Freestyle VMs vs Runtime

Freestyle VMs costs $0.04032 per vCPU-hour and Runtime costs $0.025 per vCPU-hour. Freestyle VMs runs full VMs and offers GPUs. Runtime runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

Freestyle VMs

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
Free plan, $0 forever
Max session
Not listed

Runtime

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Max session
No limit

What is different

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

Freestyle VMs
Runtime
vCPU, per hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
Runtime: $0.025
RAM, per GiB-hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Runtime: $0.0075
Storage
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Free tier
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Runtime: 100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Paid plan from
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Runtime: Pay as you go
Billing
Freestyle VMs: Per second
Runtime: Active CPU time only
Largest sandbox
Freestyle VMs: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400
Runtime: Up to 200
Isolation
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
Runtime: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Freestyle VMs:
Runtime: No
SDKs
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Integrations
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, Claude Code
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
Runtime: $0.025
RAM, per GiB-hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Runtime: $0.0075
Storage
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Free tier
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Runtime: 100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Paid plan from
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Runtime: Pay as you go
Billing
Freestyle VMs: Per second
Runtime: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Runtime: No limit
Idle stop
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Runtime: After 5 minutes
Largest sandbox
Freestyle VMs: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400
Runtime: Up to 200

Platform

Isolation
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
Runtime: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Freestyle VMs:
Runtime: No
Snapshots
Freestyle VMs:
Runtime:
Pause and resume
Freestyle VMs:
Runtime:

Developer

SDKs
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Integrations
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, Claude Code
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code

Trust

License
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Runtime: Not listed
BYOC
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Runtime: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Freestyle VMs
Runtime
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.066
Runtime: $0.040
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.132
Runtime: $0.080
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.264
Runtime: $0.160

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Freestyle VMs fits when

  • You need GPUs.
  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 16 vCPU · 64 GiB.

Runtime fits when

  • You want to pay only for usage, with no plan fee.
  • You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
  • You use the Vercel AI SDK, LangChain or MCP.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.080 against $0.132 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.

More comparisons

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