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Namespace Devboxes vs Shellbox

Namespace Devboxes costs $0.06 per vCPU-hour and Shellbox costs $0.01 per vCPU-hour. Namespace Devboxes runs full VMs and limits a session to 24 hours. Shellbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

Namespace Devboxes

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
30-day free trial
Max session
24 hours
Visit siteNamespace Devboxes profile

Shellbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
No limit
Visit siteShellbox profile

What is different

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

Namespace Devboxes
Shellbox
vCPU, per hour
Namespace Devboxes: $0.06
Shellbox: $0.01
Storage
Namespace Devboxes: $0.20 per GB-month for storage used
Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Max session
Namespace Devboxes: 24 hours
Shellbox: No limit
Idle stop
Namespace Devboxes: After 15 minutes
Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox
Namespace Devboxes: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Namespace Devboxes: Up to 50
Shellbox: Up to 16
Isolation
Namespace Devboxes: Full VM
Shellbox: Firecracker microVM
Integrations
Namespace Devboxes: Claude Code, MCP
Shellbox: Claude Code

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Namespace Devboxesnamespace.so
Shellboxshellbox.dev

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Namespace Devboxes: $0.06
Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour
Namespace Devboxes: Included
Shellbox: Included
Storage
Namespace Devboxes: $0.20 per GB-month for storage used
Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Free tier
Namespace Devboxes: 30-day free trial
Shellbox: Not listed
Paid plan from
Namespace Devboxes: Pay as you go
Shellbox: Pay as you go
Billing
Namespace Devboxes: Bundled machine time
Shellbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
Namespace Devboxes: 24 hours
Shellbox: No limit
Idle stop
Namespace Devboxes: After 15 minutes
Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox
Namespace Devboxes: 32 vCPU · 64 GiB
Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Namespace Devboxes: Up to 50
Shellbox: Up to 16

Platform

Isolation
Namespace Devboxes: Full VM
Shellbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Namespace Devboxes: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed
Snapshots
Namespace Devboxes: Not listed
Shellbox:
Pause and resume
Namespace Devboxes:
Shellbox:

Developer

SDKs
Namespace Devboxes: TypeScript, Go
Shellbox: Not listed
Integrations
Namespace Devboxes: Claude Code, MCP
Shellbox: Claude Code

Trust

License
Namespace Devboxes: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed
BYOC
Namespace Devboxes: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Namespace Devboxes
Shellbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Namespace Devboxes: $0.060
Shellbox: $0.010
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Namespace Devboxes: $0.120
Shellbox: $0.020
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Namespace Devboxes: $0.240
Shellbox: $0.040

Compute only, at list rates.

Open the calculator

Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Namespace Devboxes fits when

  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You use MCP.
  • You need a desktop in the sandbox.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 16 vCPU · 32 GiB.

Shellbox fits when

  • A session must run longer than 24 hours.
  • You want each sandbox in its own microVM.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.020 against $0.120 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need snapshots.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

Related

Compare

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Shellbox alternatives
All Namespace Devboxes comparisons
All Shellbox comparisons
All comparisons

Pricing

Namespace Devboxes pricing
Shellbox pricing
Sandbox pricing
Cost calculator

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Full VM sandboxes
Firecracker sandboxes
Sandboxes with GPUs
Open-source sandboxes
What is a full VM?
What is Firecracker?