BoxCompute: $0.10
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
RAM, per GiB-hour
BoxCompute: Included
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Free tier
BoxCompute: $10 credit, one time, valid 14 days
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Billing
BoxCompute: Bundled machine time
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only
Max session
BoxCompute: 42 hours
Vercel Sandbox: 24 hours
Largest sandbox
BoxCompute: 1.5 vCPU · 3 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Isolation
BoxCompute: Full VM
Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM
SDKs
BoxCompute: Python, TypeScript
Vercel Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
BoxCompute: $0.10
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
RAM, per GiB-hour
BoxCompute: Included
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Storage
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: On Pro, snapshots $0.08 per GB-month and drives $0.05 per GB-month (beta).
Free tier
BoxCompute: $10 credit, one time, valid 14 days
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Paid plan from
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: $20 / month
Billing
BoxCompute: Bundled machine time
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
BoxCompute: 42 hours
Vercel Sandbox: 24 hours
Idle stop
BoxCompute: After 15 minutes
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Largest sandbox
BoxCompute: 1.5 vCPU · 3 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Up to 10,000

Platform

Isolation
BoxCompute: Full VM
Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Snapshots
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox:
Pause and resume
BoxCompute:
Vercel Sandbox:

Developer

SDKs
BoxCompute: Python, TypeScript
Vercel Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Integrations
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK

Trust

License
BoxCompute: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
BYOC
BoxCompute: Enterprise pilot on your hardware or cloud account
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

BoxCompute
Vercel Sandbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
BoxCompute: $0.100
Vercel Sandbox: $0.170
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
BoxCompute: $0.200
Vercel Sandbox: $0.341
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
BoxCompute: $0.400
Vercel Sandbox: $0.682

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

BoxCompute fits when

  • A session must run longer than 24 hours.
  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.200 against $0.341 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need a desktop in the sandbox.

Vercel Sandbox fits when

  • You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
  • You use the Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, the OpenAI Agents SDK or the Vercel AI SDK.
  • You need snapshots.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.

More comparisons

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