microsandbox cloud vs Smol Machines

microsandbox cloud and Smol Machines charge the same list price: $0.05 per vCPU-hour and $0.0162 per GiB-hour. microsandbox cloud runs microVMs. Smol Machines runs microVMs.

Updated

microsandbox cloud

Isolation
MicroVM
Free tier
Free plan, 5 computer-hours a month
Max session
Not listed

Smol Machines

Isolation
MicroVM
Free tier
$100 credit, one time
Max session
Not listed

What is different

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

microsandbox cloud
Smol Machines
Free tier
microsandbox cloud: Free plan, 5 computer-hours a month
Smol Machines: $100 credit, one time
Paid plan from
microsandbox cloud: $49 / month
Smol Machines: Pay as you go
Billing
microsandbox cloud: Per second
Smol Machines: Active CPU time only
Concurrent sandboxes
microsandbox cloud: Up to 25,000
Smol Machines: Up to 1,000
Snapshots
microsandbox cloud:
Smol Machines: No
Pause and resume
microsandbox cloud: No
Smol Machines:
SDKs
microsandbox cloud: Python, TypeScript, Rust, Go, Ruby
Smol Machines: TypeScript, Python, Rust

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
microsandbox cloud: $0.05
Smol Machines: $0.05
RAM, per GiB-hour
microsandbox cloud: $0.0162
Smol Machines: $0.0162
Storage
microsandbox cloud: $0.0001 per GiB-hour
Smol Machines: $0.0001 per GiB-hour
Free tier
microsandbox cloud: Free plan, 5 computer-hours a month
Smol Machines: $100 credit, one time
Paid plan from
microsandbox cloud: $49 / month
Smol Machines: Pay as you go
Billing
microsandbox cloud: Per second
Smol Machines: Active CPU time only

Limits

Max session
microsandbox cloud: Not listed
Smol Machines: Not listed
Idle stop
microsandbox cloud: Not listed
Smol Machines: Not listed
Largest sandbox
microsandbox cloud: Not listed
Smol Machines: 32 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
microsandbox cloud: Up to 25,000
Smol Machines: Up to 1,000

Platform

Isolation
microsandbox cloud: MicroVM
Smol Machines: MicroVM
GPU
microsandbox cloud: Not listed
Smol Machines: No
Snapshots
microsandbox cloud:
Smol Machines: No
Pause and resume
microsandbox cloud: No
Smol Machines:

Developer

SDKs
microsandbox cloud: Python, TypeScript, Rust, Go, Ruby
Smol Machines: TypeScript, Python, Rust
Integrations
microsandbox cloud: Claude Code, MCP
Smol Machines: Not listed

Trust

License
microsandbox cloud: Apache-2.0
Smol Machines: Apache-2.0
BYOC
microsandbox cloud: By evaluation, contact us
Smol Machines: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

microsandbox cloud
Smol Machines
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
microsandbox cloud: $0.082
Smol Machines: $0.082
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
microsandbox cloud: $0.165
Smol Machines: $0.165
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
microsandbox cloud: $0.330
Smol Machines: $0.330

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

microsandbox cloud fits when

  • You use Claude Code or MCP.
  • You need snapshots.
  • You need the sandboxes in your own cloud account.

Smol Machines fits when

  • You want to pay only for usage, with no plan fee.
  • You need pause and resume.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.

More comparisons

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