DigitalOcean MicroVMs vs Runloop

DigitalOcean MicroVMs costs $0.022 per vCPU-hour and Runloop costs $0.108 per vCPU-hour. DigitalOcean MicroVMs runs Firecracker microVMs. Runloop runs microVMs.

Updated Oct 15, 2026

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

Runloop

Devboxes built for coding agents.

Isolation: MicroVM
Free tier: $50 credit
Max session: Not listed

Visit site Runloop profile

What is different

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

Field

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

Runloop

vCPU, per hour: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022; Runloop: $0.108
RAM, per GiB-hour: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085; Runloop: $0.0252
Storage: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.05 per GiB per month, charged when running or paused. Checkpoints are charged until deleted.; Runloop: $0.00034236 per GiB-hour
Largest sandbox: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB; Runloop: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Isolation: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM; Runloop: MicroVM

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

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

Runlooprunloop.ai/pricing

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022; Runloop: $0.108
RAM, per GiB-hour: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085; Runloop: $0.0252
Storage: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.05 per GiB per month, charged when running or paused. Checkpoints are charged until deleted.; Runloop: $0.00034236 per GiB-hour
Free tier: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: $50 credit
Paid plan from: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Pay as you go
Billing: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Per second; Runloop: Per second

Limits

Max session: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Not listed
Idle stop: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: After 5 minutes; Runloop: Not listed
Largest sandbox: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB; Runloop: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Not listed

Platform

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

Developer

SDKs: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Python, TypeScript
Integrations: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: OpenAI Agents SDK, MCP, Claude Code

Trust

License: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Not listed
BYOC: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed; Runloop: Deploy to VPC, Enterprise plan

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

Runloop

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.039; Runloop: $0.158
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.078; Runloop: $0.317
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.156; Runloop: $0.634

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

DigitalOcean MicroVMs fits when

You want the lower list price: $0.078 against $0.317 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.

Runloop fits when

You use the OpenAI Agents SDK, MCP or Claude Code.
You need a desktop in the sandbox.
You need the sandboxes in your own cloud account.
You need a sandbox larger than 16 vCPU · 32 GiB.

More comparisons

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DigitalOcean MicroVMs

Runloop

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

DigitalOcean MicroVMs fits when

Runloop fits when

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