Freestyle VMs vs Vercel Sandbox

Freestyle VMs costs $0.04032 per vCPU-hour and Vercel Sandbox costs $0.128 per vCPU-hour. Freestyle VMs runs full VMs. Vercel Sandbox runs Firecracker microVMs and limits a session to 24 hours.

Updated

Freestyle VMs

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

Vercel Sandbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
5 CPU-hours every month
Max session
24 hours

What is different

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

Freestyle VMs
Vercel Sandbox
vCPU, per hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
RAM, per GiB-hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Storage
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Vercel Sandbox: On Pro, snapshots $0.08 per GB-month and drives $0.05 per GB-month (beta).
Free tier
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Paid plan from
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Vercel Sandbox: $20 / month
Billing
Freestyle VMs: Per second
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only
Largest sandbox
Freestyle VMs: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400
Vercel Sandbox: Up to 10,000
Isolation
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM
SDKs
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Vercel Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Integrations
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK
Vercel Sandbox: Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.04032
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
RAM, per GiB-hour
Freestyle VMs: $0.0129
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Storage
Freestyle VMs: $0.000086 per GiB-hour
Vercel Sandbox: On Pro, snapshots $0.08 per GB-month and drives $0.05 per GB-month (beta).
Free tier
Freestyle VMs: Free plan, $0 forever
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Paid plan from
Freestyle VMs: $50 / month
Vercel Sandbox: $20 / month
Billing
Freestyle VMs: Per second
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: 24 hours
Idle stop
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Largest sandbox
Freestyle VMs: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Freestyle VMs: Up to 400
Vercel Sandbox: Up to 10,000

Platform

Isolation
Freestyle VMs: Full VM
Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Snapshots
Freestyle VMs:
Vercel Sandbox:
Pause and resume
Freestyle VMs:
Vercel Sandbox:

Developer

SDKs
Freestyle VMs: JavaScript
Vercel Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Integrations
Freestyle VMs: OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK
Vercel Sandbox: Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK

Trust

License
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
BYOC
Freestyle VMs: Not listed
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Freestyle VMs
Vercel Sandbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.066
Vercel Sandbox: $0.170
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.132
Vercel Sandbox: $0.341
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Freestyle VMs: $0.264
Vercel Sandbox: $0.682

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Freestyle VMs fits when

  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.132 against $0.341 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need a desktop in the sandbox.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 8 vCPU · 16 GiB.

Vercel Sandbox fits when

  • You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
  • You use LangChain or the Vercel AI SDK.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.
  • You need SOC 2 Type II.

More comparisons

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