boxd vs DigitalOcean MicroVMs

boxd costs $0.047 per vCPU-hour and DigitalOcean MicroVMs costs $0.022 per vCPU-hour. boxd runs microVMs and has no session limit. DigitalOcean MicroVMs runs Firecracker microVMs.

Updated Oct 15, 2026

boxd

Persistent Linux machines for devs and AI agents.

Isolation: MicroVM
Free tier: $30 credit with a payment method
Max session: No limit

Visit site boxd profile

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

Lightweight virtual machines that run a container image in their own kernel and pause when idle.

Isolation: Firecracker microVM
Free tier: Not listed
Max session: Not listed

Visit site DigitalOcean MicroVMs profile

What is different

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

Field

boxd

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

vCPU, per hour: boxd: $0.047; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022
RAM, per GiB-hour: boxd: $0.014; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085
Storage: boxd: $0.000096 per GiB-hour; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.05 per GiB per month, charged when running or paused. Checkpoints are charged until deleted.
Idle stop: boxd: After 240 minutes; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: After 5 minutes
Largest sandbox: boxd: 8 vCPU · 32 GiB; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Isolation: boxd: MicroVM; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

boxdboxd.sh/pricing

DigitalOcean MicroVMsdocs.digitalocean.com/products/microvms/details/pricingdocs.digitalocean.com

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: boxd: $0.047; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022
RAM, per GiB-hour: boxd: $0.014; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085
Storage: boxd: $0.000096 per GiB-hour; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.05 per GiB per month, charged when running or paused. Checkpoints are charged until deleted.
Free tier: boxd: $30 credit with a payment method; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Paid plan from: boxd: Pay as you go; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Billing: boxd: Per second; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Per second

Limits

Max session: boxd: No limit; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Idle stop: boxd: After 240 minutes; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: After 5 minutes
Largest sandbox: boxd: 8 vCPU · 32 GiB; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: boxd: Not listed; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed

Platform

Isolation: boxd: MicroVM; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM
GPU: boxd: Not listed; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Snapshots: boxd:; DigitalOcean MicroVMs:
Pause and resume: boxd:; DigitalOcean MicroVMs:

Developer

SDKs: boxd: TypeScript, Python; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Integrations: boxd: Claude Code, MCP; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed

Trust

License: boxd: Not listed; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
BYOC: boxd: Custom plan; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

boxd

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: boxd: $0.075; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.039
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: boxd: $0.150; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.078
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: boxd: $0.300; DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.156

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

boxd fits when

You use Claude Code or MCP.
You need a desktop in the sandbox.
You need the sandboxes in your own cloud account.

DigitalOcean MicroVMs fits when

You want the lower list price: $0.078 against $0.150 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
You need a sandbox larger than 8 vCPU · 32 GiB.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

boxd

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

boxd fits when

DigitalOcean MicroVMs fits when

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