Dedalus Machines vs Shellbox

Dedalus Machines costs $0.04536 per vCPU-hour and Shellbox costs $0.01 per vCPU-hour. Dedalus Machines runs full VMs. Shellbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated Oct 23, 2026

Dedalus Machines

Linux virtual machines for AI agents that sleep when idle.

Isolation: Full VM
Free tier: $20 one-time sign-up credit
Max session: Not listed

Visit site Dedalus Machines profile

Shellbox

Linux microVMs for developers and AI agents, made and controlled over SSH.

Isolation: Firecracker microVM
Free tier: Not listed
Max session: No limit

Visit site Shellbox profile

What is different

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

Field

Dedalus Machines

Shellbox

vCPU, per hour: Dedalus Machines: $0.04536; Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour: Dedalus Machines: $0.01458; Shellbox: Included
Storage: Dedalus Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour; Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Paid plan from: Dedalus Machines: $20 / month; Shellbox: Pay as you go
Billing: Dedalus Machines: Per second; Shellbox: Bundled machine time
Idle stop: Dedalus Machines: After 5 minutes; Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox: Dedalus Machines: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB; Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Isolation: Dedalus Machines: Full VM; Shellbox: Firecracker microVM

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Dedalus Machinesdedaluslabs.ai/pricingdedaluslabs.ai

Shellboxshellbox.dev/#pricingshellbox.dev

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: Dedalus Machines: $0.04536; Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour: Dedalus Machines: $0.01458; Shellbox: Included
Storage: Dedalus Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour; Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Free tier: Dedalus Machines: $20 one-time sign-up credit; Shellbox: Not listed
Paid plan from: Dedalus Machines: $20 / month; Shellbox: Pay as you go
Billing: Dedalus Machines: Per second; Shellbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox: No limit
Idle stop: Dedalus Machines: After 5 minutes; Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox: Dedalus Machines: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB; Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox: Up to 16

Platform

Isolation: Dedalus Machines: Full VM; Shellbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox: Not listed
Snapshots: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox:
Pause and resume: Dedalus Machines:; Shellbox:

Developer

SDKs: Dedalus Machines: Python, TypeScript, Go; Shellbox: Not listed
Integrations: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox: Claude Code

Trust

License: Dedalus Machines: Not listed; Shellbox: Not listed
BYOC: Dedalus Machines: Enterprise plan; Shellbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

Dedalus Machines

Shellbox

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: Dedalus Machines: $0.075; Shellbox: $0.010
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: Dedalus Machines: $0.149; Shellbox: $0.020
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: Dedalus Machines: $0.298; Shellbox: $0.040

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Dedalus Machines fits when

You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
You need the sandboxes in your own cloud account.
You need a sandbox larger than 16 vCPU · 32 GiB.
You need SOC 2 Type II.

Shellbox fits when

You want to pay only for usage, with no plan fee.
You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
You use Claude Code.
You want the lower list price: $0.020 against $0.149 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.

More comparisons

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Dedalus Machines

Shellbox

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

Dedalus Machines fits when

Shellbox fits when

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