OpenAI Code Interpreter vs Sandbox as a Service

OpenAI Code Interpreter bills memory only, at $0.09 per GiB-hour. Sandbox as a Service costs $0.045 per vCPU-hour. OpenAI Code Interpreter runs containers. Sandbox as a Service runs full VMs and limits a session to 24 hours.

Updated

OpenAI Code Interpreter

Isolation
Container
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
Not listed

Sandbox as a Service

Isolation
Full VM
Free tier
$5 credit
Max session
24 hours

What is different

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

OpenAI Code Interpreter
Sandbox as a Service
RAM, per GiB-hour
OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.09
Sandbox as a Service: Included
Billing
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Memory only
Sandbox as a Service: Bundled machine time
Isolation
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Container
Sandbox as a Service: Full VM
SDKs
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, Ruby
Sandbox as a Service: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: $0.045
RAM, per GiB-hour
OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.09
Sandbox as a Service: Included
Storage
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Free tier
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: $5 credit
Paid plan from
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Pay as you go
Billing
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Memory only
Sandbox as a Service: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: 24 hours
Idle stop
OpenAI Code Interpreter: After 20 minutes
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Largest sandbox
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Up to 20

Platform

Isolation
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Container
Sandbox as a Service: Full VM
GPU
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
Snapshots
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service:
Pause and resume
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed

Developer

SDKs
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, Ruby
Sandbox as a Service: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Integrations
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: MCP

Trust

License
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed
BYOC
OpenAI Code Interpreter: Not listed
Sandbox as a Service: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

OpenAI Code Interpreter
Sandbox as a Service
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.180
Sandbox as a Service: $0.045
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.360
Sandbox as a Service: $0.090
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
OpenAI Code Interpreter: $0.720
Sandbox as a Service: $0.180

Compute only, at list rates.

Open the calculator

Which one fits

Based on the fields above

OpenAI Code Interpreter fits when

  • You want one rate for memory, with CPU included.

Sandbox as a Service fits when

  • You want each sandbox to be a full VM.
  • You use MCP.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.090 against $0.360 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need snapshots.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

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