ix vs Shellbox

ix costs $0.0288 per vCPU-hour and Shellbox costs $0.01 per vCPU-hour. ix runs full VMs. Shellbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated Oct 23, 2026

ix

Cloud VMs with up to 100 vCPUs, billed by usage.

Isolation: Full VM
Free tier: None
Max session: Not listed

Visit site ix 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

Shellbox

vCPU, per hour: ix: $0.0288; Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour: ix: $0.0108; Shellbox: Included
Storage: ix: $0.101 per GiB-month stored; Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Billing: ix: Active CPU time only; Shellbox: Bundled machine time
Largest sandbox: ix: 100 vCPU · 256 GiB; Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: ix: Up to 100; Shellbox: Up to 16
Isolation: ix: Full VM; Shellbox: Firecracker microVM
Integrations: ix: MCP; Shellbox: Claude Code

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

ixix.dev/docs/pricingix.dev

Shellboxshellbox.dev/#pricingshellbox.dev

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: ix: $0.0288; Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour: ix: $0.0108; Shellbox: Included
Storage: ix: $0.101 per GiB-month stored; Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Free tier: ix: None; Shellbox: Not listed
Paid plan from: ix: Pay as you go; Shellbox: Pay as you go
Billing: ix: Active CPU time only; Shellbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session: ix: Not listed; Shellbox: No limit
Idle stop: ix: Not listed; Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox: ix: 100 vCPU · 256 GiB; Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: ix: Up to 100; Shellbox: Up to 16

Platform

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

Developer

SDKs: ix: Python, TypeScript, Rust; Shellbox: Not listed
Integrations: ix: MCP; Shellbox: Claude Code

Trust

License: ix: Not listed; Shellbox: Not listed
BYOC: ix: Not listed; Shellbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

Shellbox

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: ix: $0.050; Shellbox: $0.010
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: ix: $0.101; Shellbox: $0.020
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: ix: $0.202; Shellbox: $0.040

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

ix fits when

You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
You use MCP.
Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.
You need a sandbox larger than 16 vCPU · 32 GiB.

Shellbox fits when

You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
You use Claude Code.
You want the lower list price: $0.020 against $0.101 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
You need pause and resume.

More comparisons

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ix

Shellbox

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

ix fits when

Shellbox fits when

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