OpenAI Code Interpreter vs Sailboxes

OpenAI Code Interpreter bills memory only, at $0.09 per GiB-hour. Sailboxes costs $0.015 per vCPU-hour. OpenAI Code Interpreter runs containers. Sailboxes runs full VMs and has no session limit.

Updated Oct 15, 2026

OpenAI Code Interpreter

Sandboxed containers where OpenAI models write and run Python code.

Isolation: Container
Free tier: Not listed
Max session: Not listed

Visit site OpenAI Code Interpreter profile

Sailboxes

Persistent Linux VMs for long-horizon AI agents.

Isolation: Full VM
Free tier: $5 credit every month
Max session: No limit

Visit site Sailboxes profile

What is different

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

Field

OpenAI Code Interpreter

Sailboxes

RAM, per GiB-hour: OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.09; Sailboxes: $0.008
Billing: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Memory only; Sailboxes: Per second
Isolation: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Container; Sailboxes: Full VM
SDKs: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, Ruby; Sailboxes: Python, TypeScript, Rust

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

OpenAI Code Interpreterdevelopers.openai.com/api/docs/pricingdevelopers.openai.com

Sailboxesdocs.sailresearch.com/pricingdocs.sailresearch.com

Pricing

vCPU, per hour: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: $0.015
RAM, per GiB-hour: OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.09; Sailboxes: $0.008
Storage: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: $0.0007 per GiB-hour
Free tier: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: $5 credit every month
Paid plan from: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Pay as you go
Billing: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Memory only; Sailboxes: Per second

Limits

Max session: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: No limit
Idle stop: OpenAI Code Interpreter: After 20 minutes; Sailboxes: Not listed
Largest sandbox: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: 8 vCPU · 256 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Up to 5,000

Platform

Isolation: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Container; Sailboxes: Full VM
GPU: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Not listed
Snapshots: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes:
Pause and resume: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes:

Developer

SDKs: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, Ruby; Sailboxes: Python, TypeScript, Rust
Integrations: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Claude Code

Trust

License: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Not listed
BYOC: OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed; Sailboxes: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Size

OpenAI Code Interpreter

Sailboxes

1 vCPU · 2 GiB: OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.180; Sailboxes: $0.031
2 vCPU · 4 GiB: OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.360; Sailboxes: $0.062
4 vCPU · 8 GiB: OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.720; Sailboxes: $0.124

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

OpenAI Code Interpreter fits when

You want one rate for memory, with CPU included.

Sailboxes fits when

You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
You use Claude Code.
You want the lower list price: $0.062 against $0.360 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
You need snapshots.

More comparisons

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OpenAI Code Interpreter

Sailboxes

What is different

Full comparison

Pricing

Limits

Platform

Developer

Trust

Hourly cost

Which one fits

OpenAI Code Interpreter fits when

Sailboxes fits when

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