DigitalOcean MicroVMs vs Sandbox as a Service

DigitalOcean MicroVMs costs $0.022 per vCPU-hour and Sandbox as a Service costs $0.045 per vCPU-hour. DigitalOcean MicroVMs runs Firecracker microVMs. Sandbox as a Service runs full VMs and limits a session to 24 hours.

Updated

DigitalOcean MicroVMs

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
Not listed

Sandbox as a Service

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
$5 credit
Max session
24 hours

What is different

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

DigitalOcean MicroVMs
Sandbox as a Service
vCPU, per hour
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022
Sandbox as a Service: $0.045
RAM, per GiB-hour
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085
Sandbox as a Service: Included
Billing
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Per second
Sandbox as a Service: Bundled machine time
Largest sandbox
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Sandbox as a Service: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Isolation
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM
Sandbox as a Service: Full VM

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.022
Sandbox as a Service: $0.045
RAM, per GiB-hour
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.0085
Sandbox as a Service: Included
Storage
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.05 per GiB per month, charged when running or paused. Checkpoints are charged until deleted.
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Free tier
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: $5 credit
Paid plan from
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Pay as you go
Billing
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Per second
Sandbox as a Service: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: 24 hours
Idle stop
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: After 5 minutes
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Largest sandbox
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Sandbox as a Service: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Up to 20

Platform

Isolation
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM
Sandbox as a Service: Full VM
GPU
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Snapshots
DigitalOcean MicroVMs:
Sandbox as a Service:
Pause and resume
DigitalOcean MicroVMs:
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed

Developer

SDKs
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Integrations
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: MCP

Trust

License
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
BYOC
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

DigitalOcean MicroVMs
Sandbox as a Service
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.039
Sandbox as a Service: $0.045
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.078
Sandbox as a Service: $0.090
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
DigitalOcean MicroVMs: $0.156
Sandbox as a Service: $0.180

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

DigitalOcean MicroVMs fits when

  • You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.078 against $0.090 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need pause and resume.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 8 vCPU · 16 GiB.

Sandbox as a Service fits when

  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You use MCP.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

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